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Climate change, technological innovation

Clearly, technological innovation is required if – as the challenge of climate change requires – the world is to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards lowcarbon, renewable-based energy systems. But technological change is not the hardest part. The necessary technologies already exist. They are improving rapidly as they are deployed at scale. The difficult parts of the renewable energy transition involve shifting away from existing infrastructure for fossil fuel–based energy systems and overcoming political, institutional, and cultural resistance to change (Stephens, Wilson, and Peterson 2015). Such resistance can be quite strong. Fossil fuels are deeply embedded not only in the technology of energy systems but also in financial systems, geopolitics, institutions, and culture. Responding to climate change, therefore, requires not just investments in technological innovation but also a commitment to changing institutions, economic systems, and social systems – and a commitment to parallel political change. Changes such as these can decrease reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels and enable renewable technologies to flourish. The world’s transition away from fossil fuels can appear extremely daunting, but grounds for hope exist as well. This hope does not rest on technology alone. Rather, it flows from the social, cultural, and political changes that are already occurring in the world’s “bright spots” – places where efforts to replace fossil fuels with renewable-based energy systems are already advancing rapidly. In such places, massive investments have been made in renewable technologies (Strunz 2014). Investments have been accompanied and supported by parallel changes in politics and public policy; in the planning and operation of energy systems; and in the ways organizations think about and ultimately use energy. In these bright spots, individuals, households, businesses, and communities are coming to understand the potential of renewable-based energy systems – and are shifting away from fossil fuel regimes and existing political, cultural, and institutional norms.