As we start the New Year - and the heating of our planet and climate disruption continues apace - it is more important than ever to tackle the significant global challenge of climate change.
2021 can be, and must be, a turning point in the fight against global warming.
There are already promising signs, with the announcement in September that China will aim for carbon neutrality by 2060. The UK Government released their Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution in November and US President-elect Joe Biden has already introduced his climate and energy team, saying they will lead an "ambitious plan" to combat climate change.
Plans continue apace for the delayed Glasgow Climate Change Conference at the end of the year, and the leaders of three of the world's most powerful companies, Google (Sundar Pichai), Amazon (Jeff Bezos) and Microsoft (Bill Gates) have made public and meaningful pledges.
There can also be no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything, including the realms of what we consider possible and our views on the pace of change.
The year ahead is clearly an opportunity for us to review our energy needs, back energy efficiency and sustainable consumption and look to the future of reducing our environmental footprint and supporting biodiversity.
At Future Planet, we seek the intersection of high return and meaningful impact while addressing some of the world's biggest challenges. As Barclay's Private Bank's outlook for the year ahead recently set out, climate change as an existential threat and one of the most significant challenges facing current and future generations. Addressing climate change doesn’t require a smaller economy or a decade-long depression. Instead, transition to a low-carbon economy means primarily less emission-intensive growth; by decoupling growth and emissions.
Though pace remains slow, this is occurring. The year ahead is our opportunity to take this further and support initiatives to build back better, support green jobs, and accelerate our path to net zero.
This edition of Future Thinking will be the first in a series looking at ways we can introduce new technology, challenge preconceptions, and how we can invest profitably, to be be more responsible and sustainable - creating a better Future Planet.
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Click above to listen to Sir David Attenborough's New Year Message - to a brighter year ahead for all the inhabitants of our Perfect Planet
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FPC's Focus on Tackling Climate Change
Future Planet, working in partnership with scientists and founders emerging from the world’s top universities, is seeking those companies best able to meet this challenge and address the $50 trillion market opportunity created by the challenge of climate change.
The very essence of capitalism is to make more from less and the essence of responsible capitalism is to reduce unnecessary consumption and waste. A sustainable approach to emissions, consumption and the environment is not only profitable but will reduce untold suffering for billions of humans and their fellow creatures.
Future Planet brings together the world’s leading thinkers in these spaces and identities companies in three focus areas most likely to make a valuable difference to climate change, reducing our environmental footprint and husbanding bio-diversity.
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1. Energy & Emissions
25% of greenhouse gases derive from fossil fuels for electricity & heat production. This stores up problems for the future with climate change but, right now, air pollution as a whole impacts 90% of the global population and causes over 7 million premature deaths a year. Advances in AI and hardware will drive both investor value and impact in these systems. Key focus areas include Smart Cities, Transport, Clean Energy and Renewables and more.
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2. Sustainable Consumption
Embracing a circular, sustainable economy and living within smart cities is a matter of survival. Resource productivity / efficiency and waste elimination will have enormous impact & externality benefits for investors able to deploy & scale physical, digital & biological solutions to recycling and upcycling. Creating sustainable supply chains and new manufacturing methods, value chains will allow us to maintain productivity and create new opportunities in everything from FMCG to fashion.
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3. Environment & Agriculture
Agriculture, food, deforestation and changes in land use are a top three contributor to climate change and are predicted to lead to the extinction of over a million species. As humans encroach on more and more natural eco-systems there will be further pandemics and other diseases. Biotech, CRISPR & new deep tech are offering new opportunities to increase yields while lowering CO2 and waste in the global food value chain, in addition to new meat substitutes and advances in agri/aquaculture that maintain biodiversity and planet health.
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Meet the MIT Solver Teams:
Introducing the Sustainable Food Systems Solver Class
On February 25, 2020, our partner MIT Solve launched the Sustainable Food Systems Challenge which asked innovators around the world, how can we produce and consume low-carbon, resilient, and nutritious food? The 539 solutions received demonstrated a passion for transforming the global food system to mitigate the effects of climate change and minimize environmental impact. These solutions came from all corners of the world and targeted every aspect of the food economy: improving yields, decreasing agriculture emissions, reducing food loss, and promoting low-impact diets.
After closely reviewing these applications, Solve and their Sustainability Food Systems Challenge Leadership Group selected 15 finalists to pitch their solutions in front of the Solve community, including Future Planet. On September 29, those pitches were heard at the Virtual Solve Challenge Finals, and the expert judges selected seven of the most promising solutions to join the Solve community. More information on the new Sustainable Food Systems Solver Class can be found here.
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Challenge Investing
Within our universe, we have a significant number of companies that are helping to profitably address this significant and vitally important global challenge. If you’d like to invest in some of the most promising growth companies based on top research then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
This comes with very best wishes and a Happy New Year from everyone at Future Planet Capital.
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