Page 166 - CW E-Magazine (17-10-2023)

News from Abroad

THE WAY AHEAD

More funds needed to hit global net-zero goals

by 2050: IEA

Achieving net-zero emissions by Ensuring investments in clean posed in the report, the developed eco-
2050 and restricting rise in global tem- energy and infrastructure, driving invest- nomies are leading the way in achieving
perature to 1.5°C is still possible but ment flows beyond developed countries net zero in 2045, followed by China in
tougher now, according to International and China are among the many chal- 2050 and the other emerging markets
Energy Agency (IEA). lenges to achieving the goal of limiting and developing economies after 2050.
warming to 1.5°C globally.
Meeting these goals will require The call to step up climate action
tripling renewable energy capacities to Yet, what presents the biggest im- comes close on the heels of major
11,000-GW by 2030, increasing annual pediment, according to the IEA Chief emitters slowing down or diluting their
investment in clean energy from $1.8- Dr. Fatih Birol, is the “growing geo- efforts to cut down emissions. Recently,
trillion in 2023 to $4.5-trillion by the political fragmentation”. He described the UK backtracked on key elements
early 2030s, driving large portion of the fraying international cooperation as the of its climate plans such as deferring
investment to emerging and developing “Achilles heel of reaching our global the ban on sale of petrol and diesel cars
economies, the IEA said its updated re- climate targets”. by five years to 2035, even as Prime
port to the ‘2021 Net-Zero Roadmap’. Minister Rishi Sunak said that the
The IEA report lays out the criti- country would meet its target of
Despite increased investment in cality of international coordination and achieving net zero by 2050.
fossil fuels and persistently high emis- cooperation if the world is to limit global
sions, record growth in solar power warming to 1.5°C. Stressing the impor- Another major emitter, China has
capacity and electric vehicle sales in- tance of ensuring that the pathway to made it clear that it will not counte-
dicate that achieving net-zero emis- global net zero is equitable, the report nance any talk of phasing out fossil
sions by mid-century is still attainable. states that by 2035, emissions need to fuels. Increasing the clean energy de-
These technologies alone are expected decline by 80% in advanced econo- ployment will require a quantum jump
to contribute one-third of the emissions mies and 60% in emerging markets and in annual investments in the space by
reductions needed by 2030. Moreover, developing economies compared to the the early 2030s and the main issue “is
the role of yet-to-be-commercialised 2022 level. It will also require almost whether or not the emerging coun-
technologies in emissions reduction all countries to advance their targeted tries will be able to finance the clean
has fallen from nearly 50 per cent net-zero dates. energy investments. This is in my view
in 2021 to around 35 per cent in the the fault line of the overall investment
2023 update. With the differential timelines pro- challenge,” Dr. Birol said.

Bayer to partner with Twist Bioscience to accelerate

drug discovery

Germany’s Bayer has entered into targets, is tailored to address specific under the collaboration that enter clini-
an antibody discovery, option, and challenges in antibody discovery. It cal development qualify for certain
license agreement with Twist Bioscience, has the potential to increase the proba- success-based clinical and commercial
a company offering synthetic DNA bility of success of antibody disco- milestone payments as well as royalties
using its silicon platform. very programmes across indications from product sales. In total, Twist is
and focus areas. Under the terms of eligible to receive up to $188-mn clinical
The company’s “Library of Libra- the agreement, Twist will receive pay- and commercial milestone payments
ries,” a collection of synthetic antibody ments connected with the initiation of plus royalties. In return, Bayer receives
libraries that harnesses innovative research and will be eligible to receive exclusive rights to license the anti-
structural and developability features fees associated with research activi- bodies for commercialisation in all
to cover a wide range of antibody drug ties. The antibody leads discovered global territories.

166 Chemical Weekly October 17, 2023

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