What would the snappy headline for our chat today?
Build back, better.
A post COVID world is one that will look quite different to a pre-COVID world.
There are millions of people who are out of
work, economic growth has been smashed - it's a terrible situation.
But what we've seen just in the last few weeks is this echo chamber almost of calls.
Calls from investors, trillions of dollars of assets under management, from leading energy
companies from corporates across the space from governments, saying we need to take this
opportunity, this tragic situation that we have today, to build back better.
A green recovery.
What do we mean by that?
I think oftentimes people muddle up the concept of spending versus investing.
Spending is important in terms of fiscal stimulus, but what we're talking about in the climate
transition is investment.
With investing, you get something back for it.
And this is what the Energy Transition Commission is calling for: unleashing massive investment
in renewable power systems, boosting the construction sector via green buildings and green infrastructure,
supporting the automotive sector while pursuing clean air.
And we're talking about cumulative gains from transforming the energy system alone that
could reach almost 100 trillion dollars between 2020 and 2050.
And that far exceeds the related investment costs of 15 trillion dollars.
The International Renewable Energy Agency has calculated that more than 17 million jobs
could be created in the renewable energy sector globally in the next 10 years.
That would essentially double the size of the workforce in the sector.
We need to face it; some parts of the economy are probably not going to come back.
Net zero means transformation of heavy industry.
It means petro chemicals, it means long-distance transportation, steel and cement and agriculture.
These are sectors of the economy that are critical for economic growth that we rely
on.
They are the ones that really need to decarbonise.
I'm optimistic.
And I'm optimistic because it's a value proposition.
Because engineers are smart, because battery technology is improving, because renewable
energy costs are declining, all the different suite of technologies that an enabling infrastructure,
grids, transmission and distribution, all of that is being built out.
And the effect of that is the transition has really made its way into the private sector.
This is possibly the best, if not one of the only opportunities to lift economic growth,
meaningfully, in the future.
There is a role for policymakers and there is a role for the private sector, and there's
a role for society.
This is not rocket science.
Investing in climate equals investing in growth.