A Guide to the Key Technologies in the Fight Against Climate Change

Right now, record-breaking heat and drought conditions have become the norm all across the world. It’s the first terrifying glimpse into our collective climate future. That is unless we find a way to avert the man-made climate crisis that’s rapidly closing in on us.

The good news is that people from every corner of the globe are hard at work dreaming up new technology to help us end our dependence on carbon-intensive fuels and industrial processes.

They’re also working on ways to address the billions of tonnes of CO2 we’ve already pumped into the atmosphere. Right now, those tech solutions represent humanity’s best hope for preserving the environment on the planet we call home. Here’s a look at the most important technologies in development to fight climate change.

Renewable energy solutions

To stand any chance of halting the effects of climate change, it’s necessary to devise renewable energy solutions to replace those that rely on carbon-based fuels. It’s a heavier lift than you might imagine. Energy-related CO2 emissions worldwide reached a staggering 36.3 gigatonnes in 2021 — which, in case you aren’t up on your maths, is equivalent to the weight of 3.63 trillion African elephants.

Despite the enormity of the challenge, however, several major existing and upcoming technologies could make success possible.

Photovoltaic energy

The most widely-known form of renewable energy in use right now is photovoltaic — or solar — power generation. And recent improvements in photovoltaic technology have finally made solar power cost-competitive enough to gain traction in energy markets around the world.

That is driving major power generators to invest in solar generation capacity at accelerated rates. In the UK, that propelled solar power to the point where it makes up 28% of total national renewable power generation.

Wind generation

Joining photovoltaics as a key renewable energy technology is wind generation. The reason for that is simple. Wind turbines are simple to build and efficient at generating electricity. Some of the latest turbines convert up to 50% of available wind into electricity. Compared to solar, which tops out at around 22% efficiency, it’s easy to see why wind generation is so popular.

NOTE: One of the downsides to both solar and wind power is their intermittency. This means they require large-scale power storage solutions to be a reliable part of an electric grid. There are a variety of battery-based power storage systems in use for that purpose today, as well as some additional experimental storage technologies coming soon.

Nuclear power generation

The public’s perception of nuclear power is that it’s a relatively dangerous method of power generation. A handful of recent accidents at nuclear generation plants haven’t helped matters. Despite the risk, however, most experts believe nuclear power will have to play a key role in the elimination of CO2 emissions.

The good news is that the nuclear reactors of yesteryear are getting significant upgrades. As of 2018, at least 75 ongoing reactor design projects were moving toward functioning prototypes. Most of them involve smaller reactors with automated safety systems that would all but eliminate the drawbacks of older reactor designs.

There is one thing that the new generator designs don’t address: nuclear waste. But there’s a technology for that, too. Researchers are busy refining designs of what’s called fast reactors, which operate exclusively using spent nuclear fuel from conventional reactors. According to experts, such reactors could provide sustainable power for thousands of years if put into widespread use.

NOTE: The nuclear reactor technologies mentioned here all represent refinements of existing fission technology. Scientists are also working on sustainable nuclear fusion as a next-generation sustainable energy source. However, fusion technology is still experimental and nowhere near ready for real-world use.

Carbon capture solutions

One of the biggest challenges associated with combating climate change is that we’ve already done grievous damage to the environment. That means a certain amount of global warming is already in the cards even if we ceased to add any additional CO2 to the atmosphere starting today. That’s where the latest in carbon capture technology comes into play. The goal is to prevent ongoing emissions and create workable solutions to remove CO2 from the atmosphere to undo some of the harm it’s already doing. Here are some of the key technologies involved in those efforts.

Emission reduction technology

Believe it or not, we already have technology that can capture CO2 emissions from factories and the like before it ever enters the atmosphere. They’re called carbon scrubbers, and they rely on substances called ion exchange resins. Existing iterations can reduce factory carbon emissions by as much as 90%. Although it’s not widely known, the idea for carbon scrubbers dates back to the 1930s. And much of the technology’s development came courtesy of NASA, which used it to remove CO2 from astronauts’ breathable air during spaceflight.

Carbon sequestration

To address high CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere caused by years of unchecked emissions, scientists are also working on new carbon sequestration technologies. They’re systems that can extract CO2 from the air and store it to prevent it from re-entering the atmosphere.

The most visible example of this idea is the use of forest protection and expansion schemes that rely on trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it as biomass. They’re at the heart of many modern carbon offset programs, which aim to help industries achieve carbon neutrality.

Even the fossil fuel industry does this with so-called carbon offset fuels. They allow individual consumers to reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing carbon credits from sequestration programmes. You can find out more about carbon offset fuels by visiting participating fuel providers in your area.

Unfortunately, there isn’t enough usable land in the world for trees to be our primary means of carbon sequestration. So, mechanical systems are also coming online to add additional CO2 removal capacity. The largest example of such a system is in Iceland, where a facility called Orca is already removing 4,000 metric tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. After extraction, the CO2 gets pumped into caverns underground, where, mixed with water, it will eventually turn into harmless stone.

IMPORTANT: For carbon sequestration systems like Orca to be a viable solution to the climate crisis, they must rely on renewable energy sources to power them. Otherwise, they’d simply add to the very emissions crisis they aim to solve. In Orca’s case, a nearby geothermal power plant provides the necessary power to run the carbon sequestration system.

The takeaway

At the time of this writing, scientists believe that Earth is on track to see up to a 6-degree Celsius rise in average temperatures by 2050. The key renewable energy and carbon capture technologies mentioned here offer some hope that we may yet avert the worst outcomes, however. Their continued development is of critical importance to the fight against climate change. And we’ll continue to cover their development as they evolve and serve their globally-critical purposes — which everyone has a stake in rooting for.