Hardware for Good: Scaling Clean Tech

Summary

This panel discussion focused on the role of hardware and clean technology in addressing climate change and fostering sustainable economic growth. The conversation highlighted the critical importance of innovation in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and the opportunities this presents, particularly for Africa. Panelists emphasized that Africa’s abundant renewable energy resources and young population position it well to become a leader in green mining and manufacturing of critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies.

The discussion underscored the necessity of partnerships between startups, large corporations, and governments to accelerate innovation and deployment of clean technologies. Tara Karimi shared how her company, Semvita, is working with industry partners to convert CO2 waste into valuable products like sustainable aviation fuel. Gustavo Pimenta of Vale discussed how the mining industry is embracing technology to improve efficiency and sustainability, including investments in startups and circular mining practices.

Panelists agreed that policy innovation is crucial to drive adoption of clean technologies, with Anne Mettler emphasizing the need for better ways to account for the true costs of fossil fuels versus cleaner alternatives. The importance of scaling innovations was a recurring theme, with Europe’s challenges in this area highlighted as a cautionary tale. The discussion concluded with calls for speed, scale, and global partnership in transitioning to cleaner technologies, recognizing that no single entity can solve these challenges alone.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The critical role of mining and critical minerals in the clean energy transition

– Opportunities for sustainable mining practices and local value chains in Africa

– Innovations in carbon capture and utilization technologies

– The importance of policy support and incentives to scale clean technologies

– Challenges and opportunities in deploying clean tech innovations at scale

Overall purpose:

The goal of this discussion was to explore how hardware innovations, particularly in mining and materials, can be scaled to accelerate the clean energy transition and address climate change. The panelists aimed to highlight opportunities, challenges, and necessary actions across sectors.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking. Panelists emphasized the vast opportunities in clean tech while acknowledging challenges. There was a sense of urgency about the need to accelerate innovation and deployment. The tone became more action-oriented towards the end, with panelists making calls for partnerships, policy support, and rapid scaling of solutions.

Speakers

– Jennifer Schenker: Editor-in-Chief of The Innovator

– Amani Abou-Zeid: Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization for the African Union Commission

– Gustavo Pimenta: Chief Executive Officer of Vale (global mining company)

– Tara Karimi: Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Semvita

– Ann Mettler: Vice President Europe for Breakthrough Energies

Additional speakers:

– None identified

The Role of Hardware and Clean Technology in Addressing Climate Change

This panel discussion, moderated by Jennifer Schenker, Editor-in-Chief of The Innovator, brought together experts from various sectors to explore the critical role of hardware innovations and clean technology in combating climate change and fostering sustainable economic growth. The conversation highlighted the urgent need for innovation in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and the significant opportunities this presents, particularly for Africa.

Overview of the Clean Energy Transition

Ann Mettler, Vice President Europe for Breakthrough Energies, set the tone by emphasizing the unstoppable trend towards clean energy and the importance of energy resilience. She highlighted that the transition to clean energy is not just about technology, but also requires innovation in policy and deployment strategies. Gustavo Pimenta, Chief Executive Officer of Vale, underscored the dramatic increase in demand for critical minerals, stating unequivocally that “there is no energy transition without mining”.

Critical Minerals and Sustainable Mining Practices

The discussion delved into the crucial role of critical minerals in the clean energy transition. Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization for the African Union Commission, emphasized Africa’s abundant renewable energy and mineral resources, positioning the continent as a potential leader in the green energy sector. She shared the African Union’s ambition to become a global hub for green mining, leveraging the continent’s vast resources and young population.

Pimenta detailed Vale’s efforts to offer low carbon footprint iron ore products and increase circular mining activities to 10% of production by 2030. He also highlighted Vale’s use of autonomous trucks and AI in mining operations to improve efficiency and sustainability. Mettler mentioned the use of AI in detecting untapped mineral deposits, further emphasizing the technological advancements in this sector.

Innovations in Clean Technologies

The panel highlighted various innovations in clean technologies. Tara Karimi, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Semvita, shared how her company is working with industry partners to convert CO2 waste into valuable products like sustainable aviation fuel. She emphasized the importance of efficiency in sustainability technologies and called for policies to better incentivize carbon utilization over storage.

Pimenta discussed the opportunities presented by green hydrogen for steel production, while Abou-Zeid elaborated on Africa’s potential in green hydrogen production and sustainable aviation fuel. She outlined the African Union’s strategy for developing these sectors and creating local value chains in green technologies.

Mettler emphasized the need for policy innovation to properly incentivize clean tech development and deployment. This sentiment was echoed by other panelists, highlighting a shared recognition of policy’s crucial role in driving the clean energy transition.

Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling Clean Technologies

The discussion acknowledged the significant challenges in deploying clean tech innovations at scale. Mettler highlighted Europe’s struggles with scaling cleantech companies, while Pimenta stressed the need to make the clean energy transition attractive for investors. Abou-Zeid emphasized that the speed and scale of adoption require global partnerships.

The panelists agreed that no single entity can solve these challenges alone, calling for increased collaboration across sectors and regions. They also highlighted the need for policy support and incentives to scale clean technologies effectively. Karimi emphasized the crucial role of partnerships between startups and large companies in driving innovation, a point echoed by Pimenta, who revealed Vale’s $100 million investment in cleantech startups.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

The discussion concluded with a sense of urgency about the need to accelerate innovation and deployment of clean technologies. Key takeaways included:

1. The critical role of minerals in the clean energy transition and the projected increase in demand.

2. Africa’s potential as a leader in renewable energy, sustainable mining, green hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel.

3. The importance of partnerships between startups, large companies, and governments for scaling clean technologies.

4. The need for innovation in technology, policy, and deployment strategies.

5. The growing importance of sustainable mining practices and circular economy approaches.

6. The potential of AI and other technologies to improve efficiency and sustainability across energy and mining value chains.

7. The unstoppable trend towards clean energy and the importance of energy resilience.

Unresolved issues included making clean technologies cost-competitive with fossil fuel alternatives, addressing scaling challenges, balancing mineral demand with environmental and social impacts, and accelerating the deployment of key clean technologies like hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel.

The overall tone of the discussion was optimistic and forward-looking, emphasizing vast opportunities in clean tech while acknowledging significant challenges. The conversation highlighted the interconnectedness of different sectors in achieving sustainability goals and emphasized the need for collaborative, multi-stakeholder approaches to drive the global transition to clean energy.

Jennifer Schenker: Welcome to the session on Hardware for Good, Scaling Cleantech. I’m Jennifer Schenker, Editor-in-Chief of The Innovator, a global publication that connects technology with business. It’s my pleasure to introduce our panelists, Commissioner Amani Abouzeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization for the African Union Commission. Next to her, we have Gustavo Pimenta, Chief Executive Officer of Vale, a global mining company. And next to him, we have Tara Karimi, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Semvita, one of the global innovators here in Davos, and we’ll hear more about what she does in a moment. But I can just say in a nutshell that her company focuses on transforming CO2 and waste into valuable products. And finally, we have Anne Mettler, who is the Vice President Europe for Breakthrough Energies. So before we dive into our conversation, I’m just going to take a moment to set the scene. The only way to avoid the worst impact of climate change is to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from 51 billion tons a year, where they are now, to net zero, and we need to do it by 2050. That means we need unprecedented technological innovation in almost every sector. About 35% of CO2 reductions by 2070 depend on technologies in early stages requiring more R&D, while another 40% depend on not yet developed technologies, according to the International Energy Agency. The mining and metal sector is at the heart of the global transition to a low-carbon economy, providing the critical materials essential for renewable energy systems, electric vehicles and energy storage. The demand for critical minerals is projected to nearly triple by 2030 and grow to over 3.5 times current levels by 2050, reaching nearly 40 million tons annually. Meeting this surging demand sustainably is a significant challenge given the environmental impacts of mining, particularly carbon emissions and water management. Carbon capture technologies are emerging as a transformative solution for reducing emissions in this energy-intensive industry. These carbon capture and utilization technologies, which are called CCU for short, could capture up to 10.4 gigatons of CO2 annually by 2070, playing a pivotal role in global decarbonization efforts. In the mining and metals sector, CCU technologies offer a dual advantage, reducing the carbon footprint of processes like smelting and refining, while creating economic value by transforming captured CO2 into products such as synthetic fuels, building materials and industrial chemicals. Water management is another critical challenge as mining operations are often located in water-scarce regions where competition for freshwater resources is intense. This makes sustainable water practices a priority for reducing environmental impacts and maintaining community support. The challenge is deployment, scaling these technologies across the economy. For the past few decades, large corporates have been wary about investing large sums in clean technologies because they’re viewed as mostly emission reducers that help our environment but not as innovations that help their businesses. This started to change in 2024, say industry observers. Corporate leaders increasingly understand that climate tech is not just about shrinking the carbon footprint. It’s also about strengthening their businesses and deploying their capital more efficiently. and investing in climate change is a key part of the global economy, and it is the key to the economy globally. Encouragingly, major global investors, including endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and infrastructure investors are starting to engage in climate tech opportunities in meaningful ways. But investments by corporates and venture funds must be complemented by policies and incentives that help the industries make the switch while ensuring access to renewable energy. Accelerating innovation will require a huge amount of capital and an all-hands-on-deck effort by entrepreneurs, investors, large corporates, and governments. On this panel, we have a global mining company, Vale, we have an entrepreneur, a government official, and an investor who will give their views on the way forward. So, without further ado, I’d like to start with you, Commissioner. What are the key opportunities for growth, and what is the role of policy and regulatory measure to accelerate this innovation?

Amani Abou-Zeid: Thank you, first of all, for inviting me to this important session, and very briefly, for those who do not know what is the African Union and what we do. In a nutshell, we are the political representation, the organization that represents the whole of the continent of Africa, so it’s almost like the EU, except that it’s the whole of Africa, meaning all 55 countries. And our role is simple, I mean, in articulation, but very complex in implementation. Our role is to unite Africa in every single thing that we do. So, our role is to create or to help propel Africa into a prosperous and peaceful competitive continent across the globe. In the sectors that I cover, which… you kindly mentioned, infrastructure, energy, and digitalization. This means that our role is to connect physically through the infrastructure projects, the continent, or the transport and mobility means, but also make use of the energy resources that we are having to electrify the continent. And also, the connectivity, the electronic, the information connectivity. Now, in terms of opportunity for those who do not know, Africa is the region that is most endowed with resources of renewable energy. Almost there isn’t one element of renewable energy that is not existing in abundance in the continent. We are also the youngest region of the world. 65% of our population is young people. We are also an extremely rich region in terms of minerals necessary for electronics and for renewable energy and what have you, in addition, of course, to the traditional agriculture or other resources. So in terms of potential and opportunities, it’s huge. So why this topic is important to us? I know that you focused your introduction saying that it’s important for climate. Yes, I mean, Africa, our contribution to climate and emissions, the whole continent emits 3% only of the emissions. And if we use even all the natural gas that we have in, which is almost impossible, this will grow from 3% to 3.08% as per the IEA. Yet, we are the region of the world that is hardest hit. by climate disasters hardest, and they become also more frequent. But the reason we are interested in this topic is because, for us, it is our way also for economic growth, to create jobs, to make sure that we benefit from the huge resources that we are having. The renewable energy is a critical part of our energy mix, and our aim is to make it grow to 70% in the energy mix from the current 30 by the year 2040. And that’s through the single African electricity market. The critical minerals that you alluded to, we call them development minerals. We are not happy with what is happening now in the mining sector. And we know, it’s not just the statistics that you gave, that critical minerals will grow the need for them 500, 600% in a matter of one or two decades. Copper alone, we will be using in the next 10, 20 years, more copper than what humanity used in its entire existence. So we’re talking about massive growth, and yet what Africa gets out of that is very, very little, if anything. In addition to a serious destruction of our environment, and very heavy social costs. By investing in a value chain, local value chain in Africa, and developing downstream and manufacturing, this will help not only with the growth, the jobs that I mentioned, using also our green energy, so green mining, but also we will help diversify the supply chain, instead of having all of this concentrated in one country. I’m not going to mention who, but regardless what country it is, I don’t think it’s right that such an important matter is concentrated in one country. in one place, and it’s in everybody’s interest to see that the supply chain is diversified, and also the manufacturing of solar panels, you know, what is needed for the wind power and geothermal and so on and so forth. So we want to develop these locally, they will come cheaper for you, they will create jobs for us, it will diversify the global supply chain, everyone wins, and that’s why you should invest in Africa now.

Jennifer Schenker: Thank you, Commissioner. I’d like to just go back for a moment to critical minerals. Do you see this as the demand increases, and Africa obviously is a rich source of these materials. Do you see this as an opportunity for Africa to become a leader in sustainable mining practices?

Amani Abou-Zeid: That’s our aim actually, and through our African Mining Centre, we are calling them, we launched a strategy last year, we launched it in the African Climate Summit, we call them development minerals, and our aim is to become the global hub for the green mining and development minerals, for manufacturing, but also other things. I know they’re not necessarily the topic here, but green data centres and others, so making use also of our youth. Remember it’s the only region in the world that has this, I mean, 65% youth, and it will keep being the youthful, or the most youthful region of the world in an ageing world, as we all know. When you say youth, it also comes with energy, it comes with people’s energy, not just electricity, energy comes with… with innovation, with ambitions, it will solve issues, I’m sure our friends from Europe also are very sensitive when it comes to issues of migration. So it’s in everybody’s interest definitely for us from every aspect to make sure that this is happening in Africa and for the world for all the reasons that I mentioned. So our ambitions are big, are huge, and it’s, as I said, I mean Africa is, no one can talk about green industries, green energy, green anything, without Africa. It’s almost, it’s not almost, it is impossible. Every car that you ride, every electronic that you are having in your hand has a piece of Africa in it. It is impossible. So I accept that we want all of us to do things differently, and we make sure that we all benefit from what’s happening.

Jennifer Schenker: Thank you. With that, I want to turn to you, Gustavo, and talk about, you know, what your global mining company, how you are handling this, you know, increased demand for critical minerals, and also how you are confronting the issue of making your own mining operations greener. First of all, thanks for having us.

Gustavo Pimenta: As you probably know, Vale is one of the largest mining operators globally. We are one of the largest producers of iron ore, a very important player in copper, nickel, and a company that is growing, right? I usually say, just building up on the commissioner’s initial remarks, that there is no energy transition without mining, right? Everything that we look at, there are some critical minerals associated, and these days it’s been a lot harder in terms of how much we can bring to the market, given it is a lot harder to find new deposits, a lot harder to develop new projects. In the past, a typical mining project would take seven years to come from exploration to commercial operations. Today, it’s about 13 years. If you look at that compared to what you’re describing initially, the amount of demand that we’re going to need, it does create an enormous challenge, but also an enormous opportunity for the sector to work on. I think technology plays a big role here. Vale is very focused on bringing those critical minerals to the market in a sustainable way, looking for new ways to operate, developing new routes of processing to help our clients to decarbonise their routes. If you look at the steel industry today, about 8% of the CO2 emissions come from that particular sector. It’s one of the hardest to abate industries. So we’ve been working, as a leader in the iron ore market, we’ve been working with our clients, one, to offer them products with low carbon footprint. So there is an enormous amount of innovation going on, on the product offering. So when you put the iron ore in their blast furnace, for example, they reduce the carbon footprint of their production. We just announced last year an innovation called the BRICAT, which is an evolution of the supply of iron ore, helping our clients to decarbonise. But we are also helping our clients to move to new clusters, where they can initially have access to natural gas in the production of steel. So you have the reduction in the CO2 emission. So you see, for example, the Middle East being a source of potential cluster of steel production, leveraging their access to natural gas, so therefore lowering the carbon footprint. And in the future, which we are very excited with, the opportunity to tap into hydrogen. And that’s where markets like Africa, Brazil, have a unique opportunity. Brazil has ample access to renewable sources as well, 24-7, so the ability for Brazil to produce green hydrogen at a competitive level to then, in the future, have an steel industry that is fully green, it’s totally realistic. It’s going to take time. We’ll have to improve and implement new technologies to help to be able to drive costs down, but I can see that future in the industry. So we are working very hard to help our clients on that front. We are also working with our clients to promote and to increase the supply of copper and nickel that is so critical for the energy transition. So there’s a lot of initiatives going on for us to be able to address one of the most critical elements and challenges of our generation.

Jennifer Schenker: Thank you. I have to say to the audience, we couldn’t do a panel here about technology that doesn’t mention AI at least once. So I just wanted to point out that AI is actually being used to help detect untapped deposits of these critical minerals. I’ll just jump

Ann Mettler: to you, Anne, for a moment to explain, like Breakthrough Energy has just invested in a company called Cobalt. So Cobalt Metals, yeah, is using AI to detect these minerals and is now valued at $3 billion. So that’s not peanuts for a start-up. But more broadly, what I want to add to this discussion is a sense of optimism. And I say it not just from my perspective at Breakthrough Energy now, but also from my previous job where I was a Director General at the European Commission and was in charge of strategic foresight. If we look at global trends, the trend towards clean energy is unstoppable. And we see it in renewables, especially solar, but also electromobility. We already spoke about critical minerals, right? It’ll triple by 2030, but also if you look at batteries, which are now used not just for cars, but also for storing electricity. If you look at all type of sort of electric or power infrastructure, we’re investing massively across the world in the power grid. So companies that are active in this space are hugely successful. Just to give you an example from Europe, Siemens Energy last year, the stock price rose 300 percent. It had a better performance than NVIDIA. Granted, it started from a lower base, but nonetheless, also Schneider Electric increased its market share or its valuation by one third, right? So the point is this is unstoppable, right? This is nothing that happens politically will stop this, because what we’re seeing is this is becoming an overriding political priority. And interestingly, not just from a climate perspective, but also, and you already said it, also from just a competitiveness perspective, these are the markets of the future, right? And additionally, for reasons of energy resilience, energy security, even countries that possess fossil energy are diversifying. And we’re seeing it in the Gulf. And my prediction is we will see it also in the United States, right? It is not secure to be overly reliant on any one source of energy. So diversification, building up new sectors is going to become a huge priority, including in the United States. I make that prediction, right? Because if the Trump administration, and the President in particular, is speaking about energy dominance, speaking about an energy emergency, you may have heard the speech that Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, gave, where energy is one of the most important things. of three top priorities for this political cycle, then I say you’re not going to achieve these goals if you’re not going to be players in clean energy, right? So contrary to what maybe the sentiment is a little bit here at the annual meeting this time around is, whereas maybe climate and sustainability are not the focal point anymore for some people, I say not for me, energy has never been more important. So I think we’re going to start looking at these issues just from a different perspective, right? And what I always like to say is, I mean, yes, it’s climate, but it’s also competitiveness and it’s also resilience and security. I call it the triple win. And so my prediction is that all of this will continue unabated and may actually even accelerate in places we would not necessarily expect them to accelerate. Thank you, Anne.

Jennifer Schenker: So I think it’s important that we underscore the crucial role of startup innovation in this whole environment. And so I want to turn to you now, Tara, to talk about how you’re working with heavy industry to help them decarbonize, but also to create new products from CO2 emissions.

Tara Karimi: Thank you. I think innovation and production and being a self-sustainable business needs to be side by side. Sustainability is not a luxury, it’s not a cost, it’s a business. So for any startup, first, it needs to be self-sustainable and it needs to be financially feasible. What we do at Semvita, we convert carbon dioxide and other industrial carbon waste to valuable products for the same reason that was discussed. It needs to be a business. It shouldn’t be cost, otherwise it doesn’t go anywhere. There is not enough investment to put so much money over and over and over. It needs to generate value by itself. And then for that reason, we work with our customers in energy industry, in chemical industry to see where is the gap, where is the largest need? And then together we design processes, we design products. One of the products that we have, for instance, is our processes that we have is that we convert carbon dioxide and other carbon waste through biological processes to substrates that then we can generate different types of molecules. So for instance, I have a sample. I’m a scientist, always I love samples. It’s a sample of oil that we generated without agriculture in a completely closed system through fermentation. So everybody is familiar with the classic fermentation when we can use yeast, for instance, to make ethanol. But today we can do much more because the genetic tools are available. And with the current available genetic tools, basically you can read, write, and edit and improve a genetic code. So what we did, we took the genetic code of special oils from plants, for instance, soybean oil, and then we added to a special yeast and other strains that we isolated them from nature and we amplify. the production of the oil through genetic improvement. So is this edible oil, Tara? This one is astride, and yes, it is. But I don’t, it needs to go through the FDA process. No, don’t put it on the salad today, anyway. But from the chemistry aspect, yes, it is. But still, it needs some work to be done. So with the first version we produced, we produced it for production of sustainable aviation fuel, so then it doesn’t need to go through the long-term processes for food application. Also, it’s a huge market. Today, SAF, or sustainable aviation fuel, is produced through soybean oil and cooked oil. And there is not enough cooked oil in the world and not enough soybean oil to cover the demand. But we can be creative. We can think about other sources of carbon. There is no shortage of waste. Everybody wants to get rid of carbon dioxide. There is so much waste in the world, and then we can get inspired from nature. So that’s my passion, getting inspired by nature. Before we started the company, my research area was in biomimicry, and actually it was regenerative medicine. Nature by itself is self-regenerative, and you can see it everywhere. You can see it in our body. You can see it in plants. You can see it in the entire ecosystem. Waste happens when humans interfere with something. But today, there are a lot of tools available that we can learn from nature, and actually nature is very generous. So nature shared with us the genetic code, the codon, and the recipe of how we can learn from nature. building millions of molecules, and it’s available. So what we did in Sanvita, we got a lot of tools in bioinformatics that I had access to them in pharma, but basically in pharma also you make a lot of molecules through biological processes, and we adapted them for production of chemicals and fuels. And I think I was lucky because just for my research, I was working in Houston in medical center, and my brother, who is a petrochemical engineer, he was also working in Houston for a year, and we shared a lot of random ideas over dinner when we were traveling, but both of us had the same passion. So at some point, my brother now, he’s my co-founder and my CEO, suggested me that why you don’t leave your job at university? And then we started a company together with the focus on sustainability, and yeah, and I did it. And I said, okay, yeah, if it doesn’t work, we come back to the first place, but let’s try it.

Jennifer Schenker: Okay, so your company now is working with a variety of heavy industries. Talk about the collaboration with big business and the importance role that large companies have in helping clean tech young companies like yours in scaling.

Tara Karimi: Correct, I think it’s a critical point because a startup cannot afford to figure it out, everything, build a plant, a scale up. It needs a collaboration, it needs a partnership, and I think this is a big part of our success, and I’m so grateful for our partners, including Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, we have one of our investors here today, Occidental Petroleum. First of all, we can focus on our strengths, which is the biotechnology, so we can bring the best and greatest from the biotechnology, and then we can learn from the existing knowledge, existing infrastructure in the market. First of all, it will save a lot of time on R&D, and resources, and then also it save a lot of capex. You can repurpose a lot of existing infrastructure in the current plants. For instance, for the oil we generate, we work very closely with Oxylocarbon to develop our downstream processes, and for building our first commercial plant, we are doing a partnership with B8, which is a currently existing biofuel. They have great biofuels, and the co-location of these two plants will save a lot of capex, so you don’t need to replicate a lot of things. You can repurpose, you can improve, you can learn. In terms of the capex, and in terms of opex, and in terms of timing, I think this is very important, but it needs for both sides to be open, and for startups, I think it’s important to just be comfortable to share things that you don’t know, and just talk about it.

Amani Abou-Zeid: I think this is very exciting, and very important, and why I’m saying this, because sustainable aviation fuel is very important to us, and we already have four African countries who are on their way to produce sustainable aviation fuel. The thing is, it depends mainly, or the attraction in Africa is that it used cooking oil, used edible oil, but we’re seeing also, or we start seeing across the world, the other side of the picture, where edible oil prices start getting. getting higher and more expensive, and that has its implication on us and everybody else. So thanks to innovation like this, we then could spare humanity the part of using our food to fuel planes, and rather use the waste to do that. So I think this is a very interesting innovation. And by the same token, since we talk about innovation, you mentioned green hydrogen. Nine African countries are currently producing green hydrogen, and our intention is also to produce green steel, green ammonia. Mainly what’s happening now is for export, but what we are working on with our countries is that we would like our countries to develop the local value chains for the use and production of green hydrogen locally, so not to miss out on this also, this very important opportunity, to the point that this week, actually, we’re going to the African Summit to adopt our green hydrogen SAF and strategies. But also something we did not talk about and touched upon is energy efficiency. And thanks to things like smart grids, smart meters, the use of AI, AI goes beyond just the detection of metals. AI is mainstreamed or should be mainstreamed in everything that we do. Just for energy, the way it detects the patterns of consumption, the production, and the tailor-made solutions and on-demand and real-time information is fantastic. And that’s, again, why even for us in Africa, don’t be surprised because people do not associate Africa with AI and stuff like that, but I’m here to change your ideas as well. We are also into mainstreaming.

Jennifer Schenker: and AI in the energy value chain. So one thing that hasn’t been discussed yet when we talk about innovations like the ones that Tara is working on, is there is a difference between the price of SAF and regular fuel. And this is the case in many different areas of clean tech. So let’s just take a moment to speak about the role of policy and in helping these innovations scale and get to market. So have there been?

Amani Abou-Zeid: That’s why I said we have this strategy. The idea is that we, Green Hydrogen, SAF, and others, as we innovate, we want to encourage innovation. And except that for Africa, it has always been led by someone else for the benefit of someone else. And our purpose and our aim is to, yes, there’s room for export, definitely. And partnership is highly important and valuable also to bring the technology transfer and to help with the skills upgrade. But unless we change, it will become another resource curse. So unless the reality, the African reality, absorbs and implements these innovations locally, not just the easy ones, but the hard ones, which is manufacturing, industrialization, then we will stay where we are.

Jennifer Schenker: And we don’t want that. OK. Anne, you?

Ann Mettler: Because I work on these issues also every single day. The challenge in clean tech and innovation is that so much of the innovation is very undifferentiated. So when we speak about SAF, if you fly on an airplane that is powered by SAF, it will not palpably feel different than if you’re flying on an airplane that is powered by kerosene, right? Or if you use green cement, it won’t feel differently, right, than using. CO2 incentive. This makes it genuinely difficult, I have to say, in the domain that I work in. But it makes policy all the more important. And what I always plead for is when we speak about innovation, we usually speak about innovation in technology. Let me tell you, the technology is not the problem. The problem is there isn’t enough innovation in policy. Yeah. There isn’t enough innovation in how we cost these things, right? So we are always incentivized to go for the easy and seemingly cheap solution, which is usually fossil energy, because we are unable to properly cost in CO2 emissions, security, resilience, an industrial base, right? So that is a real challenge and where I really look for sort of innovations in policy. And I also say we need innovation in deployment. This is especially in my geography in Europe, as I said, technology is not the problem. Deploying the technology solutions is the problem. And this is actually where I am very bullish on countries in Africa, where I was in South Africa a few weeks ago, where I sensed a lot of appetite to actually deploy a much less sort of risk aversion, slow permitting, which we have here. I mean, all of the challenges that we face. So I would encourage us in this debate to have a much broader perspective of

Jennifer Schenker: what kind of innovations we need and not always only zero in on technology. That’s not the problem. OK, thank you. And let me turn to you now, Gustav. We talk a lot about the potential, but from a business perspective, how do you balance the desire to innovate and incorporate innovation with the constraints of, you know, having to your operational and financial constraints of a large mining company, because there are policy issues, there are, but there’s also business, real life business issues as well. Business constraints. Yes.

Gustavo Pimenta: Look, I think technology actually and innovation actually drives operational excellence and financial excellence, right? We’ve been thinking deeply about ways where we can get more efficient in our operations, for example, if you take something that the miners are more involved with recently, which is circular mining, for example, right? Today Vale is producing about 12 million tons of iron ore just from circular activities. There’s a lot of innovation going there that we’ve been promoting. Our expectation is that 10% of our production at some point in time, 2030, is going to be from circular mining. So I see a lot of opportunities for us to actually deploy more technology to reduce people from the risk. If you take Vale, for example, between own employees and third party, we have 200,000 people working for us. A lot of these people in areas that are activities that are dangerous, that they are at risk at some point in time. So it’s a way for us to be more efficient. It’s a way for us to remove people from the risk. We have a lot of autonomous trucks, for example. Those big trucks running on AI, they operate more efficient. They cost less. You reduce, remove people from the risk. So I see an enormous amount of opportunity. I actually think mining is a little behind in terms of technology deployment. It’s a physic asset, infrastructure, heavy asset, and historically it hasn’t engaged in technology as much. But I think this has changed in the last couple of years and all the miners are extremely focused on finding new ways to operate, reducing risk, being more productive, putting new innovation, bringing solutions from other industries. We are learning a lot from other industries that advanced a lot more than we did. We were mentioned, Tara, a little earlier in terms of the role of the start-ups in our businesses. Vale has put aside $100 million to invest in start-ups, because, one, we don’t have the time. Sometimes we don’t have the knowledge. So we give the money to these people that will help us think about big issues. And the good thing is I have the platform. If they have a good idea, they bring it to me. We deploy. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, we go to the next one. So I think there is also an opportunity here for partnership and collaboration. We’ve been historically very inward-looking, very the miners working by itself without opening up for partnerships, new technologies. And I think I see this new generation of miners a lot more open to consider solutions for another industry, but getting insights from people that are dedicating their lives to a particular issue. Right? And we are incorporating a lot of those initiatives into our operations. So we’re very excited with the future for mining.

Jennifer Schenker: Okay. Thanks. In a minute or two, we’re going to open up for questions. So if you have a question, raise your hand now, and then we’ll get to you in a minute. Anne, I want to go back to you. So there’s reason for optimism. We’re seeing companies in traditional sectors like mining that never before would have worked with start-ups that are more open. But we still need policy innovation. Let’s turn to Europe for a second. And there was possibility for great potential. We had wonderful projects like Northvolt that has failed. What are your frustrations with where we are today, and how do we move forward? Well, the single biggest concern, I think, with regards to Europe, again, is not so much the innovation. We know Europe has more patents in cleantech than anyone else. It’s really around the scaling, right?

Ann Mettler: This is where one has to just recognise Europe has not produced a single company that’s worth more than 100 billion, has a market valuation of more than 100 billion euros in more than 50 years. So this is the problem in Europe. You can’t scale, right? This is, I always say, it’s Europe’s scale or fail moment. By the way, not just in cleantech, but across the board, right? Because what is happening now is also largely due to the high cost of energy. We are de-industrialising, so we’re losing existing industry, while we’re not standing up new industry. So Northvolt in that respect is particularly troublesome, because that was picture-perfect industrial policy, right? I mean, we had a talented entrepreneur. We had offtake in the billions. It raised more than 15 billion euros, so money was not the issue. So we really ought to study what happened here, so that we don’t repeat it again. However, what I will say, in Europe there is also a silver lining, precisely because the cost of energy is so high, I think that there are opportunities to really optimise the use of energy, and AI will be key for the optimisation. I would actually argue, and this is one of the problems that we have here, broadly speaking, discussions like these do not include economic policy makers. The argument that I always make is that productivity is the pathway to prosperity. In the 20th century, it was all about labour productivity. I would argue in the 21st century, it’s about resource productivity. It’s really how we use energy. And in Europe, precisely because energy is so expensive, there are huge opportunities for new business models in energy efficiency, in circularity, in substituting maybe materials we don’t have. So I still see enormous innovation potential in Europe, and it’s really a matter of existential importance, because we are a resource-poor geography. We don’t have fossil energy outside of Norway, or at least not that we would want to use it, but we’re too dependent on clean energy on one particular country. So Europe has to double down on this now, because what is energy resilience? It’s not being overly reliant on any one source of energy, nor any one country. So we are very exposed right now. And innovation and clean technologies are the pathway to success for Europe.

Jennifer Schenker: So that’s your call to action? Yes, absolutely. OK. What would be your call to action here?

Tara Karimi: Yeah, I think policies are critical. I’ll just give an example. For instance, in CCUS, policies carbon dioxide capture, storage, and utilization, companies, for instance, in US, they get more carbon credit just for storage, rather than utilization. And everybody understands that when you want to convert carbon dioxide to a product, of course, there is a cost. But it’s very interesting. The policy is giving more credit to a storage, rather than to utilization. And it’s insane to me. OK. So that’s your call to action. Right. And then, sorry, I have one more point. For AI, also, I 100% agree with you. It’s when we talk about sustainability and new technologies, it’s all about the efficiency. If the efficiency is not right, you never get the financial model right. And it’s important to use AI tools that are available, and even improve them, merge them across two different industries. So for instance, for us, we use a lot of bioinformatic tools. We use AI tools for bioinformatic. And we are trying to adapt them with chemical processes, which these type of tools are not available. We try it by ourselves. But I think in future, it’s a big need.

Jennifer Schenker: OK. Thank you. Yes, Sahar.

Gustavo Pimenta: So I think transition will only happen if it is attractive for investors. Otherwise, it’s going to be always a push for subsidies. And it’s not going to be sustainable. So I think. And for all sectors, we have to find ways where investors feel attractive to make investments in those solutions. Solar panel today is cheaper than fossil fuel. That’s why we have so much solar investments going on. So I think in my space particularly, there’s certainly need for incremental support for us to accelerate the transition to a greener steel industry, which means support for hydrogen. How can we accelerate, for example, hydrogen? Hydrogen is gonna be a super important source of power for hard to abate sectors. So we have to figure a way to make that solution cheaper sooner. Otherwise, investors will take a lot longer

Jennifer Schenker: to implement those solutions. Thank you. Commissioner, you have the last word.

Amani Abou-Zeid: It’s speed and scale. Speed and scale. The thing is, where we are now, no one is going to make it on his or her own. It’s impossible. So unless we move together fast enough and at large scale, none of us will make it.

Jennifer Schenker: So it’s a call for partnership, innovators, private sector and governments together. So as to move fast and to grasp, we have a fantastic opportunity that is in front of us and we should together work to make it happen to all of us, as I said before. Thank you. We are out of time. So with that, I’d like to give a warm thank you to our panelists, the audience here on Davos and to those of you watching online. Thank you all very much. You

Agreement Points

Critical minerals are essential for the clean energy transition

speakers

– Amani Abou-Zeid
– Gustavo Pimenta
– Ann Mettler

arguments

Africa has abundant renewable energy and mineral resources

Demand for critical minerals will increase dramatically

Mining is essential for the energy transition

summary

All speakers agreed on the crucial role of critical minerals in the clean energy transition and the increasing demand for these resources.

Innovation and technology are key drivers for sustainable practices

speakers

– Gustavo Pimenta
– Tara Karimi
– Ann Mettler

arguments

Vale is working to offer low carbon footprint iron ore products

Biological processes can convert CO2 waste into valuable products

AI is being used to detect untapped mineral deposits

summary

Speakers emphasized the importance of technological innovation in developing sustainable practices across various industries.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the potential for sustainable mining practices to improve efficiency and create economic opportunities.

speakers

– Amani Abou-Zeid
– Gustavo Pimenta

arguments

Africa aims to become a global hub for green mining

Circular mining can increase efficiency and sustainability

Both speakers emphasized the need for policy innovation to better support and incentivize clean technologies.

speakers

– Ann Mettler
– Tara Karimi

arguments

Policy innovation is needed to properly incentivize clean tech

Policies need to better incentivize carbon utilization over storage

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of partnerships between startups and large companies

speakers

– Gustavo Pimenta
– Tara Karimi

arguments

Vale has put aside $100 million to invest in start-ups

Partnerships between startups and large companies are crucial

explanation

Despite representing different sectors (mining and biotech), both speakers emphasized the importance of collaboration between startups and large companies for innovation and scaling.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers generally agreed on the importance of critical minerals for the clean energy transition, the need for technological innovation in sustainable practices, and the role of policy in supporting clean tech development.

Consensus level

There was a high level of consensus among the speakers, particularly on the need for collaboration and innovation to address climate challenges. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of the complexities involved in the clean energy transition and the need for multi-stakeholder approaches.

Different Viewpoints

Role of Africa in the clean energy transition

speakers

– Amani Abou-Zeid
– Gustavo Pimenta

arguments

Africa has abundant renewable energy and mineral resources

Mining is essential for the energy transition

summary

While both speakers acknowledge Africa’s importance in the clean energy transition, they differ in their focus. Abou-Zeid emphasizes Africa’s potential as a renewable energy hub, while Pimenta stresses the critical role of mining in the transition.

Unexpected Differences

Approach to scaling clean technologies

speakers

– Ann Mettler
– Gustavo Pimenta

arguments

Europe struggles with scaling cleantech companies

Circular mining can increase efficiency and sustainability

explanation

While both speakers discuss scaling clean technologies, their approaches differ unexpectedly. Mettler highlights Europe’s challenges in scaling companies, while Pimenta focuses on circular mining as a way to scale sustainable practices within existing companies.

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the specific approaches to implementing clean technologies, the role of different regions in the energy transition, and the balance between innovation and practical implementation.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is moderate. While there is general consensus on the importance of clean technologies and the need for innovation, speakers differ in their specific focus areas and proposed solutions. These differences reflect the complexity of the clean energy transition and highlight the need for diverse approaches tailored to different regions and industries.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for policy innovation to support clean technologies, but they differ in their specific focus. Mettler emphasizes broader policy innovation, while Karimi focuses on specific incentives for carbon utilization.

speakers

– Ann Mettler
– Tara Karimi

arguments

Policy innovation is needed to properly incentivize clean tech

Policies need to better incentivize carbon utilization over storage

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the potential for sustainable mining practices to improve efficiency and create economic opportunities.

speakers

– Amani Abou-Zeid
– Gustavo Pimenta

arguments

Africa aims to become a global hub for green mining

Circular mining can increase efficiency and sustainability

Both speakers emphasized the need for policy innovation to better support and incentivize clean technologies.

speakers

– Ann Mettler
– Tara Karimi

arguments

Policy innovation is needed to properly incentivize clean tech

Policies need to better incentivize carbon utilization over storage

Key Takeaways

Critical minerals are essential for the clean energy transition, with demand projected to increase dramatically

Africa has abundant renewable energy and mineral resources that present opportunities for sustainable development

Partnerships between startups, large companies, and governments are crucial for scaling clean technologies

Innovation is needed not just in technology, but also in policy and deployment to accelerate the clean energy transition

Sustainable mining practices and circular economy approaches are becoming increasingly important in the mining sector

AI and other technologies can improve efficiency and sustainability across the energy and mining value chains

Resolutions and Action Items

African Union to adopt green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel strategies

Vale to increase circular mining activities to 10% of production by 2030

Vale investing $100 million in cleantech startups

Unresolved Issues

How to make clean technologies cost-competitive with fossil fuel alternatives

Addressing the challenges of scaling cleantech companies, particularly in Europe

Balancing the need for critical minerals with environmental and social impacts of mining

How to accelerate deployment of hydrogen and other key clean technologies

Suggested Compromises

Diversifying critical mineral supply chains globally to reduce concentration risks

Co-locating new clean technology plants with existing infrastructure to reduce costs

Using AI and automation in mining to improve efficiency while reducing worker risks

Africa is the region that is most endowed with resources of renewable energy. Almost there isn’t one element of renewable energy that is not existing in abundance in the continent. We are also the youngest region of the world. 65% of our population is young people.

speaker

Amani Abou-Zeid

reason

This comment highlights Africa’s unique position and potential in the renewable energy sector, challenging common perceptions about the continent.

impact

It shifted the conversation to focus on Africa’s role in the global energy transition and the importance of developing local value chains.

There is no energy transition without mining, right? Everything that we look at, there are some critical minerals associated, and these days it’s been a lot harder in terms of how much we can bring to the market, given it is a lot harder to find new deposits, a lot harder to develop new projects.

speaker

Gustavo Pimenta

reason

This comment underscores the crucial role of mining in the energy transition, while also highlighting the challenges faced by the industry.

impact

It led to a deeper discussion about sustainable mining practices and the need for innovation in the sector.

Sustainability is not a luxury, it’s not a cost, it’s a business. So for any startup, first, it needs to be self-sustainable and it needs to be financially feasible.

speaker

Tara Karimi

reason

This perspective reframes sustainability as a business opportunity rather than a burden, challenging common perceptions.

impact

It sparked a discussion about the role of startups and innovation in creating economically viable sustainable solutions.

The challenge in clean tech and innovation is that so much of the innovation is very undifferentiated. […] This makes it genuinely difficult, I have to say, in the domain that I work in. But it makes policy all the more important.

speaker

Ann Mettler

reason

This comment highlights a unique challenge in the clean tech sector and emphasizes the critical role of policy in driving adoption.

impact

It shifted the conversation towards the importance of policy innovation and deployment strategies, rather than just technological innovation.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from purely technological considerations to encompass geopolitical, economic, and policy dimensions of the energy transition. They highlighted the interconnectedness of different sectors (mining, startups, policy) in achieving sustainability goals and emphasized the need for collaborative, multi-stakeholder approaches. The discussion evolved from focusing on specific technologies to addressing systemic challenges and opportunities in scaling clean tech solutions globally.

How can Africa become a leader in sustainable mining practices?

speaker

Jennifer Schenker

explanation

This is important to explore how Africa can leverage its mineral resources sustainably as demand increases.

How can policy innovation help bridge the price gap between sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and regular fuel?

speaker

Jennifer Schenker

explanation

This is crucial for understanding how to make clean technologies like SAF economically viable and competitive.

What caused the failure of the Northvolt project in Europe, and what lessons can be learned?

speaker

Ann Mettler

explanation

Understanding this failure is important for improving future clean tech scaling efforts in Europe.

How can AI tools be adapted and merged across different industries to improve efficiency in sustainability efforts?

speaker

Tara Karimi

explanation

This could lead to significant advancements in clean tech by combining AI capabilities from various sectors.

How can hydrogen production and adoption be accelerated to make it a viable solution for hard-to-abate sectors?

speaker

Gustavo Pimenta

explanation

This is critical for decarbonizing industries that are difficult to transition to clean energy.

How can policies be adjusted to incentivize carbon dioxide utilization over storage?

speaker

Tara Karimi

explanation

This could lead to more effective use of captured carbon and create economic value from emissions.