Guest Bio
Julia Panzer is an energy and climate expert. From 2019 to 2022, she supported governments, private sector and NGOs as part of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Team with a focus on action-oriented multi-stakeholder and sectoral partnerships to get the real economy moving. Her focus areas included the energy and industry transition, as well as the transport sector (shipping, aviation). Prior to these roles, Julia led Danfoss’ public affairs team.
Episode Summary
Our new host, Vic Marinich, global marketing director for air conditioning at Danfoss, is joined by guest Julia Panzer, energy and climate expert, to discuss how companies can make an impact on the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and how the public and private sector can work together to move the world toward cleaner fuel sources.
Main Points
- Climate change is now at everyone’s doorsteps and people are suffering and calling for action. It’s the defining task of the twenty-first century to support nature.
- The International Energy Agency (IEA), the authority in the field, reports that we have 90% of the technology that we need to reach our climate targets to keep the increase in global temperatures to the 1.5-degree Celsius limit. We need to make plans for implementation.
- The recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that right now, half of humanity is in the danger zone. If you live in Africa, South Asia or Central or South America, you’re already 15 times more likely to die from an extreme weather event. This is something the industrialized nations need to think about when it comes to climate change.
- To keep this planet livable, stay true to science and deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement, staying under 1.5-degree target. We need to reduce emissions by almost half by 2030 to reach net zero by 2050.
- With 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions stemming from coal, oil and gas, we need to determine the best way to transition to cleaner fuel sources. What do we need in terms of support technology and in human capital skills to transition in a just and equitable way?
- We need to start tackling the big questions about how to reconcile the ecological, economic, social and the political time horizons. That’s why the upcoming climate conference, COP 27, in Egypt is about implementation.
- We need to show progress on the pillars of the Paris Climate Agreement: reducing emissions, deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency. We need to help people make investments, such as floodproofing towns and cities and ensuring they have early warning systems.
- The developed nations have promised $100 billion in climate finance for the developing countries and that hasn’t been delivered on yet. Progress on all of these things this year with a focus on adaptation and finance will be necessary.
- The private sector is where the energy efficient and renewable energy technologies will come from. Manufacturing is going to have to produce the right products. This is a good time to start talking about the transition in terms of implementation.
- Danfoss recently announced their commitment to sustainability and ESG goals: decarbonization, circularity and diversity and inclusion. Customers are asking for this focus so it becomes a part of the business. Global companies can make an impact on climate goals.
- The focus needs to shift to reducing emissions across the board. Helping customers reduce their own emissions needs to become part of their core business.
- It’s important to have a public-private relationship. We need the public sector to work together with the private sector to make sure that we make the right investments in new technology.
- Cooling is a priority in the coming years. We need it for our health, food and safety, but with cooling comes emissions and those are expected to double by 2030. The UN Environmental Program’s Cool Coalition is bringing together manufacturers, cities and building owners to develop cleaner cooling solutions.
- The Inflation Reduction Act is a positive step to encourage adoption of energy-efficient technologies. Policy will be necessary to make sure that we are scaling up or ensuring a faster permitting process for renewables, as well as making sure that we have mandatory standards on efficiency.
- The transition to clean energy sources also creates opportunities for manufacturing in countries that right now are not part of that global supply chain, helping them invest in technologies and to create new jobs. We need to rescale and upscale in a fair and equitable way so that we’re not leaving different groups of society behind.
Links
To learn more about the UN Environment Program, visit https://www.unep.org/
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For more information and additional episodes of the EnVisioneering Exchange podcast, visit https://www.danfoss.com/en-us/about-danfoss/insights-for-tomorrow/envisioneering-exchange/
