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Our effort to mitigate climate change

The Covid-19 pandemic and its health-related and economic impacts present us with an entirely new global challenge. It has also illustrated how intense levels of international research and development will aid in halting its spread. The challenge of climate change must also be addressed globally, and collaborative international research will be decisive in this area. The work carried out by SINTEF Energy Research and our partners during 2019 clearly demonstrates that we have made a major contribution in the collective effort to address this challenge.

The current energy system is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This means that a fast transition to more sustainable energy systems is necessary.  

In 1987, the UN published a report “Our Common Future”, drafted by the Brundtland Commission which was chaired by a former Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. A key term in the report was “sustainable development”. This report first used the term "sustainable development", defining sustainability in three aspects: climate and the environment, economics, and societal factors.

As the years went by, the concept of sustainability became overshadowed by other global challenges. However, in 2015, the UN announced its Sustainable Development Goals, and in the same year, the Paris Agreement was signed. The sustainable development goals have led to a realisation by both public authorities and commercial businesses that action must be taken. If their activities are to keep growing and remain profitable in the long-term, new strategies must be developed.

Now, there is a sense of urgency. All of a sudden, it is 2020. We have only ten years left in which to achieve the UN’s goals. In the last couple of years, we have started to see that young people are losing their patience. This is important because it is their future at stake. Even in the face of other issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change remains one of the biggest global challenges that has to be addressed by all of us, together.

In our collective effort to mitigate climate change, we need to use all the tools available to us. At SINTEF Energy Research we have many tools to offer, and many of them are described in this report.

SINTEF Energy Research is an important, progressive research institute, and what we do is meaningful. We continue to grow, and in 2019 we once again delivered an excellent financial result. In collaboration with our Norwegian and overseas partners we are shaping a more sustainable future for us all.

Inge R. Gran,
CEO SINTEF Energy Research