example, the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office provides loans and loan guarantees to decarbonization technologies that are technologically mature but have not achieved full market acceptance. 3. Provide long-term market and regulatory clarity. While technological promise can motivate small-scale initial investments, investors often seek long-term clarity before making the large-scale investments needed to move from pilot program to full commercial deployment. Corporate players could help signal market direction by announcing commitments to transition to new technologies, even when those technologies are still in early stages. Amazon, for example, has committed to making 50 percent of its shipments zero carbon by 2030 and to becoming fully zero carbon by 2040. To reach those goals, the company has placed orders for 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Rivian. 46 Large commitments like these could help support early-stage technology companies in acquiring the financing to scale. Policy makers, for their part, could seek to provide clear regulatory guidance to the industry. Uncertain regulation can delay industry investments. Policy makers could aim to follow a principle of understanding the industry’s questions and uncertainties so they can provide clear guidance and rapid communication to accelerate needed investments. 4. Plan and invest in the shared infrastructure needed to scale. Many new technologies must overcome a “tragedy of the commons,” when shared ancillary infrastructure—such as pipelines to transport hydrogen or carbon
dioxide—is not planned in advance and is underinvested. For example, while EV deploy ment is accelerating, more than 40 percent of customers report that their vehicle’s driving range is the top buying factor they consider. In some states, including California and New York, regulators have authorized electric utilities to build charging infrastructure in public locations, in part to mitigate these concerns. At the same time, private players such as Ford and GM are investing in shared charging infrastructure that can be used by many EV models. - 47 Measures identified in earlier action areas could also support acceleration of technological innovation. For example, business leaders could develop supply chains and start to build talent pipelines for new skill sets to prepare for technologies that are precommercial today but could be rapidly scaled in the energy transition (see “Action area 2: Strengthening supply chains to provide stable access to raw materials, components, and skilled labor”). Similarly, the capital excellence solutions identified in “Action area 1: Designing and deploying a capital-efficient and affordable system” could be leveraged to lower costs, even in early-stage deployments of new technologies. The time to act Recent policy measures along with rapidly accelerating corporate commitments and private- sector investments put the United States at long last on a path to decarbonization. This is a new era for the energy sector: industry stakeholders no longer debate which targets to set but instead are turning their attention to the actions needed to execute the energy transition.
46 Delivering progress every day: Amazon’s 2021 sustainability report , Amazon, accessed October 11, 2022. 47 “Ford introduces North America’s largest electric vehicle charging network, helping customers confidently switch to an all-electric lifestyle,” Ford, October 17, 2019.
Accelerating the journey to net zero
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