Innovation Offers Much-Needed Solutions for the Critical Minerals Challenge
The world is facing a critical moment in the fight against climate change. To prevent the most catastrophic impacts of global warming, we need more than just incremental changes—we need transformative innovation across multiple sectors of the global economy. Breakthrough Energy is spearheading this mission by tackling some of the toughest challenges that stand in the way of a zero-carbon future.
Through its Grand Challenges initiative, Breakthrough Energy identifies the key areas where innovation is most urgently needed to accelerate the transition to clean energy. These challenges encompass the entire economy, from electricity generation to manufacturing, transportation, buildings, and agriculture. This comprehensive approach highlights the interconnectedness of these sectors and emphasizes the need for solutions that scale globally.
The Five Grand Challenges
Breakthrough Energy’s approach focuses on five specific areas—each representing a significant piece of the climate puzzle. By addressing these grand challenges, we can make meaningful progress toward a sustainable and prosperous future for all.
1. Electricity: Decarbonizing the Grid
Electricity generation is the largest single source of global carbon emissions, primarily because of its reliance on fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil. Decarbonizing the grid is one of the most urgent and foundational steps in achieving a zero-carbon economy. However, while renewable energy sources like solar and wind have seen rapid advances, they still only account for a fraction of the world’s electricity supply.
The challenge here is twofold: first, we need to increase the capacity and efficiency of renewable energy systems, and second, we need to develop grid-scale energy storage solutions. Since renewable energy sources are intermittent, energy storage is crucial for ensuring a stable and reliable electricity supply. Innovations in battery technology, grid infrastructure, and smart systems are essential to overcoming this challenge.
2. Manufacturing: Reimagining Industrial Processes
Manufacturing accounts for nearly a third of global emissions, driven by the production of materials like steel, cement, and chemicals, all of which are essential to modern life. The high temperatures required in these industrial processes often rely on burning fossil fuels, making this one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize.
To tackle the challenge of industrial emissions, Breakthrough Energy advocates for the development of new, clean industrial processes. This includes the electrification of industrial heating, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, and the use of green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels in heavy industries. Innovation in material science will also play a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of the manufacturing sector.
3. Transportation: Driving Zero-Carbon Mobility
Transportation is responsible for approximately 16% of global emissions, with cars, trucks, planes, and ships contributing heavily to the problem. The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is already underway, but this transition must be accelerated to meet climate goals. Additionally, electrification is not enough for every transportation mode—aviation and shipping, for instance, require entirely new zero-carbon fuels and technologies.
In addressing the transportation challenge, Breakthrough Energy emphasizes the need for widespread EV adoption, as well as the development of sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, and ships that run on clean energy. In parallel, charging infrastructure and clean fuel production must scale rapidly to support this transition.
4. Buildings: Creating Energy-Efficient, Sustainable Spaces
Buildings contribute to global emissions through their energy consumption for heating, cooling, and electricity use. Additionally, constructing buildings, especially using traditional materials like concrete and steel, generates a significant carbon footprint. Addressing the building challenge involves rethinking both how we build and how we operate these structures.
Energy-efficient building designs, retrofitting existing buildings, and switching to low-carbon construction materials are essential for reducing the emissions associated with this sector. Breakthrough Energy’s focus is on accelerating the adoption of technologies like heat pumps, energy-efficient windows, and zero-carbon building materials, alongside creating smarter, more efficient buildings that can optimize energy use.
5. Food and Agriculture: Revolutionizing How We Feed the World
The global food and agriculture sector accounts for roughly 20% of the world’s carbon emissions. Emissions from agriculture come from multiple sources, including livestock, deforestation for farmland, and the use of synthetic fertilizers. As the global population grows, the demand for food will increase, making it critical to develop more sustainable agricultural practices.
Breakthrough Energy’s approach to this challenge includes reducing methane emissions from livestock, improving soil management to sequester more carbon, and developing alternative proteins to reduce reliance on livestock farming. Innovations in sustainable farming techniques, vertical farming, and food production technologies are key to reducing the sector’s carbon footprint.
The Role of Innovation and Investment
Solving these grand challenges requires massive investment and collaboration across industries, governments, and research institutions. Breakthrough Energy aims to catalyze this transformation by investing in innovative startups and scaling proven solutions to bring them to market more quickly. By fostering partnerships with businesses and policymakers, Breakthrough Energy ensures that new technologies are not only developed but also deployed at the scale necessary to make a global impact.
In addition to funding groundbreaking research, Breakthrough Energy’s policy initiatives work to create the regulatory environments that will enable these innovations to thrive. Governments play a critical role in setting the rules that can incentivize or hinder the adoption of clean technologies. Policy reforms, such as carbon pricing and incentives for renewable energy, are essential for accelerating the energy transition.
A Global and Urgent Mission
Addressing climate change is one of the most urgent and complex challenges humanity has ever faced. By focusing on the five grand challenges—electricity, manufacturing, transportation, buildings, and food—Breakthrough Energy is taking a comprehensive approach that tackles the problem from multiple angles. These sectors are deeply intertwined, and solving one will have positive ripple effects across others.
The road to a zero-carbon future is long, but through innovation, investment, and global collaboration, we can achieve a sustainable world for future generations. Breakthrough Energy’s Grand Challenges provide a roadmap for the transformative change that is needed now more than ever.
