There are certain indications that an energy revolution may be underway: big businesses are continuing to use their energy more efficiently; international companies are incorporating sustainability into their own corporate strategies; partnerships between the public and private sectors are revitalizing efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. A transition to a carbon-neutral world will be possible without technology.

The mainstream focus is not the advancement of sustainability pledges nationwide, but innovation by the private sector to develop new sustainable technologies. Industries are actively working to integrate technologies across a range of categories of sustainability, such as smart-city infrastructure for brighter and more energy-efficient cities, and a system to capture floating energy on energy boats.

But it's also crucial that the private sector continue to innovate and stay invested in the most promising emerging areas of technology. With advances in regulatory and policy frameworks and financial management, streamlined conditions for existing technologies are likely to thrive and facilitated a range of new potential technologies. Here are some innovative technologies that have emerged because of such advancements:

1. Renewable fuels

Aviation is now among the leading sources of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. Industry has made a lot of progress in this area, where technologies like Honeywell's Ecofining^TM have managed to create sustainable aviation fuel that satisfies and exceeds the American Society for Testing Materials jet fuel specifications. It can be made using a wide range of feedstocks, such as plant oils, and animal fats and 2nd generation feedstocks like camelina, algae, and jatropha.

Additional collaboration among businesses and governments is needed to scale up the deployment and adoption of this technology. Efforts between nations in the field of sustainable fuel must continue in order to build a legal interpretation of new and existing rules and regulations that is specifically relevant to where SAF markets and related feedstocks are today. This could help accelerate the widespread use of this innovative fuel.

Governments need to coordinate with international partners to aid the use of abundant, readily available, and economical feedstocks. This can help address feedstock constraint issues as the feedstock market develops.

2. Low global warming potential molecules

Very small molecules have a big impact when it comes to reducing emissions. Our scientists have focused on the developing hydro-fluoro olefin (HFO) technology, a form that is used in propellants, aerosols, blowing agents, and refrigerants.

This innovative technology helps users reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while improving energy efficiency. It is used in a variety of everyday products, including for personal and family care, air-conditioning for cars, refrigerants for supermarkets, blowing agents for insulation, and solvents for cleaning. These products have prevented the release of high greenhouse-gas potential chemicals equivalent to over 295 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, corresponding to the amount of carbon sequestered by 110 billion trees.

3. Sustainable buildings

Buildings are accountable for approximately 37% of the world s direct and indirect CO2 emissions. Occupants have greater expectations of buildings than ever in the past, about these expectations that a building's indoor air quality will aid their health and well-being and use less energy. These are high expectations that we should be in a position to meet. Building owners and operators are increasingly demanding two objectives that are closely related — reducing the environmental impact of their buildings and improving their indoor air quality. Our Buildings Sustainability Manager solution facilitates improvement to both of these goals.

All of these technologies are currently available, but we require the public sector to continue to innovate as well. It took the world more than a century to carbonize, but we don't have all that time to decarbonize. We must create the appropriate atmosphere to support the development of technology-led transitions that are both timely and sustainable in the medium- to long term.