Leveraging Technology to Address the Trilemma: Energy Equity, Security & Sustainability

[Music] good afternoon everyone again and Welcome to our exciting session on leveraging technology in uh addressing the trma energy Equity security and sustainability the energy trans trma is rather a balancing act on one side we have to transition to sustainable energy and mitigate the climate change on the other hand we have the billions of people that still lack of reliable energy or access to Affordable energy and uh on the other hand we also have energy security is uh under pressure from the uh climate events or supply chain disruption so those priority Equity security and sustainability can sometimes clash and how do we expand energy access without relying on the fossil fuels how can we uh our Renewables support stable and reliable grids how do we make the sure that the Green Technology reduces emission and improve our lives so we are lucky to have those three amazing professionals that will give us their insights on those in and information on those particular topics so we will explore different challenges hopefully and they'll give you an answers of how they mitigate and how they each uh from their own company's perspectives how they deal with the energy trima so for this one uh may I ask you to briefly uh give an introduction to your company how you fit to energy trans tras uh space Lola thank you uh hi everyone thank you uh for being here my name is Lola I'm a principal Adventure Suk uh we're a thematic Venture Capital firm here in the uee we focus on early stage Technologies and we have two main thesis uh one of them is fintech and the other one is climate and within climate we cover um early stage Technologies across built environment Energy Efficiency ecosystem restoration um and and more and we look at Equity we're one of the few uh VCS that incorporates ESG as well here so we also look at equity and kind of like the uh trilemma um lens from like an ESG perspective but also from an impact management uh perspective thank thank you how about you Paul hi I'm Paul mahachi I'm the CEO and co-founder of atmo cooling uh the problem statement that we're addressing is the fact that we have growing population means we need more uh food and we need more energy uh but it's getting hotter the climate the climate is getting hotter and drier which means it's more difficult for lands and assets to be productive um so in order to do this we have a large scale cooling application um we take this technology we use saline Waters like sea waterer or brine reject from desalinization and and we cool large land areas so it's primarily agriculture uh is the the main application but we can also deploy this for solar where we're cooling down the solar panels making them more efficient and in the urban applications we can reduce the energy needed for air conditioning we're doing all this while providing uh utility scale desalinization plants with a viable Pathway to zero liquid discharge um so that's kind of that the atmo cooling quick look hello everybody I'm Dennis I'm one of the co-founders at arir we're a marine ecosystem Restoration company and possibly one of the few companies that are vertically integrated in the space we work with businesses and try to help them mitigate the impact on climate especially in the Marine Space by helping them to identify hope spots by restoring the areas for them and monitoring them over time to to provide them the right type of data so they can report back to the governments and make sure that they're compliant when it comes to the potential uh disruption that they would cause in areas around the ocean where they have operations so we typically work with uh oil and gas companies companies in the commodity space or those that operate ports for example as well as those that are large construction businesses thank you very much everyone now this question the opening questions for everybody's the same uh in your opinion and your expertise how the Investments and Innovations and the echo uh engineering work together to address the energy trilemma yes please um yeah I I think um it's now it's the time uh it's the time where like technology has really proved that uh they can scale climate Solutions uh efficiently not only from a cost perspective but also from a profit perspective um and it's also the time that we have to act before we have to face the billions that we will have to spend uh if we do not solve this issue um on time yeah abs Absolutely I'll double click on that one um the green premium only exists in small scale for these uh these these climate friendly uh solutions to come forward they have to be cost competitive uh so it means that uh new technologies needs funding support for R&D uh we've got to get the Staffing up uh there's all these elements that that really need to be pushed in order for us to to bring that down and be cost competitive with what the uh the status quo has been yeah Dennis yeah I think we're kind of entering a new era of energy if you will so if you look at energy in the traditional sense and you look at fossil fuels for example there's a huge compensation around carbon and carbon emissions with that transition into what we class as cleaner energies while the energy itself might be cleaner the disruption to Nature is significantly larger in areas where for example mining takes place because of the requirements of uh uh batteries electric cars Etc so I think eco-engineering and that's part of your question is what we do eco-engineering I think is one of the probably probably critical components when it comes to counteracting that because when you have to have an impact on nature and you want to restore areas of nature in a way that's sustainable and that's that's got long-term benefits to everybody it's best to do that with ecologically sound products and I think that's the sort of Junction that we sit at not just at our company but even in in the space that we operate in so I'd say in the in this whole energy transition conversation as well as this new era energy it's very very important to pay attention to Nature and not get too distracted by the idea of hey the air is cleaner where we are now but somebody else's maybe backyard might be getting destroyed so it's very very important to bet on technologies that can help mitigate that and that can also be extremely profitable so you could look at this almost as a Crossroads of uh um construction and real estate and nature and that's that's I think that's something critical that people should be looking more into that's a very holistic approach to the whole energy sector over view Paul let's start with you uh the question that I have for does um Atma cooling technology how does it align with the goals of uh reducing energy consumption and in particular while improving access for sustainable cooling solutions in undeserved areas yeah thank you um and and there's a there's a the double edge here both in producing more clean energy and also reducing the total amount of energy I think is is is both important there and we try to address that in our our solar and the the urban markets um for agriculture that's maybe the best one that we see for really developing and and underserved as well um food security uh we see that as being critical we spend a lot of energy uh here in particular desalinization 75% of desalinization water goes to food security you know this is a huge expenditure that we have um so that's the one of the things that we really need to support is how do we make that as efficient as possible we're on our side for atmo cooling we're trying to drive down our our installed costs that capex to make it as low as possible we can serve the smallest Farmers the smallest communities the smallest solar Farms to make sure we can globally deploy this that's wonderful Lola how is the Venture Suk is uh identifying and supporting the technologies that address insecurities in equity in energy um Equity security and sustainability how do you choose them um so we're the the only VC here that uh focuses on climate Tech that is not associated to a government entity or to a corporate um and so I think naturally you know we're the first ones in line to to talk to these companies but um we also try to support the ecosystem at a larger scale um you know back in 2019 when we started this thesis we were the only weird group that was like hey we need to invest in ecosystem restoration there's a large economic opportunity here for returns um and so I think we've been fortunate enough to be a little bit creative um and see okay definitely what we need is money and you know and Dennis and Paul I I think you guys need money right we're not turning it down but but there's also so much that uh entrepreneurs need they need uh different types of funding VC is not the only type of funding that they need they need regulation they need talent um and so we were fortunate enough to have different allies from regulator to to universities to including hub71 and adgm that helped us curate certain programs uh to educate and bring more funding and more resources into the ecosystem um so apart from like trying to diligence and Source these these companies um we also run a fellowship that tries to educate different stakeholders you know everyone has to be involved in the climate transition so whether you want to do debt Equity grants whatever you want there's a space for you right so how do we get you ready to invest in arir Reef in admo cooling um and then we we run different experiments uh to like Sol for problems for talent um and most importantly um oft takes right who is going to buy from these uh com from from these startups um so that's how we try and like make a little bit more sense uh of the ecosystem and it's been uh five years and it's been very very rewarding well that's fantastic you've been five years in that market that you just really pioneered that like you they probably thought when 5 years ago probably when they saw you was like you doing what it was preup after cup 28 everybody's understood what that was but before that it was probably we we were ready before cop 28 and I think um it's only the start from here that's fantastic Dennis a question for you and how do um arar solution support biodiversity restoration and align with climate goals yeah so we're essentially all about biodiversity um if you look at the work that we do it's directly affiliate ated with ecosystems with biodiversity ecosystems including corals seagrass mangroves anything that you can find in those spaces um how we impact that is by ultimately physically going down into these spaces and deploying Solutions in our case architecture and and and real estate um in those areas where we know that we can have a or we can lend a supporting hand to those ecosystems to recover we measure that by you know using Cutting Edge technology they include uh computer vision they include elements of AI they include uh elements of DNA analysis for example um but the way in which we directly impact it is with product and I think impact on biodiversity is obviously comes in multiple ways it can and the same goes for climate but I think there is a hardware element that we can't escape and I think that's something that for us is the uh almost the be all and and all of everything um so in our case it's genuinely physically going down and having a direct impact on these areas with our products and just to give you maybe a bit of a segue uh story I was on a panel yesterday and somebody said everybody always thinks somebody else is going to fix it so when it comes to the environment in particular a lot of people are looking towards sustainability officers you know the the the popularity of CSO roles now has increased significantly over the last few years and I think um when you look at it that way you very quickly shy away from doing hard work and I think with us we just want to be we want to Buck the trend and we want to be a bit more aggressive in terms of uh directly impacting that biodiversity and being able to be in the field and to be able to deploying things to make sure that there is a that there is actually a hope uh for us all and the more people believe in this the more people jump on this what now can be regarded as more of a trend and when it moves from being a trend to being normality um I think the more that happens the more of a chance we have collectively so I think it's it's a it's probably a shout out to everybody that that is in the space including atmo cooling here as well who who go in and who do the hard work um and I think that's whether that's climate or biodiversity I think it's inevitable that there is a physical element and there is a bit of physical suffering that you have to take on in order to to you know to push this agenda forward a bit more yeah true you golden words over there when everybody's agreen is nting for sure um Paul uh what challenges do you guys have and scalability wise and know if you bringing new technologies to the global markets and how do you address those problems or even the regional what are your Regional challenges and and I think your question is actually going to follow right on answer I was the whole time like yes yes yes because it's it's a hardware problem when we talk about climate it needs a hardware solution tion um bits and bites are elements to that but you have to have a physical representation it needs to be something that truly applies uh and it's got to be something that scales up and we need to do this quickly we don't have time you know 1.5 degrees has already passed um so to actually get to the question there of what are the challenges um we got to get more Hardware out into the field we need to test it as quickly as we can we need to scale it up to large size um you know we need the the the the engineers the scientists out there to help us validating third parties um but we need the business the regulation we need those elements as well to make sure that that pathway is cleared and and unlocked because I know as as technical Founders we're very good with the engineering side but we can struggle a lot of times on fundraising on uh regulation on government uh with the government leis on trying to trying to navigate that coming into a new environment so there there's all those elements and and you know programs like hub71 have been fantastic to help guide us through that that's fabulous in my we do a lot of industrial and large scale projects for clean energy but and we have a problem with permits that takes six seven years so everybody creates you here and the license is probably here as well it takes a while I'm sure that's also uh challenge the scalability of your all of your businesses and looks up Lola's Lola's here he like yeah we're just here we enjoy what we we're here to watch that's it yeah we just here we've been here come to us and that was great that's actually fantastic that you are here we're very fortunate to have you um and a question to you then uh on the private investors Bridge the funding with u the Gap how the private investors such as self breaching they Gap with a climate Tech and solutions while ensuring the scalability that we've talked about and sustainable outcomes yeah um I think so we we go at the very early stage right like where where there's some sort of like an idea of a product and and and feasibility right and we're the ones to bet on the product and see and and hopefully um it can scale I think we play two roles um especially here in this region where the funding Gap is tremendously wide um we play the role of okay we're going to be your uh like Partners uh throughout this journey that is going to take a decade if not more uh but we also here play a larger role to like kind of like Champion climate Tech right um it's not true that Middle Eastern investors do not invest in climate they just do not invest in climate here which is a little bit um contradictory there there there's a report that just came out um $3 billion went into climate Tech globally uh from Middle Eastern investors but only a 100 million went into the like Middle East uh ecosystem and most of it was like to ility so we really need to activate um the ecosystem here for funding and I think that goes back to like Paul's comment and Dennis's comment on like we're past 1.5 who is the master on nature engineering or like playing with limited resources this region this region is really the master we do it with energy we do it with water we do it with food why wouldn't we lead in adaptation efforts why wouldn't we lead in mitig efforts um and so our role is really to also like Champion that and talk to everyone so that everyone can get involved yeah that's a very remarkable point and we've been living that that it's very strange because we all thinking that oh come to us we are the hub for that because we all here and uh Hub 71 comes to mind immediately with all the uh bright initiatives and the leadership is also saying do it but then we take the what we have an hour of Hub and and go to Central Asia for example you know with with the our Technologies in our minds it's very interesting Dennis uh what advancements just what advancements in ecoo engineering uh can further address the energy security and the tril in itself and the mitigating the climate risks um yeah probably every time uh new energy sources have to be unlocked uh there is an element of Hardware being put in place by the companies that are that are running those so you think wind farms for example uh wind farms are both amazing for us but also extremely disruptive um so if we look at Solutions like those that carry a huge engineering burden and a huge have a huge material impact on the planet if you combine that or if you if if it's again if it's eco-engineering that that we that we're talking about if you combine that with an ecological mindset you can do it differently um you can do it you can spend maybe a little more to make sure that the long-term gains from those installations are significantly higher so maybe there is a urgent necessity to look at things more longterm than quick gains um I think you can work with companies you can work with universities you can work with science departments that are incredibly Keen to develop eco-engineering solutions that that can help these industries Thrive even more so I think one of the solutions is closer collabor cation probably better public private Partnerships because you have this issue of public office looking that way uh you know private businesses looking this way um and there is a lack of a common ground I think to be able to find that and maybe Define you know a set of metrics or a set of digestible goals that both parties can take together I think that's probably the possibly the best Crossroads for something like eco-engineering to meet with more traditional engineering and say look let's put aside short-term profitability for a minute let's focus on long-term gains and significant pioneering impact and I think when that common ground is is established then I think we can move forward for sort of you know a better collaboration so pragmatically thinking it would be somebody like us working with companies like um I don't know ATN or or energy companies like uh any type of energy companies around the world and developing these Solutions together so that from the get-go we do something better and more sustainable than than is the case at the moment yeah you've mentioned already several times actually the the energies or Renewables or sustainable energies challenges with uh from the echo engineering point of view and uh what do you recommend how do we deal with that like what do we do with people PVS well for example they all land bound because they they all made with plastic how how we mitigate that and in a way they can we at least uh come up with solution to instead of uh uh parallel uh connectivity like or do parallel connectivity versus continuous like a Christmas lights because then right now we have a row of panels and if one panel is off the entire row goes to Landfield so yeah can you Echo engineer something for us that would be so amazing no I mean I I don't know a crystal ball so I can't fix it for you but uh what I can say is you can you know you can invest heavily in education you can stop investing in the wrong things I don't know is it is it critical for us as humans to have coffee delivered to us a single coffee delivered to us by a by a bike in less than 30 minutes is that like is that critical so we could we could kind of curb our consumption to an extent and understand that they can go hand inand um but at the same time I'd say say maybe there should be a more more holistic approach to even investing to saying you know when you invest in one solution be mindful that that solution isn't because let's say delivery services for example and I don't want to point them out as as particularly evil or anything but if you are an investor in in something like Uber Eats or Uber and that convenience is delivered maybe it's also good to understand at what cost that convenience comes so I'm I'm not going to solve this for you for you unfortunately and eco-engineering isn't going to solve this for you there is elements that I don't have an impact on or or a or or a influence over but I think for us all it's both financially and ecologically speaking a bigger opportunity to do the right thing and I think that's often overlooked I think you can make significantly more money if you invest in things that are more sustainable significantly more money it's just that it maybe takes you an extra year uh or or or two um but at the end of the day you'll be you'll be better off for it so I you know it's not my it's not my place to comment but I think there is a sort of deeply entrenched issue in in in these ecosystems that we would initially might want to or that we might want to initially address with education um workshops you know more engagement between companies like ours and larger corporations just to understand how little effort is actually needed even to make a huge impact and often times people are not aware that I don't know leaving out the leaving out the plastic caps on a on a latte if you multiply that by the amount of people in this room even today we would have had a significant impact so maybe it's important to point these things out and have this regular engagement but to go back to your original question I'm not going to solve that with eco-engineering I'm really sorry but I can help you along the way but you know there's there's a few changes that need to be uh that are more deeply entrenched and that need to be that need to be addressed differently yeah so we now we're advised to be again responsible and in our consumption do you have anything uh on that uh particular topic or add something to Dennis yeah I I think it's very difficult at the consumer level when we talk about transparency and understanding the repercussions of our choices is is quite difficult so you know to to further pile on to why this is a a tough problem um and and if you're B2B uh the the same thing that that business has a fiducial responsibility to make sure they're providing returns to their shareholders so it it means they may not have the option to choose what the more environmental more sustainable pathway is M yeah I have one more do you have do you want to add no like really education and but and also data I think there's a huge problem with data in this region we do not have enough granular data about any climate issues how it translates economically um and like as with any other region in the world the data does not look great um so like how to convey that right like in in a in a way that motivates people as opposed to like you know gives us no choice but to accept and I have one last question to all of you uh Lola we could start with you what unique challenges do you guys have uh and the opportunities also with that uh that implementing Your solution in emerging markets around the world if you expending or staying here so so we're we're big proponents of uh Global expansion uh and domination if you will um no we we really see like the the true power of climate Tech scaling um across emerging markets in fact our thesis like focuses on the like growing trade Corridor between Mina and Asia um and and it's kind of time right we've been like nurturing these relationships for like years and now we're seeing it coming through with like uh a lot of mina startups expanding to Asia and vice versa um so I think the main challenge um is different types of funding uh that can take different risks and also can like make it easier for entrepreneurs to like have a better cost structure for their solution um and and we need around 50 times more of funding that we're currently getting yeah I I think I think we've talked enough about the problems but opportunities we can we can definitely talk about and one of the things I'm most excited about in climate is it's extremely collaborative everyone recognizes this is a all Hands-On deck situation kitchen sink let's go um so even in in small groups in our current uh climate Tech cohort through hub71 um there's a number of us and I think we found synergies between each of us where there's either a waste product or a value ad where we can work together and everyone is more than happy uh to continue that we've known each other for about 45 minutes now and we're already talking about oh he's got a a place where there's brine off take and I know somebody else is going to have uh you know other elements going to help on his side so very quickly finding those those synergies to work together and what we'd love to see is even further development of that that climate Tech ecosystem I know there's people that are here that are working on that and developing those uh but seeing more resources more availability to work together uh and then present forward to the big industrial partners because we need those anchors in order to move forward it can't just be a small group of of startups working together it's very difficult to move it has to have that industrial application on a lot of times yeah I mean very much in agreement with Paul in terms of collaboration I think there's I don't have any I I don't think my ego is big enough for me to prevent him from being successful or anybody else in that space so I think that's a critical I think that's a critical ingredient in this um overall I think again the challenges I agree as well we talked about them a lot everybody is somewhat aware of those uh I think it's a huge opportunity climate and nature is a huge opportunity to make money um in a very very simp simple sense I think if we break it down to the very Basics and the easiest form of understanding um there is a lot of money to be made nature and our Approach To Nature has given us an opportunity to go again and to maybe look at things like real estate and construction and and um you know tourism and and any of these industries in a very different way that is both a lot more long-term again to my original point but also there's a lot more money in it than there was prior to uh prior prior to us being in a in a price War about how this building is going to cost this much versus that much um I think it's for me it's it's a very very big Financial opportunity and the challenge is you know making creating that bridge between the world of Finance uh and the World of Nature and climate I think that's probably what we're going to spend most of our time on in the next years or so and once that's once we bridge that Gap I think the opportunity for everybody involved is uh is drastic thank you very much uh clear one key takeaway is the collaboration between investors Innovation and the policy makers thank you very much to our incredible panelists today for the expertise and to everyone for joining in and to be part of the Abu Dhabi sustainability Finance Forum we see you later again thank [Music]