​Clean growth means facilitating economic development and improving standards of living, while protecting natural resources and ecosystems on which our well-being relies. The transition to a low-carbon economy requires mobilising investment and innovation to develop opportunities for inclusive and sustainable growth.

Achieving global net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 requires investment of US$1–2trn per year, which equates to roughly 1–1.5% of global GDP according to the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) – funding to facilitate a green industrial revolution.1 After years of underperformance and “boom–bust” cycles, several clean tech sectors are thriving, fuelled by consumer demand and private and public investment. The global market for low-carbon goods and services has been estimated at US$4.2trn, spanning everything from recycling and the circular economy to environmental performance analytics and labelling.2

Electric growth: Electric car stocks in selected countries, 2013-2018

Rapidly increased demand and investment in innovation has made several clean technologies, such as the renewable energy, electric vehicles (EVs), and energy-efficiency systems cost-competitive and ready for broader deployment. Wind energy costs in the US, for instance, have fallen from over 55 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1980 to under 3 cents today.3 Globally, solar photovoltaic costs have fallen 82% over the last decade, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).4 However, the net zero transition requires further innovation in technologies and services, such as carbon capture and storage, synthetic biology, carbon accounting, and others to reduce emissions from hard to abate sectors and activities.

Global renewable energy employment by techology, 2019

Given the scale and the global nature of the challenge, international trade and investment is critical to the necessary innovation, development and diffusion of green goods and services. It also presents significant opportunities for business and countries that are able to develop innovative and productive capabilities and capacities in key clean growth sectors. The “Build Back Better” vision of recovery programmes following the Covid-19 pandemic – in which the fiscal demands of crisis recovery are seen as an opportunity to grapple with longstanding economic and social problems – has diverted significant funding towards the clean growth transition.5 It is crucial that this “green industrial policy” aims to make the clean transition “just”, by alleviating the social and economic costs by diversifying economic activity and helping people adapt in a changing labour market, without resorting to unwarranted protectionism.

 

[1] https://www.energy-transitions.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Making-Mission-Possible-Full-Report.pdf [2] https://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/facts_and_figures_en.htm [3] https://www.energy.gov/eere/next-generation-wind-technology [4] https://www.irena.org/publications/2020/Jun/Renewable-Power-Costs-in-2019 [5] https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/en/themes/green-recovery

The global supply chains for food, agricultural products and technology experienced an unprecedented shock due to the pandemic. Despite the disruption trade in foodstuff remained remarkably resilient, highlighting the essential role of food supply in times of crisis. Nevertheless, global food systems are undergoing a structural transformation that is necessary, not only to feed the world’s growing population, but also to prevent damaging impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.

The globalisation of supply and markets has seen agri-food sectors become more integrated with other sectors of the economy, both within countries and across those value chains. International trade in food and agriculture has more than doubled in real terms between 1995 and 2018 to reach US$1.5trn.1 The total global food and beverages market was worth almost US$6trn in 2019, following annual growth of 5.7% since 2015. Prior to the pandemic, the market was forecast to reach a value of US$8.6trn by 2025, before climbing to nearly US$12trn by the end of the decade.2

The global food system has also become more “global”, as exports from developing countries and emerging economies made up more than one-third of global agri-food exports by 2018, with around a third of global agricultural and food exports traded within global value chains (GVCs).3 Agri-food value chains have been driven by foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade, allowing companies to operate across multiple regions and making it easier for developing countries to integrate into global markets.

Globalised food: Agri-food exports and imports, average annual growth rates

However, the pace of this internationalisation has slowed down in recent years, and the global pandemic fuelled concerned about the resilience and sustainability of the global food system. While supply chains proved largely resilient, parts of the developing world experienced food security crises as a result of the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic further execrated the trends that saw the number of undernourished people increase by as many as 161 million from 2019 to 2020.4 The UN FAO warned that even though agri-food systems had proved resilient, the economic effects of the pandemic would cause acute and chronic food insecurity to increase, with the most vulnerable groups in society hit by lower incomes and employment.5 With the world’s population forecast to hit the 10bn mark by 2050, global food demand is expected to continue to grow significantly, putting further pressure on the global food system. 

Meeting this demand will require development and adoption of innovative technologies and practices throughout the global value chain. In developing countries, for instance, agricultural technology (agri-tech) helps to empower the huge population of smallholder farms in areas including Africa and South Asia by giving them platforms for trading, connecting, learning and creating greater efficiency. More advanced technology, such as Artificial intelligence (AI), now plays a large role in agri-tech and is expected to become increasingly focused on precision agriculture with the optimisation of decisions on cropping, livestock husbandry and land management to improve farm efficiency and productivity. The new emerging precision ‘smart’ agriculture market is estimated to grow rapidly from US$13.8bn in 2020 to US$22bn by 2025.6

Many of the solutions developed by agri-tech providers target the urgent challenge of sustainability in supply chains and food production. With the food supply chain accounting for a quarter of all global emissions – 82% of which are attributed to food production – cutting emissions, ecological harm and waste are at the core of national sustainable development strategies.7 Food systems also have a negative impact on biodiversity, contributing to the mass extinction of species, ecocide, soil loss, land degradation, air pollution and emissions. A shift towards alternative sources of protein, nature-positive food practices, such as conservation agriculture, sustainable aquaculture (fish farming) and vertical farming, as well as sustainability standards and targets will all be required to make the global food systems ready to face the current and future challenges.8

Heavy emitters: Global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

1FAO. ‘The state of agricultural commodity markets - agricultural markets and sustainable development: global value chains, smallholder farmers and digital innovations’. 2020. http://www.fao.org/3/cb0665en/CB0665EN.pdf 2Research and Markets. ‘Insights on the Food and Beverages Global Market to 2030 - Identify Growth Segments for Investment’ (internet). PR Newswire. 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insights-on-the-food-and-beverages-global-market-to-2030---identify-growth-segments-for-investment-301202729.html 3FAO. ‘The state of agricultural markets 2020’. 2020. http://www.fao.org/home/digital-reports/state-of-agricultural-commodity-markets/en 4FAO. The Sate of Food Security, 2021. http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition 5FAO. ‘Covid-19, agricultural markets and trade and FAO’s response’. 2021. http://www.fao.org/3/nf041en/nf041en.pdf 6Markets and Markets, ‘Smart Agriculture Market worth $22.0 billion by 2025’. 2020. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/smart-agriculture.asp 7Ritchie, H. ‘Food production is responsible for one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions’ 2019. https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions 8UNCTAD. ‘Trade and development report 2020. From global pandemic to prosperity for all – avoiding another lost decade’. 2020. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/tdr2020_en.pdf; The Economist Intelligence Unit. ‘Changing trends in food: discovering and utilising alternative crops’. https://foodsustainability.eiu.com/blogs/changing-trends-in-food-discovering-and-utilising-alternative-crops/

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented disruptions to education systems; however it has also accelerated many of the structural changes undergoing in the sector and opened up new opportunities. The emergence online and hybrid learning models, the take-up of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) have the potential to reshape the sector and pose serious threats to current incumbents, if investment in supporting connectivity infrastructure and training is not embraced. 

The global education sector has reached an impressive scale, having grown rapidly over the previous decade, and forecasted to double in market size within the next decade. Total enrollment across all levels of education reached 829 million students in late 2019, a 14% increase from 2010. In 2019, more than 5.5 million students studied in degree programmes outside their home countries, more than double the number doing so in 2000. The global education market is projected to continue expanding rapidly and more than double in size, reaching US$2.4trn by 2027, up from US$1.1trn in 2019.1

Growing student population: Global student enrollment, 2010-2019 (million students) growth rates

The pandemic has accelerated the digital imperative, a likely irreversible change, that is forcing education providers to rethink their strategies. Although most students have returned to classrooms since the height of the pandemic, educational institutions can now be certain that blended or digital-only modes of learning are part of their future. Established high education providers can no longer afford to put off investment in the digital future, as growing competition from new entrants in the market intensifies. The strongest challenges are posed by online-only providers of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses). This segment has seen rapid growth in 2020, increasing its international base of registered learners by 50%, and reaching 180 million users (excluding China).2 US-based MOOC Coursera has led the charge, adding 30 million new users in 2020 and attracting substantial new funding to increase its expansion. There is growing expectations that MOOCs, as they refine their models, will have a larger impact on the sector in the years to come. 

Global spending on education technology is also showing signs of expansion. Total spending worldwide in 2020 was US$227bn, accounting for 3.6% of total expenditure on education and training. Spending is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years, reaching US$404bn in 2025.3  Advanced technologies that enable immersive and multi-sensory learning methods, such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), are expected to grow fastest to around US$13bn globally, while AI and robotics spend is expected to reach US$9bn.4 Investors follow the suit, as the EdTech segments attracted over US$16bn venture capital (VC) investment in 2020, up from just US$1.8bn in 2014.

EdTech boom: Global Venture Capital (VC) investment in EdTech, 2015-2020 (US$bn) 

There are however significant structural challenges that remain in place that may hinder the growth EdTech. The lack of high-quality broadband infrastructure needed to support more advanced forms of learning, coupled with teachers’ lack of readiness to embrace digital forms of learning are some of the biggest limits to the growth in the sector. Governments and telecom companies have a major role to play in upgrading the current broadband infrastructure, guaranteeing faster levels of connectivity and increasing digital skills training. There are further concerns towards data security and the need to ensure adequate data privacy practices by EdTech firms. 

    1 Fortune Business Insights, 2020: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/higher-education-market-104503 2 The Report by Class Central, 2020: https://www.classcentral.com/report/the-second-year-of-the-mooc/ 3 HolonIQ, January 2021: https://www.holoniq.com/edtech/10-charts-that-explain-the-global-education-technology-market/ 4 Ibid