REVI EW
“The key question... is whether a technology moves a company, industry, or sector closer to implementing an 80-100% solution, as opposed to a 10% or 20% measure that merely kicks the can down the road.”
According to Bloomberg, global investments in the energy transition topped US$750 billion in 2021, with China alone spending US$266 billion .
• “In the end, there is a fine balance to strike between unleashing the entrepreneurial ‘can-do’ spirit and channeling it in the right direction; between Silicon Valley’s mantra of ‘move fast and break things’ and the physician’s oath of ‘first, do no harm.’” Also of note are the many international comparisons, particularly between China, the USA and EU – who is leading or lagging, who could leapfrog and so on? In a nutshell: • “China currently produces the vast majority of the world’s clean-energy technologies: including three-quarters of all solar panels and batteries sold globally, well over half of all wind turbines, and around half of all electric vehicles… According to Bloomberg, global investments in the energy transition topped US$750 billion last year [2021], with China alone spending US$266 billion…”
• “Globally, most countries that are not among the largest dozen polluters can and often do hide behind the claim that they are ‘too small to matter’. But together these economies account for around 25% of annual CO2 emissions. Being small does not mean your actions are irrelevant.” It’s difficult to capture and do justice to all the information set out in this book, despite its compact format. My sole small criticism is that I would have preferred the chapters to be a little less bite-sized and a little more detailed with a stronger narrative thread. This is a book to dip into rather than dive into, which of course is the nature of the beast with a collection of essays. By chance I finished the English version while on a train passing through St. Pölten, an hour west of Vienna. A fitting place to end, given what happened in September 2024, when the Traisen River burst its banks, causing millions of euros in damage to homes, shops and transport infrastructure. Beyond Austria, the floods caused by Storm Boris led to dozens of fatalities across Central and Eastern Europe. All of which proves Wagner’s point: “Climate risk is financial risk, and climate action is an insurance policy – for the world as much as for individual companies and for us as individuals.” We therefore adapt or die.
• “Europe’s goal is significantly more ambitious than America’s. The EU is pursuing carbon neutrality by mid-century and a 55% reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by the end of this decade… The EU, meanwhile, must take the arguably easier step of ramping up its own clean-energy subsidies. It can and must afford to do so. The result will be a race to the top, with the global economy and the planet as clear winners…” However, Wagner is quick to point out that the climate race is not only for the big players. Smaller countries must also pull together, as many are not only vulnerable but also ill-prepared for climate change. Meanwhile the combined CO2 emissions of these smaller countries make up around a quarter of the global total:
• “Public funds are the lever for rechanneling private money at the
necessary pace and scale. The Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and CHIPS and Science Act that the United States has recently enacted are good examples of this lever in action. The idea is that some US$500 billion in government investments will encourage many hundreds of billions more in private flows.”
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