Presentation done by Arun Majumdar, Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability on "Energy, Climate and Sustainability" at #TheIndiaDialog on February 29, 2024 at Stanford University. The #TheIndiaDialog was organised by Institute for Competitiveness and US Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University. #TheIndiaDialog looks at inviting the world’s leading experts and intellectuals in the areas of economics, business, policy, social development, science, technology, art and culture to provide their perspectives and foster an understanding of India. There would be a series of keynote addresses, panel discussions, and fireside chats during the dialog.

1. Earth. Climate. Society.
Energy, Climate & Sustainability:
The defining challenge and opportunity of the 21st century
Arun Majumdar
Dean & Professor

2. Source: Science
333, 540 (2011)
2050:
10 ± 0.5B
2100:
11 ± 1.0B
Earth. Climate. Society.
Historic and projected population growth
Global sustainability snapshot | Our vision 2

3. The human tsunami
The global CO2 tsunami
The energy consumption tsunami
The human consumption tsunami
Collective view
Earth. Climate.
Society.

4. NASA
1
2
800
40
20
oC
oC
GtCO2
GtCO2/year
years
Quiz
Earth. Climate. Society.

5. NASA
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ALL OF THEM
Sustainability: The defining challenge and opportunity of the 21st century
Earth. Climate.
Society.

6. Global Commitments
>60% of Fortune 500 companies have
made climate/sustainability commitments
Earth. Climate.
Society.

7. National Academies Report (2019)
Gasser, T., Guivarch, C., Tachiiri, K., Jones, C.D. and Ciais, P., 2015. Negative
emissions physically needed to keep global warming below 2 C. Nature
communications, 6(1), pp.1-7.
Global
Scale vs Speed

8. What is the total weight of ALL (8B)
human beings on earth?
∼ 0.5 Gton
Multiple Gton-scale and $1Tr/yr industries need
to innovate
• Electricity, heating and cooling
• Transportation
• Food
• Textile
• Water
• Steel
• Cement
• Information
• …
Largest transition for
humanity
8 billion people
+
$100 trillion global
economy

9. Arun Majumdar, Stanford University
1. Unconventional Gas 2. Renewable Electricity
Energy Innovations at Scale – Multiple New $1Tr/yr industries
4. LED Lighting
3.

10. – Multiple $1Tr/yr industries

11. School of Engineering Graduate School of Business
Graduate School of Education
School of Medicine
School of Law
School of Humanities & Sciences
Reimagining academia
and its value to society
Vision: Create a future where
humans and nature thrive in
concert and in perpetuity.
Mission: Deep understanding of
Earth, climate, and society to co-
create knowledge and scalable
solutions, in collaboration with
partners worldwide.

12. Opportunity
Co-creating Knowledge &
Scalable Solutions and
Innovations

13. Innovation Transfer Program
Over 10 years
$6M Investments $1.6B follow-on funding
250X
David
Packard
Bill
Hewlett
Fred
Terman

14. The Sustainability Accelerator – Preparing for scale up from the beginning

15. 15
Earth. Climate. Society.
The Sustainability
Accelerator
Stanford
Sustainability
Accelerator
Faculty,
Students,
Postdocs, Staff
Scalable solutions with target cost,
scale, and speed.
Examples:
● Removing atmospheric GHGs at
Gigatons of CO2 per year at
<$100/tCO2 by 2050;
● Adaptation measures for 1 billion
people against the risks of climate-
induced weather extremes;
● Protecting 30% of land and water
by 2030;
● Feeding 10 billion people
● Access to affordable freshwater for
10 billion people
● Economy-wide energy and
resource efficiency
● …..
Flagship Destinations
Tech
Policy
Finance
Markets
Supply
Chains
Equity
Education
Unintended
Consequences
Develop and launch scalable
solutions with external partners
along multiple pathways
External Partners
Identify gaps and risks along possible scaling
pathways which, if addressed, can be rapidly scaled up

16. North Star
Reimagine academia by harnessing all the powers we have—knowledge, education, talent,
innovation, resources, solutions, influence—to restore mother earth for our children and
grandchildren and improve their quality of life.
In the immortal words of Rev. Martin Luther King, we need to do so with the
“fierce urgency of now”.
We do not inherit
this earth from our
ancestors
We borrow it from
our children