USA - Why the U.S. Needs a National Climate Investment Fund
In recent weeks, we have witnessed the power of innovation to solve catastrophic problems.
Most notably, we have seen the extraordinary human accomplishment of delivering vaccines within a year to counter the novel coronavirus, COVID-19—an achievement that was accelerated by the U.S. government’s Project Warp Speed.
What many people may be less aware of is that across America and other global innovation centers, companies are striving to harness that same power to tackle climate change. Businesses of all sizes are toiling away to deliver products that together could dramatically increase the likelihood that our planet remains comfortably habitable. To cite some examples:
- A handful of companies are working to deliver nuclear fusion as a large-scale alternative energy source.
- Several are developing hydrogen fuel cells to power transport and other energy needs.
- Other companies are working to dramatically improve air conditioning, refrigeration, and other heating and cooling technologies—collectively a large current contributor to global warming.
- As advocated by Australian conservationist Tim Flannery in his TED talk, companies are developing new methods of growing seaweeds at scale to draw down large amounts of carbon already in the atmosphere, while others work on high volume reforestation.
