The entire system must be reset to meet the climate challenge

Anders Wijkman chairs Climate KIC, a European initiative that supports innovation that contributes to creating a climate-neutral economy. He pointed to the enormous challenges the world is facing and noted, among other things, that huge amounts of materials are being used in the growing global economy, such as cement, steel, aluminum, plastic. Within Climate KIC, more and more people have gone to look at how the systems can change, rather than individual smaller project. \"If we are to transform the economy, we need to change systems; technology in individual technology areas is not enough.\"

Vinnova's director general Darja Isaksson highlighted that Sweden is one of the world's most innovative countries. \"We have companies and industries with global reach and companies are now starting to invest to solve challenges.\" She raised several examples of innovative solutions that Vinnova is involved in and financing that can be of great importance, including the development of methods for steel production that do not provide carbon dioxide emissions and the climate-neutral cement industry. “But what we do now is not enough. We need to get the innovation solutions moving in the same direction faster, with common objective, including processes and transformative initiatives. \"

Niklas Wahlberg, VP Societal Challenges and Solutions at Volvo Group, took up a new solution that Volvo developed with electrified, autonomous and connected trucks. He also pointed to mining, where Volvo, LKAB and several other companies work together to make mining free of carbon dioxide and increase productivity. “We need to combine environmental benefit and business benefit and make it happen faster. But it is not just technical solutions that are important. Development of regulations and business development innovations is also important. Customers have been accustomed to buying transport services, now you should buy solutions instead. It's another way of thinking. ”

Åsa Domeij started by answering the question in the title of the seminar: “Can innovation solve the climate challenge? My answer is: Not alone, but innovation, new technology and new business models can make the journey easier ”.

She raised the dilemma that innovation often means more efficiency that makes us richer and that we can then consume more. New energy technology that makes heating cheaper can, for example, mean that stores heat larger areas. \"That is why there is a need for supportive policies.\"

She highlighted several project that Axfood is working on, including innovation with vegetarian prepared foods and a project where insects are raised to be used for fish feed and thus create more sustainable seafood.