Editorial: A COP out? Or not that bad after all?

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Our first edition of 2022 contains a plethora of exclusive articles and interviews covering some of the biggest changes and challenges for the years ahead.

This month’s cover story, “2022 – the year of the smart grid”, comes from Alessandro Palin, ABB’s Division Head for Distribution Solutions. Alessandro points out that we have eight years to slash global emissions in half and makes a powerful case for the importance of smart grids in the energy transition. “Without smart grids, there will be no energy transition,” he says pointedly.

It’s a perspective that is shared by the IEA, which cited grid integration as the main technical challenge to increasing renewable energy capacity. Even before the energy transition, the ageing grid infrastructure had begun causing problems when energy demand spiked, highlighting the dire need for a system overhaul across Europe and beyond.

Alessandro underlines how digitalisation has come at just the right time to make the technology viable, as well as helping to make better use of dwindling resources, not to mention cost savings leading into the billions of euros annually. He argues that the technology needed to go beyond the UN Environment Program target of halving emissions by 2030 is already here, and that with the national commitments in place, this year could begin to see real progress towards net-zero.

Read more: 2022 – the year of the smart grid

Our second focus then moves to last November’s anticlimactic COP26, which seemed to have very few overly enthused, with summit president Alok Sharma visibly fighting back the tears as the event wrapped up. Ever the diplomat, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the outcomes as reflecting the reality of the world today.

Just before Christmas, I spoke to IE regular Lord Adair Turner, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission to get his take on it. With characteristic enthusiasm, he told me that, while not a complete success, it was also not a complete failure and gave it a six out of ten overall.

Adair highlighted the agreement on deforestation as being one of the major successes of the summit, so long as it delivered. The agreement on coal, however, which China and India made last minute alterations to, was “frankly, disappointing”. Nonetheless, the mere fact that all signatories agreed on what needs to be done – despite not agreeing on how – was reason to be optimistic.

Read more: "A reasonable step forward, 6/10" - ETC's Adair Turner talks COP26

Our third and final focus is on the construction sector and comes courtesy of our very own Ash Jones.

Over the past few years, there has been an increased focus on the impact that construction is having on emissions and the environment, especially given that the sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention air pollution.

So, with that in mind, he created a guide that outlines five ways in which the construction can clean up its act and move towards genuinely clean ways of building.

Read more: 5 ways the construction sector can become more sustainable

Last November, I was invited to the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in Dubai which focused on the digital and green transitions. In the middle of all the excitement over the progress we are collectively making towards these goals, it had struck me that there was an elephant in the room – something that no one was really addressing. How do we ensure that the fourth industrial revolution does not make the same mistakes as the preceding three? How do we ensure that the world’s poorest are not trampled on again in our rush to transition to a net-zero digital economy?

So, I was happy to get a chance to sit down on the sidelines of the summit with the Managing Director of the UN Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries, Joshua Setipa to discuss precisely this issue, as well as the work of the bank.

It was a wide-ranging interview, which covered financing, climate mitigation, green technology, and the opportunities and challenges that the world’s least developed nations face. We also spoke about the dark history that has led to extreme poverty, as well as the shared responsibilities that the countries’ governments have, as well those of the companies operating inside their borders.

Read more: What is the human cost of the green & digital transitions?

Also, as part of GMIS, I found out that Dubai – long seen as the most progressive of the seven United Arab Emirates – is moving away from its rapidly dwindling oil reserves, as well as its reliance on luxury tourism and business travel, in a bid to become a global tech hub.

The city-state is well-positioned to do so, both geographically and in terms of its business culture. It is already home to many highly skilled foreign workers, as well as a digitally literate native population.

In the run-up to the UAE’s 50th birthday last year, a raft of new legislation was introduced, aimed specifically at drawing in investment from foreign startups and tech companies, as well as attempting to soften the nation’s image in terms of women’s rights and property ownership.

Read more: Why Dubai is turning itself into a global tech hub

Check out Industry Europe issue 32.1.

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