Why Clean Energy Represents “The Greatest Economic Opportunity We’ve Ever Had“

Why Clean Energy Represents “The Greatest Economic Opportunity We’ve Ever Had“

Fulfilling the promise of the energy transition will require more than thrilling breakthroughs in decarbonization. It will also require plenty of unromantic but necessary infrastructure. The shift from fossil fuels to sustainable energy means rethinking how we generate, store, transport and consume energy, and then scaling all those solutions to make good on the growing commitments to net zero emissions. Huge investments are needed to fund the transition from fossil fuels, giving rise to new investment vehicles targeting green tech. That massive effort - everything from refitting legacy pipelines around the world to reworking electricity grids to incorporate hydrogen and other sources of renewable energy - takes massive investment. Therein lies a distinct economic challenge and opportunity. In fact, John Kerry, U. S. Presidential Special Envoy for Climate, calls clean energy "the greatest economic opportunity we've ever had." How all this infrastructure gets financed ranges from government grants to pension funds to corporate bonds. But will the funds available reach the level of investment required to set the energy sector on a course toward net zero? We're about to find out. Among the many funding needs on the horizon are new infrastructure to connect the grid to local, renewable power