I’d like to kick off this new year by asking you to do something that’s maybe unexpected: Go visit the websites of other renewable energy companies.
Just as our partners and competitors do, LevelTen builds solutions for a single purpose: to accelerate the clean energy transition. But we know that LevelTen is just one of many great companies with the mission to help the world tackle the urgent issues of sustainable energy and climate change. In fact, when you browse the websites of most of our colleagues and competitors and partners (like 3Degrees), as well as the many advisors and developers and analysts and press that serve this industry—you’ll find language very similar to that which appears on our site. You’ll read things like:
‘Taking urgent action on climate change’
‘Achieving a low-carbon reality’
‘Driving the renewable energy industry forward’
The reason for the linguistic overlap is both simple and powerful: We all share the same underlying environmental goal. And, in aggregate, we’re actually more than just an assortment of mission-driven companies; we’re a mission-driven category. The emergence of this new category is promising, but we need to do more to achieve our collective objective.
It’s not hyperbole to say that our very survival depends on a rapid shift to a clean and sustainable energy system; the problem is, we’re not transitioning quickly enough. To attain the lofty goals proffered on our websites, we have to build out the renewable energy fleet even more rapidly. In these unprecedented times, even amidst a global pandemic, we have to make this transition happen faster. Fortunately, we know the will is there, we know the capital is available, and we’re incredibly heartened to see the increasingly ambitious commitments made by more and more global companies to achieve sustainability goals.
But it’s not enough for companies to set lofty goals; these entities also need a robust renewable transaction infrastructure to reduce transaction costs and ensure that economical supply keeps pace with demand. Yet, despite our best intentions as a category of solution providers, the status quo isn’t sufficient to meet this need. Today, buying renewable energy remains slower and less efficient than it needs to be.
To accelerate development at the rate required to avoid climate catastrophe, the renewable energy industry needs more liquid markets. Buyers and sellers must be able to identify each other more easily and to transact more quickly, with more certainty, based on robust standards and efficient tools. Developers need clearer demand signals to direct investment dollars where they’re needed most. Advisors need accurate and scalable tools and resources to serve an increasing number of customers, better and faster.
In other words, we need to find new ways to come together. Renewable energy buyers, sellers, advisors, brokers, financiers, and service providers need more accessible and more transparent transaction infrastructure to meet the needs of the modern market.
In this spirit, LevelTen is launching a new campaign in 2021 that we’re calling #OneGoal, and it’s for all of us in the renewable transaction infrastructure space. #OneGoal is about coming together to brainstorm, create, and accelerate solutions that get more projects built, faster. It’s also about fostering the new technologies and processes needed to accelerate deals, increase transparency, and reduce costs. #OneGoal is about starting a conversation around the infrastructure needed to make this system work at scale.
#OneGoal is about coming together to accelerate the clean energy transition, and we’d like to invite you all into this new #OneGoal conversation, as well.
2021 is an exciting time to be in this industry. But it’s also a challenging one. We must do more—and do it together—if we’re all to achieve our #OneGoal.
Wishing a safe and Happy New Year to you all. We hope you will join us!
