COP25: What was discussed and where to next?
This month, Moixa was selected by the UK Department for International Trade as one of the few UK businesses to attend the world’s largest climate-focused conference – COP25.
COP25 provides an important opportunity to rub shoulders with presidents, diplomats and celebrities (cough, Harrison Ford) to discuss how these influential individuals can help deliver a carbon-free future.
Innovation and optimism 
The calibre of attendees and size of event demonstrated the importance of finding a solution to the climate crisis. There was a powerful sense of optimism for new clean technologies and the solutions they can deliver as we enter the next decade, including for the likes of our GridShare software that maximises cost and carbon savings by intelligently managing localised clean energy generation in homes as well as electric vehicle charging. The event demonstrated the importance of supporting technologies such as these, to deliver global success.
Greta Thunberg also highlighted more areas for focus. She used her platform and COP25 to call out western countries for outsourcing carbon emissions and using PR-tactics to paint a picture of sustainability.
She is right. We urgently need leaders to deliver creative, innovative solutions and drive forward game-changing technologies, achieve our global carbon targets and tackle global climate breakdown.
The importance of energy storage
One vital element of this transition will be energy storage. COP25 was a valuable opportunity to educate the people in power about the importance of energy storage in the fight against climate change. Renewable energy is intermittent – and only works when the sun shines or the wind blows – so energy storage is vital to ensure that we can power our towns and cities with clean energy at all times, day or night.
Vision of a clean future
At COP25, we informed key individuals of our vision. At Moixa, we foresee a future where distributed energy storage systems are present in the majority of homes and through people’s EVs. These batteries will be intelligently managed with AI-driven software – such as GridShare – to optimise their performance and ensure that they are importing and exporting power at the most cost-effective and carbon-effective times for both the consumer and the power network.
We also heavily discussed the role of EVs as batteries on wheels, poised to interlink two previously independent sectors; transport and energy, and decarbonise them both concurrently.
Net-zero: 2020 vision
Looking forward, as we head into a new decade, decarbonisation will be higher on the agenda than ever before. In order to meet net-zero by 2050, we need to see widespread and systematic change across all sectors.
Starting from January 2020, we must halve our carbon output every decade and by 2050 we will require an extra 100GW of renewable energy and 30GW storage capacity.
Carving out this path to net-zero will also have major economic benefits. Decreasing carbon, increasing grid efficiency and improving the flexibility of the UK electricity network will save billions of pounds.
The UK has all the means to lead the world in the clean energy transition and reap these rewards. Decentralised, clean energy storage and generation assets are already revolutionising the energy sector. The next decade will see huge investment, particularly in EVs and home batteries and smart charging systems that intelligently manage decentralised energy assets, will be critical to unleash the true benefits of renewables. These assets will ensure more efficient balancing of clean energy and boost UK energy resilience. It’s clear that policies need to get smarter, faster in order to enable this change.
As we approach this critical decade – and COP26 in Glasgow next year – we will continue supporting and educating decision-makers on the importance of these transitioning industries. Without action we will go on seeing emissions increase. But with governments, businesses and consumers working together, we can take innovative clean technologies and drive them into the mainstream.