The 20s of this century will see the next wave of far-reaching industrial and social change. Its name? Sustainability. As we have already seen with digitization, the necessity of implementing sustainable business practices is impacting the business model. Bans and sacrifice alone will not be enough to effectively combat climate change, which growing sections of society are justifiably demanding.
Global energy demand will continue to grow—increasing by more than 25% to 2040, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This will be driven by rising prosperity levels and population growth, especially in China and India, in addition to technologies such as digitization, which also need energy.
Those who are not committed at least to ensuring their production operations become carbon neutral will be putting their license to operate at risk. This is something we have recognized at Rolls-Royce. Our strategy enables us to make the transition from an engine manufacturer to supplier of integrated solutions by 2030. It is not based solely on digitalization, but also on a range of new technologies - from hybrid drive and fuel cells to all-electric solutions. We rely on renewable energies and power-to-x and are using newly developed microgrids to take power supply and decentralized energy management to the next level.
Schell is CEO, Rolls-Royce Power Systems
