Using food, transport and energy technologies to fight climate change
罢丑别听聽from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 鈥� which one of us (Arunima) contributed to 鈥� has emphasised the need for enormous change if we are to keep within the 1.5鈩� warming limit.
This Paris Agreement goal is currently聽. Achieving it would require drastic emissions reductions across all sectors and at all scales.
Here are some emerging technologies in the food, transport and energy sectors with great potential to address the climate challenge.
1. Alternative protein sources
罢丑别听聽highlights the potential of plant-based diets, not only for achieving emissions reductions but also improving our collective well-being more generally.
Plant-based protein sources, including 鈥渇ake meat鈥� products, are increasingly being produced to mimic the appearance, flavour and texture of animal meat.
Traditionally, alternative proteins such as tofu were made from simple聽聽of soybean milk. A few decades ago we saw the emergence of聽, which is derived from fungus (and has been popularised by the brand Quorn).
More novel alternative proteins require聽聽to mimic the texture and flavour of animal protein.
Then there are cell-based meat alternatives, also called 鈥渓ab-grown鈥�, cultured" or 鈥渋n-vitro鈥� meats. These are made using聽聽to grow meat cells from a sample (starter cells) extracted from an animal, inside a device called a 鈥渂ioreactor鈥�.
Cell-grown meat is an emerging technology. It went on sale for the聽聽in 2020, in Singapore. It鈥檚 not commercially available in Australia yet, but according聽听飞辞谤办听聽behind the scenes.
Compared with livestock meat, plant-based meats聽聽30鈥�90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions, require 40-9 percent less land, 70-80 percent less water, and release 85鈥�94% less reactive nitrogen (which can lead to excessive聽聽that starves marine life of oxygen).
Australia is the聽聽vegan market in the world. Australia鈥檚 main industry research organisation, CSIRO, estimates the sustainable food market here alone will be worth聽.
Moreover, alternative proteins have the second-biggest market potential of all the categories in the food and agribusiness sector. They are expected to deliver some A$5.4 billion in聽聽by 2030.
2. Edible and biodegradable packaging
As the name suggests, edible or biodegradable food packaging is designed to be eaten or to biodegrade efficiently. Edible packaging is made of natural polymers extracted from plant sources, which can be made into various films and coatings. Some examples are:
- chitosan-based packaging, made mostly from聽
- whey-based packaging, made from聽
- seaweed polysaccharides聽.
Besides being environmentally friendly, edible packaging could enhance the聽聽of packaged food, by incorporating compounds known as 鈥渘utraceuticals鈥� which can improve the nutrient composition of packaged food. Adding antioxidants and antimicrobials to packaging can also increase the shelf life of food.
Much work needs to be done to make edible packaging mainstream, but it has proven a聽聽for marathon runners.
In 2020, Australia only recycled聽聽of plastics. Globally, only about聽聽were recycled in 2015. The rest ended up in landfill, oceans and rivers 鈥� damaging land and marine systems 鈥� or generated carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions during incineration.
Fossil-fuel based plastics can take聽聽to decompose, whereas biodegradable packaging decomposes within聽聽depending on the material.
It鈥檚 estimated the global biodegradable packaging market will grow by 17% each year, and be valued at聽.
Australia has set a target for聽聽to be recycled or composted by 2025, and to phase out single-use plastics by 2025. Innovation in edible and biodegradable packaging could go a long way to support these reduction targets.
3. Electric vehicles
While they鈥檝e been a hot topic for a while now, electric vehicles can鈥檛 be overlooked.
罢丑别听聽identified electric vehicles as having the largest decarbonisation potential for land-based transport. Why? Because increased uptake of electric vehicles, facilitated by falling costs, has already delivered聽. And market shares for electric vehicles have聽聽in two years.
In Australia, the energy and transport sectors account for聽.听聽shows electric vehicles could transform the transportation sector, if coupled with a 100% renewable electricity system where all energy used is produced from renewable sources.
What鈥檚 more, if all vehicles were electric and we had a 100% renewable electricity system, consumers could expect to聽聽around A$1,000-2,000 per year (based on petrol prices of A$1.40-2.00 per litre).
Electric vehicles need to be charged, but this can be controlled or uncontrolled. Uncontrolled charging lets the user charge their vehicle any time of the day, while controlled charging relies on聽聽by charging during the day, for example, when sunlight is abundant. Running about 16 million electric vehicles on Australian roads would require聽聽to provide the electricity for charging, if based on a 100% renewable electricity system.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 23,000 electric vehicles registered in Australia in 2021, out of about聽聽in total. Australia is falling behind other developed countries in the race to take up this technology.
4. Hydrogen鈥檚 vast potential
Solar and wind power are both well-established and feasible options for reducing emissions 鈥� and are even聽聽than non-renewable sources.
But at the same time, both are聽聽which are dependent on weather, season, geography and time of day. This can lead to supply gaps, for which alternative sources need to be considered.
Hydrogen, which produces no carbon emissions when burned, is a potential聽. It can be produced by splitting water using electricity from wind and solar sources. It also provides a way to store renewable energy for later use.
With the declining cost of renewables, and the scaling-up of hydrogen deployment, hydrogen production costs are expected to fall by聽. Increasing hydrogen energy storage technologies could lead to further聽聽in the cost of variable renewable electricity systems.
罢丑别听聽also flags the potential for hydrogen in achieving emissions reductions in the aviation sector, but notes this will first require improvements in technology and cost reductions.
This article was first published on聽聽and written by聽Dr Arunima Malik,听Dr Mengyu Li听补苍诲听Navoda Nirmani Liyana Pathirana聽from the Faculty of Science at University of Sydney.