It is necessary and urgent to change our energy and production models to ensure a sustainable future (socially, economically, and environmentally) for humanity. The challenge is to reach a NetZero world by 2050 and the Future Trends Forum experts have examined the most promising technologies and innovations to solve specific challenges, from carbon footprint reduction to new energy sources, showcasing the key ideas that will accelerate the path to a NetZero world.

Fossil fuels will be replaced by renewable energies, led by wind and solar power, accompanied by hydroelectric power. In addition, new synthetic fuels are emerging and progress is being made in the green hydrogen alternative as an energy vector where electricity grids do not reach – mainly in the transport sector. In addition, innovations are appearing in nuclear fission to increase safety and availability and reduce pollutants, and the promising nuclear fusion, a virtually inexhaustible and clean source of energy, is being consolidated.

There must be a shift from the fossil fuel economy – the materials economy – to the renewable energy economy – the economy of knowledge, ideas, and technological innovation. This shift will lead to smarter solutions, higher productivity, and using abundant resources in more efficient ways.

Net Zero – carbon neutrality – will be achieved by bringing together two technological areas: 1) innovation in clean energy, with new materials, new fuels such as biogas or synthetic gasolines and new forms of storage, and 2) technologies to capture, reuse and store carbon (CCUS). The two areas could converge for the production of synthetic fuels from green hydrogen and captured CO2.

In parallel, greater energy efficiency will be achieved through innovations in artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.

All these areas could be accelerated by quantum computing, due to its enormous power in performing simulations.

In order to reach Net Zero, the collaboration of all social agents is necessary, from academics to entrepreneurs, from citizens to rural actors and investors. The way to involve citizens in this collaboration is through education and communication: citizens must perceive climate change as something imminent and, at the same time, avoidable. And they must perceive that their individual and group actions are effective in doing so.