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The Climate Crisis — and How Deep Tech Will Solve It

8 min read

Let’s take a new approach to fighting climate change. Previous initiatives have not significantly moved the needle on the climate crisis to cut emissions. 

Now, it’s time for the tech industry to stimulate change. As industries around the globe look for cost-effective, innovative ways to adopt clean energy solutions and curtail fossil fuel usage, climate tech stands at the crossroads of history. 

Can we put our minds and means together to achieve long-lasting sustainability and eliminate carbon emissions for the good of the ecosystem?

Deep tech startups and entrepreneurs are poised to tackle the climate crisis with the support of eco-conscious venture capital. 

Climate technology offers an advantage for resisting climate change by:

  • Bringing ideas into practice

  • Introducing innovation

  • Fulfilling consumer demand

  • Creating demand for new jobs and industries

  • Accelerating the change to a low-carbon economy

How Can Technology Predict Climate Change?

Technology has played a crucial role in raising awareness about climate change. Computer programs have revealed the long-term impacts of current ecological practices to a degree we never knew before. 

Now, we can harness technology to shift the growing global climate crisis by predicting and enacting changes.

The role of technology in forecasting climate change is to monitor data to trace trends and make predictions using climate models. 

Machine learning can evaluate unstructured data at a degree and speed that humans cannot. Artificial intelligence can then make predictions and suggest solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change.

For example, computer programs can track greenhouse gas emissions through archival and real-time data from satellites. They can then probe the projected impact of positive and negative influences on an ecosystem via virtual models.

Deep tech is primed to provide game-changing solutions. 

Deep technology is a broad term referring to enterprises that use new technologies to generate significant ethical changes rather than purely pursue profit or satisfy users. 

Think of deep tech as using technological advancement to address scientific problems. Deep tech companies and workers see the vast potential of innovations like intelligence, robotics, and computing to enact global progress.

Small climate tech startup companies are taking large-scale, long-term efforts to pursue ecological improvement through climate technologies. Professionals skilled in deep tech innovations are bringing technology solutions to existing businesses like yours. 

Even a small change can have a large-scale impact on the environment, such as embracing clean energy.

Emerging Technologies That Can Be Used Against Climate Change.

What established and emerging technologies can help the world resist global warming? The most promising technologies to combat climate change currently are: 

  • Renewable energy: Switching to wind or solar power will drastically reduce carbon emissions by replacing fossil fuels. They’re scalable, cheap, and never run out.

  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning: AI can model systems to track emissions and precisely calculate their impact. Then, it can recommend effective ways to reduce them.

  • Big data and the Internet of Things: Tracking large grids of emissions and power consumption can identify trends and areas for improvement

  • Robotics: Companies can automate processes to reduce waste and perform difficult ecological tasks that humans cannot by using robots, drones, and nanotechnology.

  • Biochemical engineering: Natural compounds frequently show up in scientific research as healthy alternatives to fossil fuels and toxic substances. 

  • Material science: For example, carbon fiber is a strong and lightweight material that can be a valuable alternative to traditional manufacturing materials.

What Is the Most Effective Solution to Climate Change?

The most effective solution to climate change is to develop renewable energy solutions. These will empower companies and industries around the globe to embrace clean energy and control carbon dioxide emissions so we reach net zero emissions in the coming decades. 

That’s why technology can solve the climate crisis. Climate tech can create viable low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels. Plus, technology helps prevent climate change by:

  • Tracking GHG emissions and recommending solutions future mitigation

  • Removing excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere

  • Facilitating the recycling of waste materials 

  • Restoring ecosystems that regulate carbon in the environment

  • Allowing the average person or business to easily adopt eco-friendly practices

What are the benefits of using technology to solve the climate crisis? Technology opens new doors for industries to reduce their climate impact because it:

  • Uses climate models to ensure actions have a high likelihood of positive impact

  • Processes data and identifies trends more efficiently than humans can

  • Constantly monitors climate conditions and catches early-stage issues

  • Is always learning and adapting to be more effective

  • Receives a lot of funding through venture capitalist investments

  • Is more likely to achieve global emissions benchmarks of the United Nations than non-technological endeavors

Who Is Responsible For the Climate Crisis?

It’s impossible to pinpoint the source of global warming entirely on one cause or industry, but the rise of manufacturing has played a major part in the current climate crisis. Global industrialization has caused harmful carbon dioxide output to skyrocket. 

Because technology was a major culprit of climate change, it’s technology’s duty to develop climate solutions. Industrialized countries and global corporations need deep tech to mitigate climate risk and preserve the environment.

If you don’t study climate change, you may wonder why it’s such a big deal. That’s why you must understand its impact on the world. Some negative consequences of climate change are that it:

  • Wrecks ecosystems, which harm animals and crops. This devastates the agriculture, food, and wine industries.

  • Triggers intense floods, droughts, and temperature swings. These cause insurance rates to soar and destroy people’s livelihoods.

  • Diminishes supplies and transportation chains. This results in skyrocketing prices of goods for consumers and operational costs of businesses.

  • Reduces access to clean water, sufficient food, safe housing, and viable jobs. This intensifies poverty levels and impedes economic flourishing.

Tips for Beginning a Deep Tech Career

Want to avert these disastrous consequences of climate change and help businesses achieve sustainability? It’s never too late to refocus your career on climate action. 

To kick off a career in deep tech, you need to: 

With the right retraining, your background in web design, app development, data science, the Internet of Things, or blockchain can contribute to a career in deep tech climate action. 

Venture Capital Investment in Deep Tech

The deep tech industry needs the help of venture capital to grow and achieve the real-world results to combat climate change. Financial investments and grants are essential for startup developers to scale up their technologies. This means venture capitalists must discover and bolster early-stage endeavors poised to make a difference. 

The changes that deep tech can offer cost money. With so much money on the global market wrapped up in preserving fossil-fuel-dependent systems, businesses must be willing to take risks and try alternative energy solutions and sustainable sourcing. 

Tech companies can help tackle climate change by: 

  • Adhering to Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Values in your products and services

  • Embracing workplace diversity through flexible hiring to bring new perspectives to the table

  • Eliminating or offset emissions from supply chain, production, and distribution processes

  • Reducing disposable waste and favoring recyclable or compostable materials instead

  • Using renewable energy solutions and ecologically sustainable practices 

  • Avoiding greenwashing by genuinely pursuing real environmental change

  • Abide by carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration rules

Companies Already Using Deep Tech to Solve the Climate Crisis

Many startups and established tech companies are employing deep tech to combat global warming. Some prominent examples are:

  • Tesla: Established electric vehicles as a viable solution to automotive emissions. Sources its materials through environmentally responsible means and invests in renewable energy like a Supercharger network.

  • Heart Aerospace: A startup company developing cost-effective electric aircraft that require minimal ground service infrastructure. 

  • Alphabet: Google’s parent company became carbon neutral over 15 years ago and is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy. Aims to become fully reliant on carbon-free energy by 2030.

  • Apple: Using deep tech innovations to enable sustainable manufacturing through renewable energy. Made improvements in energy efficiency to reduce its carbon footprint. Also invests in global clean energy development initiatives and recycling advancements.

  • Form Energy: Develops cost-effective, multi-day energy storage solutions that will make a more reliable, consistent electric grid year-round.

  • Boston Metal: Commercializes decarbonization technology by utilizing electricity instead of fossil fuels to produce eco-friendly steel.

  • AMP Robotics: Creates environmental tech that increases recycling rates, which yields more post-consumer recycled content for future reuse.

Do you want to add your company to this list? The best way to begin is by hiring a cleantech expert who can enact effective change in your operations, supply chain, products, and services. 

MVP Match will connect you with freelance I.T. experts who bring their knowledge of deep tech to your business. Contact us to learn how hiring freelance workers can propel your company toward a net-zero business model. 

If you’re an I.T. professional with a passion for fighting climate change, MVP Match wants you! Join our network of freelancers for hire and start making an impact at companies that need your expertise. Your partnership could change the world.

About the Author

Kate manages content marketing for talent acquisition at MVP Match. Her job? Attracting the best and brightest tech talent into our community where they are matched with rewarding roles they deserve. She's a copywriter at heart, and has spent over 10 years in marketing for tech, healthcare, and consulting firms. An avid traveler and workation pro, Kate both embraces and advocates for a future where everyone is empowered to define work on their terms.

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