Accelerating Climate Innovation
WITH HANNAH SCOTT
Please see below a short summary of a recent conversation between Hannah Scott (CEO of Oxfordshire Greentech) and Roland Harwood (CEO and Founder of Liminal) about the Climate Tech Supercluster. The full conversation can be heard on the On The Edge podcast above.
In a thought-provoking discussion between Hannah Scott, CEO of Oxfordshire Greentech, and Roland Harwood, CEO and Founder of Liminal, the critical role of collaboration in driving climate innovation was at the heart of the conversation.
Hannah Scott began by explaining the vision behind the Climate Tech Supercluster, an initiative designed to unite businesses, researchers, and local authorities to fast-track the development of climate technologies. "We are at a pivotal moment where we need to scale up solutions rapidly," Scott emphasized. She highlighted that the Supercluster is aiming to bring together innovators, investors, and institutions across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, forming an ecosystem to develop and scale climate-critical technologies. Scott highlighted the pressing need for climate innovation, noting that "the UK must reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 to meet its net zero targets."
The Supercluster is part of a broader ecosystem of over 3,000 startups and scale-ups, backed by $8 billion in funding, all focused on tackling climate challenges across sectors like energy, transport, agriculture, and construction. The goal is to decarbonize these critical areas at scale, leveraging the region’s world-leading tech hubs and universities. Oxfordshire alone contributes over £1 billion annually to the UK's low-carbon economy.
Scott emphasized the urgency of rapid decarbonization, and the Supercluster’s collaborative approach—fostering partnerships between early-stage innovators and established enterprises—will help drive solutions at a global level. Projects supported by the Supercluster, such as decarbonizing transport and scaling battery technologies, are expected to reduce emissions by up to 25% over the next decade.
This initiative also addresses the financial challenge of climate innovation, as the UK will need an estimated £50 billion annually by 2030 to remain on track for its net zero goals.
By uniting a diverse set of stakeholders and fostering innovation, both Scott and Harwood agreed that the Climate Tech Supercluster could become a blueprint for other regions and industries, proving that collaboration and innovation are key to addressing the climate crisis at scale.
In closing, Scott remarked, "The Climate Tech Supercluster is not just about technology—it's about creating an ecosystem that enables everyone to contribute to a sustainable future."
“Necessity is the mother of invention and we’re in the most necessary part of human history right now. It’s never been more necessary for us to come up with some truly breathtaking solutions to what is an extremely difficult problem.”
The full conversation can be heard on the On The Edge podcast here.
