In order to limit global warming to 2°C and avoid the worst effects of climate change, the world needs to invest an additional $44 trillion in clean energy—more than $1 trillion per year for the next 36 years. Ceres, a non-profit organization advocating for sustainability leadership is calling this clean energy investment goal “the Clean Trillion. “
Seeking to drive investment in a sustainable direction, the organization is positioning climate change as a massive business opportunity. The annual Ceres Conference, which took place recently in San Francisco, emphasized the message, citing disruptive business models – with the solar power industry as a prime example, especially in distributed form and connected to storage – that can drive change very quickly, were one of the topics of the conference.
As was stressed by Steve McBee of NRG Home, “The greatest thing you can do to address climate change is to make the business model work and focus on creating shareholder value.”