News
PRESS - THE TIMES - Ushering in the ‘Third Industrial Revolution’
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is an edited version of the original article. Michael Mathres was wrongly misrepresented in the original as the Founder of LiveEarth.
March 31st, 2008 - Michael Mathres has called on business to usher in “a third industrial revolution” if global carbon emissions are to be reduced.
Michael Mathres, a former UBS banker and serial entrepreneur, who first developed the idea of a global concert to raise awareness of climate change, has started a service designed to accelerate global investment in low carbon and renewable energy technologies. He said that new technologies to tackle climate change were critical to saving the environment and represented the biggest commercial opportunity of the century.
“The Kyoto Protocol is simply not enough,” he said. “We have to massively reduce our global emissions and have only ten to twenty years to fix things. We need to start a third industrial revolution predicated on, and driven by, low-carbon energies and technologies.”
He believes that there is a vast shortfall in the investment required to reduce global CO2 emissions. The Stern Review projected that 1 per cent of global GDP must be spent every year for the foreseeable future - roughly $350 billion to $480 billion (£240 billion) – on the task. United Nations figures indicated last year that only $100 billion to $150 billion was invested. Climate Capital Network will help to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy by connecting investors and entrepreneurs offering solutions such as renewable energy, clean technology, energy efficiency and recycling.
About 25 British and American entrepreneurs and companies providing climate change solutions have registered on the company’s website. A similar number of potential investors and philanthropists have also registered.
Climate Capital Network conducts due diligence and offers strategic advice, intelligence and assistance with fundraising. It charges a success fee for matching investors and businesses as well as for research and consultancy work. Mr Mathres said that the service had conducted research on 400 projects and had a database of 2,000 investors eager to invest in the sector. He said: “Climate Capital Network will mobilise global investors and connect them with these low-carbon solutions.”
The company is chaired by the environmental finance guru Peter Fusaro, of Global Change Associates, who coined the term “green trading”.
Mr Mathres, who has been active in the campaign to tackle climate change for seven years, believes that Britain has a unique chance to develop a world-class industry based on expertise and new technologies that deal with the climate. He said: “The UK has the investment expertise and the researchers. What we need now is much more leadership and real, grass-roots entrepreneurism. If we don’t take the chance now, it won’t be there in five to ten years’ time . . . This huge experiment we are conducting with our species is only going to happen once.”
Mr Mathres originated the idea of a global concert to raise awareness about climate change with the One Earth project. The organisers of Live Earth borrowed the idea and invited him to develop it jointly. In 2006 he also helped to form Climate Change Now, a cross-sector coalition encouraging low-carbon lifestyles supported by the UN and the European Environment Agency. More recently, he brokered the foundation of Global Cool, an awareness campaign that attracted the support of Sienna Miller, Josh Hartnett, KT Tunstall and others.