“Expert advice presented to the Australian Climate Roundtable and the Royal Commission into the National Natural Disaster Arrangements shows our country remains deeply unprepared for the current and future physical risks created by a warming planet. A recent study performed by engineering firm Sargent & Lundy found that opportunities for nuclear beyond the grid could dwarf the demand for grid generation with literally thousands of potential applications. The electricity generated by these SMRs is more than the total 2020 generation in any one country except for China, U.S, India, Russia, and Japan. On the expenditure side, while, as mentioned earlier, the salary bill was under control relative to earlier years, expenditure on salaries still went over budget by K180 million. The salary bill for MPs’ salaries increased by K8 million from K71 million to K79 million. There was a spike in the unclassified or ‘other’ portion of the salary bill, which increased from K16 million in 2020 to K73 million in 2021, raising questions of transparency and accountability.
- This lowest cost scenario projects nuclear energy could provide nearly 43% of all generation in 2050 with wind and solar producing almost 50%.
- Any thoughts on the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment’s devolution of programmes to not-for-profit partners?
- The CCRI aims to develop consistent frameworks to accurately price physical climate risks in investment decisions, which will help reduce exposure and channel more private capital towards building greater resilience across economies and communities.
- They deserve far greater business investment, especially because they represent near-term opportunities at lower capital expenditures that offer faster paybacks.
Another company, Terraformation, meanwhile operates what might be the largest full-scale, purely solar-powered water desalination plant on a 45-acre reforestation project site in Hawaii. However, similar ventures remain woefully underfunded despite their regenerative potential for ecosystems and local economies. Perhaps the most high-potential innovation would be nuclear-powered desalination, which would have enormous applications worldwide.
Because of their fixed location, real estate assets — valued at $200 trillion worldwide — are uniquely vulnerable to natural disasters and resource shortages. For example, from the Netherlands to Denmark and the Maldives to Singapore, developers and localities are planning or building floating cities that can rise with the tides and desalinate and recycle water for hydroponic agriculture. The Australian government had joined the international Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI) to improve climate resilience and build safer communities by integrating climate risk into investment decision-making. Modeling by climate experts consistently demonstrates that the most reliable, affordable low-carbon energy system requires an increase in nuclear generation globally alongside increases in wind, solar and battery storage. The insurance conglomerate SwissRe warns that a global temperature rise of 3.2°C by 2050 would wipe 18% from global GDP.
Australian government commits to improving climate resilience
Many utilities are evaluating siting new reactors at the site of retiring coal plants, which would provide the jobs and local economic stimulation needed to revitalize communities. This advanced technology will build on the strong foundation of nuclear energy today to help the U.S.—and the world—build a clean energy system of the future. “We are joining global partnerships and taking the lead in building resilient communities. Climate adaptation is about taking practical actions to help our environment, our communities, and our economy deal with the impacts of climate change that are already taking place.
It’s Time to Invest in Climate Adaptation
Despite these promising signs, it’s too early to say PNG has turned the fiscal corner. The large structural gap between revenue and expenditure existed before COVID-19, and closing it will not be easy. “With the return of the US to the Paris Agreement under President Biden and the UK-hosted COP26 climate change talks in November, global action on climate change mitigation and adaption is set to explode in 2021. “By joining the CCRI, Australia will become part of an international cohort working to address common climate resilience challenges across the financial system. Vibrant Clean Energy (VCE) utilizes one of the most detailed models available to assure that low-carbon solutions align with the reliability that the electricity grid of the future will demand.
Astro Teller, director of the Google X Lab, suggests that we might also one day need “movable cities” to cope with climate effects. Its Vulcan construction system can deliver homes and structures up to 3,000 square ft that meet the requirements of the International Building Code (IBC) and are expected to last as long or longer than standard Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU), making them more resilient to extreme weather. They’re the first of their kind to be sold in the United States and the firm, currently valued at around $2 billion, is working with leading U.S. home-builder Lennar to construct a community of entirely 3D-printed homes in Austin. In both Mexico and the United States, ICON is also building entire communities of 3D-printed homes, barracks for those who serve, and a simulated Martian habitat for NASA. Our built environment is a major driver of climate change and must also be a key front in adaptation.
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Not only is it essential to reaching our climate goals, but it is also a part of every affordable clean energy solution—which is why utilities are interested in building more reliable, carbon-free nuclear energy. Some of the most affordable water-related adaptation interventions involve rainwater harvesting and more efficient irrigation techniques. As countries invest in cloud seeding to spur rainfall, plant drought-resistant seeds, and deploy atmospheric water capture systems, conserving water for agriculture is an obvious complementary effort. London-based engineering consultancy Arup (which reports nearly $2 billion in annual revenue) has been ahead of the curve in carrying out flood control projects that increase natural water retention in Poland and flood alleviation schemes in England.
However, despite these promising indications, PNG is far from achieving a fiscal recovery. The basic budget problem that PNG faces is a structural gap between expenditure and revenue. As the next graph shows, expenditure now hovers above 20% of GDP, and revenue around 15% of GDP. Second, after two years of negative growth, revenue grew strongly, by 9.7% after inflation, or from 14.2% of GDP in 2020 to 14.9% in 2021. This is more than the target in the government’s ambitious plan to achieve a balanced budget in 2027, which requires 7% annual revenue growth. Unlock powerful dashboards and industry insights with IB+ Data Hub—your essential subscription for data-driven decision-making.
As we learned from Charles Darwin, those who adapt are the most likely to survive and thrive. “We look forward to working together in order to help deploy more efficiently the flow of funds for investment in infrastructure projects, enabling a transition to a more climate-resilient, low-carbon, sustainable economy,” Sanchez continued. Recent IPCC reports project that global nuclear energy capacity will need to double by 2050 to keep the climate temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Israeli firm Netafim (a $1 billion revenue company) has installed irrigation systems across more than 100 villages in India, using soil and plant data to direct measured doses of water to optimize yield while bringing down water consumption and fertilizer usage by 40%. Olam, one of the world’s largest agri-business producers of rice, cotton, cocoa beans, and coffee that operates in 60 countries, is committing to reduce wastewater in the 30% of its upstream farms and plantations that are in water-stressed regions.
In a recent study, VCE found that pairing nuclear with wind and solar is the most cost-effective means to decarbonize electricity generation. This lowest cost scenario projects nuclear energy could provide nearly 43% of all generation in 2050 with wind and solar producing almost 50%. A significant portion of this 300 GW of advanced nuclear capacity that is needed could repurpose hundreds of fossil generation sites. A second scenario where solar and wind generate 77% of all generation in 2050 and the use of nuclear energy declines would result in over $400 billion in higher costs to consumers. Nuclear energy is poised to be the backbone of our affordable, reliable, clean energy system, and Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) member utilities see a role for more than 90 gigawatts of nuclear power in support of their decarbonization goals, according to a recent NEI poll. That translates to about 300 new small modular reactors (SMRs), around 731.3 TWh of power, with the bulk coming Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment online by 2050.
Our own Climate Alpha research suggests that investing early in climate-resilient geographies will generate more than 70% higher returns on real estate portfolios by 2030 alone. Property developers, asset managers, and insurers should take heed, accelerating the acquisition of land, construction of affordable housing, and adjustment of premiums to anticipate, encourage, and profit from climate-induced migrations. Consider the U.S.-based company Alquist, which can now print a three-bedroom home in just over 24 hours versus the typical four weeks that the volunteer-powered non-profit Habitat for Humanity takes to construct one.