Net Zero
by Narsi

Why current investment models are useless for effective climate investments

As I had been raving wild against the finance & investment community last few days - some over here and a lot more with my finance friends (am surprised they still are that :-)) - here are some thoughts on some fundamentals the future world of climate finance & economics could use.

𝑫𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 from CliDemy - the Climate Academy is a series that provides actionable insights for key stakeholders based on relevant data points around climate and climate action.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴 is a series of posts done by CliDemy - the Climate Academy. The goal is to provide effective awareness about specific topics within climate action for those keen on pursuing climate action careers & professions.

Climpact from CliDemy - the Climate Academy provides curated updates on actions & solutions that have the potential to provide high climate & decarbonization benefits.

The first COP (conference of parties, the annual international jamboree for climate action) was held in 1995. The 28th COP will be held later this year.

One good deed, you will agree, deserves another.

Of late, I have been reading a real lot on what the CEOs of the world are upto in the context of decarbonization. This is important for CliDemy - the Climate Academy, for which leaders, especially corporate leaders, comprise a critical segment.

𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 $1.4 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 2050 - 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲

𝑫𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 from CliDemy - the Climate Academy is a series that provides actionable insights for key stakeholders based on relevant data points around climate, climate action and decarbonization.

95% 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐎𝐄𝐌𝐬' 𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐞 3 - 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲

In India, the number of trucks that ply on roads is just 2% of the total number of road vehicles.

𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 95% 𝐂𝐎2 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭? - 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲

𝐄𝐒𝐆 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐱, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 - 𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 & 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞

Patrick Pouyanné is one of the most outspoken of the Big Oil CEOs, TotalEnergies - perhaps it is a French thing...

2008 𝐭𝐨 2023 - 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐲

While most discussions around EVs are about batteries, and perhaps to a lesser extent, charging & motors, what could really drive competitive advantage in this important decarbonization sector?

I woke up seriously late today - 10 am. The result of reading a book while running high-temperature last night.

In the last month alone, at our climate tech consulting division (EAI), I have been approached by CEOs of about 10 mid-sized Indian firms (Rs 1000-3000 crores annual revenues, industries ranging from textiles to food to auto), seeking my suggestions on investing in 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 within clean energy - in solar cells, wind turbines, biofuels, Li-ion battery cells, electric vehicles...

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐚 . 𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 - 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥?

𝘈 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘌𝘖𝘴. From seemingly nowhere, green hydrogen seems to be everywhere in the climate discussion.

I know the title is suggestive of a click-bait post, but do read on, won't you?

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦

𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴? I have been working in climate tech for 15 years, and my work has touched almost every prominent energy/fuel domain.

I had an intern (Nikita A ) experiment with this idea: Take a useful data point from a recent news item around India's decarbonization and Net Zero journey (Eg: 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 167 𝘔𝘞 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘺𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵), set an LLM on it to get related insights relevant to senior and top management.

During my first ten years of work in climate tech, revolving mostly around solar, biomass and biofuels, most discussions were about energy efficiency, yield, costs…energy density was hardly a debate topic.

(All my decarbonization posts here - 𝐍𝐞𝐭 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐢 - https://lnkd.in/g84YZXWt )

What if I told you that you share an intimate bond with ammonia?

𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘯...

The UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell recently announced, in rather dramatic tones, that we have just 2 years to save the world from climate change.

The world annually produces about 100 million tons of (conventional, grey) hydrogen, used mainly in fertilizer production and oil refining.

In most cases, green hydrogen is spoken of in conjunction with electrolysis of water. In fact, definitions of GH2 even by some fairly authoritative sources run as follows: "green hydrogen is hydrogen produced by splitting of water by electrolysis powered by green electricity."

The airline sector is a rather interesting - and the same time vexing - one when it comes to decarbonization.

"𝘛𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘉24 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘷𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢" - blared the headlines of a recent news item. ( https://lnkd.in/dZQQ4yZt )

A large part of my business interactions are with CEOs and other top management professionals - leaders of small startups to some of the largest firms in the world.

Recently, when I wrote about bio-hydrogen produced from biomass (https://shorturl.at/tYvhx), I was mainly considering biomass gasification and converting the resulting syngas (CO + H2) to H2, or recovering H2 from biogas.

One of the popular Shaw quotes: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man"

I have a thing for bio-chemistry, you could say. Eh, just what do I mean by that?

My team at BioBiz, our bio-economy consulting division, came up with an interesting idea to provide weekly updates for India's bio-energy, biofuels & biomaterials sector.

I run ClimaQuiz as a hobby - a serious hobby.  ClimaQuiz = climate quiz.

The global annual GDP is about $100 trillion...

I was reading a fascinating book Speed & Scale by John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins ), in which he consolidates impactful insights on climate action from people who have been there and done that. More about the excellent book at the end of the post.

Hi all, Welcome to Net Zero by Narsi, a newsletter on industry decarbonization and climate action. Thank you very much for subscribing to it.

During my first ten years of work in climate tech, revolving mostly around solar, biomass and biofuels, most discussions were about energy efficiency, yield, costs…energy density was hardly a debate topic.

Welcome to this edition of Net Zero by Narsi, In which I provide insights and updates on decarbonization and climate action, trying my best to make it interesting and useful - and wishing I don't sound pedagogic and conceited.

More than the cost of green hydrogen, it might have to do with the characteristics of the end-use sectors.