ting climate goals, since the best options can be applied to each individual circumstance.
By broadening the set of stakeholders, interest groups, companies, constituencies, and even countries that see themselves as capable of contributing, we also expand the reach and accessibility of climate action. Recall that 85 percent of the global energy system is currently based on fossil fuels and nuclear power, or 95 percent if you include hydrocarbons in the form of combustible biomass energy. Enabling the vast majority of the current system to see an opportunity in climate action—rather than just a threat—could leverage massive capabilities and help turn the tide in a positive direction.
A technology-inclusive approach also expands the possibilities for emerging technologies to play a role and for entirely new innovations to be created. In simple terms, we don’t know how technologies will develop over time. For example, no one outside of a small group of industry insiders anticipated the shale revolution in the United States.
A wide array of technologies are already available and developing to help us with this approach to climate action. Wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies are the fastest-growing energy sources and are being supported by improvements in our ability to store power in batteries and other systems. Who’s to say that a major breakthrough in carbon capture, utilization, and storage; new nuclear; or other technologies isn’t coming in the 2020s or 2030s?
For example, carbon-capture-utilization-and-storage mechanisms allow us to sequester emissions and can be jump-started through coupling with existing activities like “enhanced oil recovery.” In Norway and Iceland, carbon is being stored in underground saline aquifers and in basalt-type rocks.
In the United States, oil and gas companies are investing in direct air capture technology with the goal of producing net-zero or even “negative-emissions” oil. Entrepreneurs in the United States, Canada, and Europe are also experimenting with direct air capture technologies capable of producing what has been called “air-to-fuels.” If we can find a way to put carbon dioxide to beneficial use, we have the potential to address the climate challenge while reducing the near-term disruption to economies, communities, and systems that depend on the production and transformation of fossil fuels and liquid fuels.
In the realm of nuclear energy, new designs are being tested that could lead to the deployment of small modular reactors, or even microreactors, in remote locations.
Outside of energy, nascent efforts are under way to develop low-emissions technologies for the production of cement, chemicals, steel, and other materials that lay the foundation for modern life.
Policy Design Principles
What does a comprehensive and technology-inclusive strategy, that drives toward net-zero emissions, imply for policy design? It means we frame our ultimate policy goals in terms of net emissions, rather than limiting ourselves only to goals that specify the set of viable technologies, or to policies that require every individual source to release zero emissions. Such policies would become increasingly difficult as deeper reductions are sought. The clean energy sources that are thriving today, such as wind and solar energy, may well play a dominant role in achieving those goals. But the key is that we don’t predetermine the outcome; instead, we allow a diverse set of technologies to compete to achieve our goals at the lowest possible cost and to the greatest effect.
A technology-inclusive approach is facilitated by broad carbon pricing. This policy shift creates the right incentives for producers and consumers and is feasible the world over: governments around the world and in various US states have adopted some version of carbon pricing, either in the form of carbon fees or cap-and-trade programs.
Properly pricing carbon can also take the form of incentives for early-stage deployment of low-carbon technologies and correct accounting for climate risks in public and private investme