Peter Carlsson is CEO of Northvolt, a global leader in recycling lithium-ion batteries, which is essential in creating a circular economy for electric vehicles.
What is a climate technology that isn’t getting the attention or funding it deserves?
There are a lot of efforts on decarbonizing the end-consumer products in green tech, but the sources of raw materials are still often mined, refined, and shipped using old, carbon-intensive techniques. We need to see a much larger joint effort on regionalizing and decarbonizing the entire value chain, to truly push towards a fully circular and sustainable production world-wide.
What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?
We see a great expansion of energy storage systems in North America right now, due to inviting regulation that offers stakeholders a way to invest in stabilizing grids and expanding capacity for renewable energy. Hopefully Europe and other regions will join this development during the next year, to further increase the pace of the expansion of renewable energy.
What’s the most important climate legislation that could pass in the next year?
Every initiative that moves us towards a global price of carbon, since it creates a more level playing field for global industry and would further stimulate innovation to realize the Paris Agreement’s goals.
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