Cleantech refers to new technology and related business models offering competitive returns for investors and customers while providing solutions to global challenges.
The concept of cleantech embraces a diverse range of products, services, and processes across industry verticals that are inherently designed to:
According to the IEA, more than half of the cumulative emission reductions necessary to shift to a net-zero economy path come from technologies that are still not commercially available. Scaling up clean technology is therefore a crucial objective in the race to net zero. However, industrial scale-up takes time and significant investment. Some clean technologies, like solar and wind, are now fully mature and at cost parity with incumbent technologies such as coal or natural gas. Others, like floating offshore wind or green steel, still have a "green premium" compared to incumbent technology, and need further support to scale.
Clean technologies can have a long lead time to commercialisation, which may not be suited to the traditional venture capital model of 5-year cycles. Public policy has an important role to play to de-risk these investments, create demand for clean technologies and phase out incumbent technology. This is why we are working to close the gap between the cleantech ecosystem and policymakers.
Here is the typical growth journey of a cleantech innovation, and the policy levers that can be actioned to accelerate it:
