In Short : According to a survey, a majority of companies are in urgent need of climate technology to meet their sustainability goals. This suggests a growing awareness of the role technology plays in achieving environmental objectives and addressing climate-related challenges within corporate strategies.
In Detail : New Delhi : Most global and Indian organisations say they urgently need climate technologies to achieve their ambitious sustainability goals, according to a survey by Capgemini Research Institute.
The institute surveyed more than 1,300 senior executives from large organisations with plans to decarbonise or achieve net-zero emissions. The survey covered 16 industries across 13 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-pacific, along with venture-capital firms and domain experts.
“Three-quarters of the executives we surveyed say their organizations will not achieve their sustainability goals without climate tech. On average, executives expect climate tech to help their organizations achieve 37% of their decarbonisation or net-zero goals,” said the report.
Florent Andrillon, global head of climate tech at Capgemini, said that as the world races to find solutions to climate change, there is an extraordinary appetite for these technologies thanks to an increased awareness of the urgency to act.
“We are at the beginning of a clean industrial revolution. Public support and private funding have started to ignite the green investment wave, but accelerating the scale-up of these solutions will require further capex investments, cost reductions, and business-model innovation,” Andrillon said.
Despite the growing belief in the need to adopt climate technology, the report noted that the cost of such technology remains a major barrier to its adoption. The ‘green premiums’ for climate tech integration – that is, the difference in cost between low-carbon products and their high-emissions alternatives – remains very high, the report said.
About 77% of the executives surveyed expect product costs to increase owing to climate tech adoption. On average, organizations are willing to accept a green premium of 9%, they said.
The survey showed that corporate investment in climate technologies is expected to grow at 7.7% over the next two years.
The report recommended companies adopt new business models that integrate climate tech into their systems. It also recommended that firms harness digital technologies such as AI, digital twins and 3D printing to enhance innovation, and partner with startups to upskill workers.