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The way in which we have used technology to meet energy needs in the past has been a key cause of many environmental problems, including air pollution and climate change, but new technology, and new patterns of development based on it, may offer possible solutions to some of these problems. That said, while there is a strong case for looking at technology as a key factor in the attempt to move towards a more environmentally sustainable global future, technology is only one factor and possibly not the leading one. We may also need social and economic change.

However, there are interactive processes at work. The development and adoption of new technology is usually driven by social and economic forces, including profit. Environmental issues have also increasingly come to the fore and are having a direct effect. For example, climate concerns have been a stimulus for rapid recent renewable energy growth, along with air pollution issues, notably bad of late in some Asian cities. Something had to be done, and a switch to cleaner technologies was one option.

Some of these changes have been led by governments, nationally and internationally. In addition to supporting global climate actions designed to reduce carbon emissions, most countries have backed the rapid expansion of renewables, with more than 50 countries having signed up to ‘100% by 2050’ renewable power targets (REN21 2018). Clearly, concerns about climate change have translated into policy changes and action programmes (see Box 1.1 for an overview of the key energy-related climate issues).