A future free from fossil fuels: it’s already happening

IE Insights asked me to write an article for their special “Ideas to shape the future”, which on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of IE University, covers four areas — society, power, education and creativity — and compiles articles by twenty-seven authors on various topics of the future.

My piece is entitled “The key technological drivers of decarbonization” (pdf), and explains why, from a purely rational perspective, decarbonization will be the most important technological transition in human history.

First of all, the consensus: the entire scientific community agrees that about global warming, and that this warming is due exclusively to human action. Anyone who doubts this, therefore, is either ignorant or irresponsible, and should be immediately removed from all decision-making processes.

Secondly, the role of the fossil fuel industry, which, knowing full well the magnitude of the problem for decades, deliberately chose to lie to the public and get the media to generate the idea that global warming was still subject to debate, clearly putting its business profits ahead of the future of the planet.

Despite the machinations of that inherently aberrant industry, it is important to understand that the energy transition is going to happen, and not…