The Road to Net Zero

In our first report, we looked at the barriers facing innovators in spinning out innovation, scaling, and securing valuable IP – and what can be done to overcome these.

The main factors that could drive success in each of these areas, we discovered, were the power of having a clear purpose – innovations must deliver positive impact – and effective collaboration, particularly between organisations who would not usually consider working together.

Applied to the global challenge that require the greatest innovation – climate change – this counts double. It is, quite simply, the defining threat facing our planet, and any innovation that is developed without a view on its potential environmental impact, will not be fit for purpose.

Attempting to overcome this challenge will require collaboration between every country on Earth, as has been proved at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, where there has been a conscious transition from 04-05 governments in allowing companies to drive their own sustainability agendas, to pledging and policymaking to hit global green targets.

The reality is setting in for businesses and governments that if we do not act now, the global net zero target for 2050 will not be achieved. Reaching net-zero emissions requires extensive changes across the economy and within all major infrastructures. In some cases, it will require a total transformation.

Now is the time these transformations must take place. And with manufacturing a significant contributor to carbon emissions – 880 million tonnes of CO2 emissions come from European manufacturing alone – the sector must be at the heart of the drive to net zero.

In a roundtable discussion held in the lead up to COP26, leaders from the manufacturing industry came together to discuss the key trends that will drive innovation to net zero.