A Review of Barriers to Full-Scale Deployment of Emissions-Reduction Technologies
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.11575/sppp.v14i1.70772Résumé
Innovative clean technologies are part of the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in both Canada and Alberta, particularly in the latter’s petroleum industry. However, while governments and their agencies may provide policies and financial support, proponents of cleantech still face numerous barriers to full deployment and commercialization.
To navigate the innovation and funding process successfully, it’s crucial for proponents to know the factors that impact the effective commercialization of cleantech innovations. They must also understand the role policies play in either supporting or hindering favourable outcomes.
Start-ups require support that focuses on innovation with a strong commercial potential, while scale-ups need to rely on proven strengths if they want to obtain private sector support for growth. Granting agencies and governments have an important role in supporting innovation. More clearly demonstrating and communicating their due diligence around funding decisions justifies expenditure of public money. Moreover, their decisions can and should send a signal to private sector financiers whether a certain innovation represents a good investment. Due diligence equally works to signal financiers when a specific project does not merit investment.
Innovative clean technologies are part of the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in both Canada and Alberta, particularly in the latter’s petroleum industry. However, while governments and their agencies may provide policies and financial support, proponents of cleantech still face numerous barriers to full deployment and commercialization.
To navigate the innovation and funding process successfully, it’s crucial for proponents to know the factors that impact the effective commercialization of cleantech innovations. They must also understand the role policies play in either supporting or hindering favourable outcomes.
Start-ups require support that focuses on innovation with a strong commercial potential, while scale-ups need to rely on proven strengths if they want to obtain private sector support for growth. Granting agencies and governments have an important role in supporting innovation. More clearly demonstrating and communicating their due diligence around funding decisions justifies expenditure of public money. Moreover, their decisions can and should send a signal to private sector financiers whether a certain innovation represents a good investment. Due diligence equally works to signal financiers when a specific project does not merit investment.
The need to find innovative solutions to reducing emissions may seem pressing, but the race should not be to the swiftest. De-risking for commercialization means that a proponent must firmly establish that the technology works, is economically feasible and can attain sufficient market penetration for a return on investment to the prospective financier, as well as provide socio-economic and environmental benefits.
Trying to simplify or speed up the stages of innovation and the funding process means proponents can be exposed to incompletely proven and riskier technologies, which can damage credibility with financiers. A balance must be struck between the financier’s wish to expedite the de-risking process and the need to avoid inadequate de-risking which can jeopardize the project and its funding at a later stage.
Distinctions must also be made between firm-level support, which allows a company more flexibility in pursuing or cancelling projects, and project-level supports, in which the funding is specifically targeted for use in the development of a particular innovation and has a defined end point.
Cleantech innovation in Alberta faces added hurdles associated with a post-2014 economic downturn that has reduced some firms’ cash flows and has made firms, as well as government, less inclined to support cleantech innovations. This situation makes it crucial for innovation proponents seeking funding to distinguish clearly between a proposed project’s economic and environmental benefits. A technology whose primary benefit is reducing emissions is susceptible to changes in emissions pricing or regulations, and thus is not an attractive candidate for investors. An innovation that primarily reduces costs but offers a secondary environmental benefit is a better investment because it is much less sensitive to policy changes.
Alberta innovators must make sure they emphasize the economic benefits, and do their due diligence and careful de-risking if they want to surmount the added obstacles. Cleantech innovation doesn’t have to become a casualty of the provincial economic environment if the proper steps in the innovative and fiscal processes are conscientiously followed.
Téléchargements
Publié-e
Numéro
Rubrique
Licence
The following is the copyright statement of SPPP.
Copyright © <Author name> <year>. This is an open-access paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 4.0, which allows non-commercial sharing and redistribution so long as the original author and publisher are credited.
Publication Copyright and Licensing
The following guidelines and information, provided in six sections, are intended for authors (the “Author”) who are invited to write a paper (the “Work”) for The School of Public Policy Publications (the “Publisher”). The rights and responsibilities conveyed in the SPP Author Agreement will only apply once your paper is accepted for publication. At that point in the publication process, you will be asked to download the form and return a signed copy via e-mail to spppublications@ucalgary.ca. Please review the below information to ensure agreement with SPPP policies.
Section 1: Author’s Grant of Rights
In consideration of the Publisher’s agreeing to publish the Work in The School of Public Policy Publications, the Author hereby grants to the Publisher the following:
1.1 The irrevocable, royalty-free right to publish, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute the Work in perpetuity throughout the world in all means of expression by any method or media now known or hereafter developed, including electronic format;
1.2 The irrevocable, royalty-free right to use the Author’s name and likeness in association with the Work in published form and in advertising and promotional materials related to the Work; and
1.3 The irrevocable, royalty-free right to license others to do any or all of the above.
Section 2: Prior Publication & Publication by Others
2.1 The Author agrees not to publish the Work, or authorize any third party to publish the Work, either in print or electronically, prior to publication of the Work by the Publisher.
2.2 The Author agrees not to publish the Work in any publication outlet which is substantially similar to The School of Public Policy Publications for a period of six (6) months after publication of the Work in The School of Public Policy Publications. Substantially similar is defined as a non-subscription, open-access publication outlet with a similar mandate/vision and intended audience.
2.3 Should the Author publish or distribute the Work elsewhere at any time or in any alternate format, the Author agrees to contact The School of Public Policy Publications to inform them of the subsequent publication.
2.4 Should the Author publish or distribute the Work elsewhere at any time or in any alternate format, the Author agrees to make reasonable efforts to ensure that any such additional publication cites the publication in The School of Public Policy Publications by author, title, and publisher, through a tagline, author bibliography, or similar means. A sample acknowledgement would be:
“Reprinted with permission from the author. Originally published in the The School of Public Policy Publications, http://www.policyschool.ca/publications/.”
Section 3: Editing and Formatting
The Author authorizes the Publisher to edit the Work and to make such modifications as are technically necessary or desirable to exercise the rights in Section 1 in differing media and formats. The Publisher will make no material modification to the content of the Work without the Author’s consent.
Section 4: Author’s Ownership of Copyright and Reservation of Rights
4.1 Nothing in this agreement constitutes a transfer of the copyright by the Author, and the copyright in the Work is subject to the rights granted by this agreement.
4.2 The Author retains the following rights, including but not limited to, the right:
4.2.1 To reproduce and distribute the Work, and to authorize others to reproduce and distribute the Work, in any format;
4.2.2 To post a version of the Work in an institutional repository or the Author’s personal or departmental web page so long as The School of Public Policy Publications is cited as the source of first publication of the Work (see sample acknowledgement above).
4.2.3 To include the Work, in whole or in part, in another work, subject to Section 2 above and provided that The School of Public Policy Publications is cited as the source of first publication of the Work (see sample acknowledgement above).
4.3 The Editors and Editorial Board of The School of Public Policy Publications requires authors to publish the Work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the Work for noncommercial purposes, and ensures the Author is credited for the original creation. This onward licensing is subject to section 2.4 of this agreement, which further ensures that the original publisher is credited.
Section 5: Author’s Warranties and Undertakings
The Author warrants that:
5.1 The Author is the sole author of the Work, or if a joint author, the Author has identified within the Work the other authors, and holds the copyright, either solely or jointly, and has the power to convey the rights granted in this agreement.
5.2 The Work has not previously been published, in whole or in part, except as follows:
5.3 Any textual, graphic or multimedia material included in the Work that is the property or work of another is either explicitly identified by source and cited in the Work or is otherwise identified as follows:
5.4 To the best of the Author’s knowledge, the Work does not contain matter that is obscene, libelous, or defamatory; it does not violate another’s civil right, right of privacy, right of publicity, or other legal right; and it is otherwise not unlawful.
5.5 To the best of the Author’s knowledge, the Work does not infringe the copyright or other intellectual property or literary rights of another.
5.6 The Author will indemnify and hold Publisher harmless against loss, damages, expenses, awards, and judgments arising from breach of any such warranties.
Section 6: The Reuse of Third-Party Works
The Publisher requires that the Author determine, prior to publication, whether it is necessary to obtain permissions from any third party who holds rights with respect to any photographs, illustrations, drawings, text, or any other material (“third-party work”) to be published with or in connection with your Work. Copyright permission will not be necessary if the use is determined to be fair dealing, if the work is in the public domain, or if the rights-holder has granted a Creative Commons or other licence. If either the Author or Publisher determines for any reason that permission is required to include any thirdparty work, the Author will obtain written permission from the rightsholder.
