Climate Week NYC: Transforming Grids Globally
The theme for Climate Week New York City 2023 is “We Can. We Will” and reflects “determination, focus, but also a hopeful promise, and a call to action to do it together.” The theme addresses the climate action we need to take now, but also looks ahead to new opportunities in the future. This Climate Week NYC is expected to be even bigger than 2022, with climate change advocates set to use the week as a call for meaningful change still needed to reduce our carbon emissions by 2030.
Among the activities of the week was a session focused on transforming grids globally, and exploring the role of technology, digitalization and collaborations between various companies on the road to “renewable expansion.” As noted from the session, to power our world with renewable energy, our focus must be on updating digital infrastructure within the grid and establishing connections between “decentralized sources of clean energy.” We must also empower communities to adapt to the changing landscapes brought about by climate change. Based off presented data from the International Energy Agency, the integration of digital technologies has the potential to save $1.8 trillion in global grid investments by 2050. This transformation of the grid is essential for companies aiming to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which account for “70% of the average corporate value chain’s total emissions.”
This Climate Week New York City session was hosted by SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Cisco, Mary de Wysocki, who spoke with climate change representatives David Nicholson, Kristin Tilley, Priya Barua, and Gu-Yoon Chung. Throughout the session, the panel considered how to ensure digital grid infrastructure is available in all markets, how to accelerate the grid transformation, and what role policy plays in initiating grid digitalization and decarbonization. For the beginning of the session, de Wysocki welcomed Australia’s Ambassador for Climate Change, Kristin Tilley to speak on Australia’s renewable energy plan.
Since May of last year, Australia has accelerated its climate change leadership, including reducing emissions, committing to net-zero, and investing in renewable energy. Can you share some of the work that you do in your role as Australia’s Ambassador for Climate Change?
(Kristin Tilley, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). In my role I am effectively Australia’s lead climate diplomat. Beyond that, I represent Australia internationally, advocating for stronger global action on climate change, but with a particular focus on engagement in the Pacific and south-east Asia. Australia has been a fossil fuel intensive economy for decades and has a large number of fossil fuel exports. So, when our new government came in 16 months ago, it was elected with a clearer climate ambition platform than the other side of government, and pretty much immediately from coming in, legislated its 2030 target and its net-zero target for 2050. It also increased previous targets from 26/28% to 43% and realized instantly that it had 7.5 years to change its trajectory to meet the 2030 commitment that it had legislated and was legally bound to meet. The main areas of focus in that first year, in particular, were our two largest emitting sectors, the energy and industrial sectors. In the energy sector, it set itself a 2030 target of 82% renewables and made significant investments in their decarbonization journey, most of it, which is linked to this session, is in building new transmission lines to support large amounts of renewable energy. We know there are lots of investors that just want to invest in projects, but they need those new transmission lines to bring it to market.
As you go from a more typical fossil fuel led industry to now clean energy, there are implications to the work force, what are the thoughts you have about work force development?
(Tilley). It has been an important commitment of the government to support communities and workers in the transition. The net-zero economy authority has been set up and its key objectives are to help investors and companies engage with the net-zero transformation opportunities, coordinating programs and policies across governments to support regions and communities, to attract and take advantage of new clean energy industries and set them up for success, and supporting workers in emissions intensive sectors to access new employment skills and support them as the net-zero transformation continues.
During the following panel discussion, director of Market and Policy Innovation at CEBA, Priya Barua, drew out some similarities around the policy context in Australia and what we are seeing here in the United States. She notes that the US energy system is similarly undergoing rapid transition, with “technology innovation, customer demand, and competitive costs” accelerating the use of renewable energy. The United States has “stepped up its climate ambition,” with the current administration aiming for a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Barua acknowledges that while the tools and incentives employed by the government have the potential to “fundamentally modernize he US electricity system,” there are some critical barriers that still need to be addressed. In discussion with her panel of peers, Barua examined the increasing pressure on existing infrastructure brought about by climate change and the need for a more “reliant and resilient grid” to allow energy to flow to where it is needed most.
How can we ensure that resilient, digital grid infrastructure is available in all markets, especially in countries where energy is very de-centralized?
(David Nicholson, Chief Climate Officer, Mercy Corps). It’s probably a fairly obvious answer to this, but it’s finance. We need particular kinds of finance that are suited to the markets and communities that we are trying to get online. These are risky areas. If you are transitioning from no electricity services to services, you don’t know the level of demand, so it’s risky to try and understand what the revenue model that is going to look like. We work a lot in east Africa, and they have a wide range of impressive energy service companies that have been trying to get further and further outside of the wealthier areas and provide services. However, they always run into the barrier of figuring out how to get commercial financing to expand into these areas, as it is too unpredictable. So, the question is, how do we use the development assistance from countries like Australia to provide the right kind of incentives?
To hear the full discussion, view the livestream from the Climate Week New York City website,
Article + Tearsheets by Mia Fyson, Contributor & Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
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