LONDON – Almost 10,000 people, including industry experts, business professionals, funders, academia, politicians, and innovators, have gathered at London’s Olympia to discuss, debate, and review the latest thinking and key issues around climate change mitigation, policy, investment, clean technology innovation, and implementing low carbon solutions.
The UK government-backed two-day international congress, Innovation Zero 2024, held from 30 April to 1 May 2024, was one of the largest sustainability and net zero expos ever seen in the UK. The comprehensive programme featured hundreds of world-class speakers across 175+ content sessions, all experts in climate change mitigation, clean technology innovation, and implementing low carbon solutions.
Sir Liam Fox MP, chair of Innovation Zero, opened the congress, stating that the event would improve connectivity and link policymakers to innovators so that clean tech solutions to the challenge of climate change could be fast-tracked and implemented at the pace needed to meet net zero targets and create a more sustainable world.
“We need a sense of urgency on the issue, to continually stress the concept of sustainability and use technology to shape the world around us, not let the world shape us,” Fox said. He welcomed “the shapers” to the event and said it was they who had it within their grasp to shape a more sustainable world.
Professor Jim Skea, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agreed with Fox’s call for urgent action. “More than a century of human activity is to blame for the problems we face,” he said. “Up to 3.5 billion people live in situations that are vulnerable to climate change and hazards and it is developing countries and small island states that are suffering adverse impact. Some of the effects of climate change are irreversible, so adapting to the climate change we have seen is crucial,” said Skea.
Skea expressed optimism, stating that “half of all global emissions are covered by statutory legislation, the price of solar and wind are getting cheaper, now meeting 10% of global power demand and economies of scale and learning by doing has improved the situation, as witnessed by the massive decline in cost of batteries.”
However, Skea warned that “we won’t realise net zero unless we influence the demand side. We need to change people’s behaviour and actually by 2050, emissions could be reduced by up to 70% due to demand side actions alone.”
Claire Coutinho MP, secretary of state for energy security and net zero, gave a keynote address at the congress, stating: “Government does have a role to play to address supply chain constraints around climate change, which is why we’ve launched a £1bn green industries growth accelerator. We are also making targeted investments in priority future technologies like fusion energy, small modular reactors, carbon capture and hydrogen.”
Coutinho stressed the importance of public support for measures to address the climate challenge. “We have to carry the public with us. Consumers need to know we are doing things in a proportionate way and with the cost-of-living crisis we need to persuade the public,” she said. Coutinho also defended the government’s actions on net zero and denied fudging its messaging around the issue. “We have decarbonised quicker than every other country because we have had a broad political consensus. I want that consensus to continue. We need to win the battle with families and households to get them on board,” she concluded.
