CLIMATE CORNER: Clarifying the cause of climate action
We need to change the way we think about climate action and clarify what we are truly talking about when it comes to the word “climate” and why it’s fundamental for general planetary survival.
Who are the entities making a difference for the climate? There are programs and projects that do boots-on-the-ground work, but who supports them? They are aided by organizations like my own, Climate Curve, and XPRIZE, which is universally recognized as the gold standard and most prestigious incentive prize in the scientific and technological communities. XPRIZE acts as a massive global catalyst, carrying a level of cachet that routinely surpasses traditional grants.
Climate Curve delivers a pragmatic and holistic climate systems approach with awards building bridges between accomplishments and successful scaling that has demonstrated one of the highest rates of add-on investment and social value.
As a third-year veteran of the XPRIZE Global Brain Trust and co-founder and team leader of Climate Curve, I’ve ideated and experienced innovation in the climate systems space that is beyond what most people could imagine. I’ve recently returned from the Global Brain Trust Science Conclave, which is a fast-paced bombardment of ingenuity and inventiveness across several domains. Six concepts are moving forward to the competition in mid-October in Malibu, California, for the right to be this year’s Brain Trust winner — an exceptionally high bar.
Some of the ways we are imagining the future involve coordinated advancement in ocean data, cryogenically preserving and accessing life-saving organs and genome sequencing within the natural world. Other concepts in my domain include the need for dilute methane detection and abatement, natural and scalable innovation for ocean alkalinity enhancement and breakthroughs involving both fission and fusion within nuclear energy systems. This is the kind of thinking we need to bring into the climate space at hyperscale. We’re looking for partners, investors, innovators and organizations who are ready to move beyond incremental solutions and help accelerate ideas with the potential for transformative impact. If this resonates with you, I’d welcome a conversation about how we can work together to identify, fund and scale the breakthroughs that can shape our future. It’s an exciting space and time. Sept. 20-27 was New York Climate Week, and the pace was chaotic, provocative and inspiring. One reason I was there: to announce the winners of a pioneering food systems methane prize that has identified promising solutions across agriculture and waste.
But the bigger opportunity is not simply to find another good idea. It is to recognize the ideas that can change the trajectory of a system — and then give them the capital, partnerships, talent and conviction to move at the speed the climate challenge demands.
No matter who you are — a scientist, entrepreneur, investor, policymaker, corporate leader or simply someone willing to think differently — you have a role in what comes next. The future isn't waiting for us to solve “climate”. It's waiting for us to imagine what's possible and build it. That is the work ahead. Let’s build what’s possible.
