iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 09/06/2026

After 5 years, the @ethz.ch PhD Academy on Sustainability & Technology is back 💪 We hosted 14 researchers from all over the world working on key energy challenges and 2 exceptional professors: - Inês Azevedo @stanforddoerr.bsky.social - Varun Rai @utaustin.bsky.social Huge thanks to everyone!

A group picture of the participants in the SusTec PhD Academy with the Alps in the background.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 06/12/2025

The driver of lower oil demand for transport seems clear. One in ten buses and passenger cars rolling on the streets in China in 2025 were new energy vehicles (BEV, PHEV, FCEV). Average sales of new passenger cars for the past 12 months are now over 50% new energy vehicles.

New energy vehicles' share of sales and vehicles on the road in China by category is going up.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 06/12/2025

China's oil consumption for transport may fall in 2025 almost as much as it did in 2020, during the pandemic. "China’s oil consumption [for transport] is projected to fall for the 2nd consecutive year in 2025, declining by 4.6% year-on-year and by 7.2% compared to 2023."

Annual change in China’s oil consumption in transport compared to energy transition pathways. Oil consumption has fallen in 2025 nearly as much as in 2020.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 24/06/2025

The #IST25 is on! With over 500 participants from all around the world. Nuno Bento from ISCTE officially kicks off the conference, after Florian Kern announces that @transitionsnetwork.bsky.social is finally on BlueSky!

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 16/06/2025

Climate models (black) are *under-estimating* the Earth's energy imbalance (red) that drives climate change. New research in @science.org shows: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Trend in Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) in CERES and CMIP6 models. The CERES data are shown from 2001 to 2023. The CMIP6 data are shown from 2000 to 2030. All EEI are given as 12-month running means. CMIP6 model mean is shown by a thick black line and individual models are shown in thin gray lines. Only one ensemble member for each of the models is shown.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 12/06/2025

My second day at #EuSPRI2025 begins with Johan Schot, from @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social, presenting his paper "Exploring thresholds for accelerating sustainable transitions." He argues that acceleration follows changes in rules that govern behaviours and suggests a way to measure them!

Annegret Stephan and Johan Schot kick off a conference session on acceleration at the EuSPRI conference.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/06/2025

We had a #hydrogen focused afternoon #EuSPRI2025 session with two very interesting inputs: - Martina Fantini from NTNU, discussed the emergence of zero-emissions aviation comparing Japan and Norway - Alison Lesdos from @ceagrenoble.bsky.social, presented her work on decentralised H2 production

Martina Fantini starting her presentation with slides on the back.

Alison Lesdos starting her presentation with slides on the back.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/06/2025

Antti Mäenpää from @univaasa.bsky.social presented his project investigating the development of renewable energy projects in Finland, with a particular focus on local opposition and the rapidly rising impacts of data centers at #EuSPRI2025. He reminds us that global transitions happen locally!

Antti Mäenpää begins his presentation with the slides projected behind him.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/06/2025

"Geopolitics is *not* included in material selection processes [of researchers working on #solar techs]," explains Efi Nakopoulou from @utwente.bsky.social at #EuSPRI Surprising that as the EU accelerates the transition and materials get more relevant, the geopolitical debate doesn't reach everyone

Efi Nakopoulou introduces her presentation in front of a projection with the title: "Governing the design of emerging solar PV energy technologies."

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/06/2025

"Europe is at the forefront of innovation in #solar PV recycling," argues Manfred Spiesberger in #EuSPRI2025. The focus is usually too narrow on economic and technology topics, but environmental, public health, and geopolitical topics (e.g., recovery of critical materials) deserve more attention.

Manfred stands presenting before a projection of a slide.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/06/2025

Starts the #EuSPRI2025 conference in @tu-dortmund.bsky.social! Prof. @uwe-cantner.bsky.social from FSU Jena delivers the first keynote on "a new role of the state for (transformative) innovation." He discusses degrees of state intervention in innovation, and the endless debate market vs. planning.

Prof. Uwe Cantner delivers a presentation in front of a projected presentation with the title of his presentation.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 21/05/2025

We propose the Energy Supply Security (ESS) pyramid 🔌💡 The ESS Pyramid has 5 levels—from Self-Production to Autarky—with clear, quantitative metrics for each. It helps policymakers and planners evaluate how secure an energy system really is, and prioritize where to improve.

Energy supply security pyramid with five levels: Self-production at the bottom, Autonomy, System adequacy, Self-sufficiency, and Autarky at the top.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 21/05/2025

Energy supply security is key to the clean energy transition, but models sometimes overlook it. Our new paper, in @cp-iscience.bsky.social with @empa-materials.bsky.social colleagues, introduces the ESS Pyramid, a hierarchical framework to assess and strengthen security in future energy systems 🔌💡

Header of the scientific article: "The energy supply security pyramid: A quantitative framework for planning and policy making."

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 28/04/2025

How big was today's blackout in Spain and Portugal? 12:30 AM Gen: 32 GW -Solar: 19 GW -Nuclear: 3 GW -Wind: 3 GW -Hydro: 3 GW Demand: 25 GW 12:35 AM Gen: 14 GW (-18) -Solar: 9 GW (-10) -Nuclear: 0 GW (-3) -Wind: 2 GW (-1) -Hydro: 1 GW (-2) Demand: 25 GW Source: demanda.ree.es/visiona/peni...

Real-time power generation and demand in the Spanish and Portuguese power grid at 12:30 AM on 28.04.2025. It shows a big drop of roughly 50%.

Real-time power generation and demand in the Spanish and Portuguese power grid at 12:35 AM on 28.04.2025. It shows a big drop of roughly 50%.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 08/04/2025

If tariffs stay high, where will the $12.7 billion of Chinese batteries go? It sounds like an opportunity for others to leapfrog their clean energy deployment (if their economies hold on)! Lots of trade data in @harvard.edu's Atlas of Economic Complexity: atlas.hks.harvard.edu

Where does the United States import its batteries? 46.5% from China in 2023, followed by South Korea 18% and Japan 8.5%.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 08/04/2025

Worldwide rooftop #solar could knock off 0.05-0.13 degrees Celsius before 2050 Large shares of available rooftop area in China, India, and Indonesia, where grid electricity is dirtier, make rooftop PV's mitigation potential significant. Claims new paper in @natclimchange.bsky.social: rdcu.be/egPvB

Screenshot of the heading of the article: "Worldwide rooftop photovoltaic electricity generation may mitigate global warming".

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 13/03/2025

La amenaza del cambio climático al turismo en Europa España, como región enfocada al turismo de playa, podrían perder del 1% al 18% de visitas en verano, sin que un aumento en invierno llegue a compensarlo Interesante paper del EU-JCR: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Map of projected summer tourism demand impacts in Europe under different warming scenarios. It shows increased tourism in Northern Europe and a decrease in Southern Europe.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 11/03/2025

Compared to the IRA design, sector-specific tax credits based on willingness to pay could: - increase green #hydrogen adoption by 4.6% - reduce 7.3% more GHG emissions - cut policy costs by nearly half (-49.8%) A new paper in RSER focused on California suggests: doi.org/10.1016/j.rs...

Headline of the scientific article: "Sector-specific strategies to increase green hydrogen adoption"

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 10/03/2025

Ignoring environmental conditions leads to underestimating the required DAC capacity for net zero When DAC capture rate is a function of ambient conditions: +22.2% more DAC +2.5% more wind +1.9% more solar than when assuming a 90% capture rate A new study from Canada shows: doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

The headline of the scientific paper: "Impact of direct air capture process flexibility and response to ambient conditions in net-zero transition of the power grid".

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 06/03/2025

Europe becomes pro-nuclear? Not quite. ~50% supports it, except in PL 70% and ES, IT 40%. A survey of 4,800 shows "a marked increase in support for #nuclear" compared to before the 2022 energy crisis. Higher support among men and right-wing. See the paper in Energy Policy doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Cover page of the scientific article "Europe becomes pro-nuclear? Drivers of public support for nuclear energy in six EU countries after the energy crisis of 2022".

Four charts showing the results of a survey on 4800 Europeans about their support for different energy technologies.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 05/03/2025

Fascinating presentation about nuclear fusion today at @ethzurich.bsky.social ISTP by Reinhard Grünwald from TAB (the German Parliament Technology Assessment office). Many difficult technical challenges remain before demo power plants can be built, and the economics look even more challenging!

Dr. Grünwald from the German Parliament Technology Assessment office about to begin his presentation about nuclear fusion

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

Thanks for reading! Want the full breakdown? Our study lays out four key processes of decline and how they can be applied to study different techs. 📖 Read it open-access in Research Policy: doi.org/10.1016/j.re... If you find it interesting, please share it and let me know your thoughts!

Title page of the paper: "Decline processes in technological innovation systems: Lessons from energy technologies"

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

Decline plays out differently across technologies, but our four key processes seem to always play a major role. In two other cases—incandescent light bulbs and heating oil—policies and competition played major roles. In all cases, struggles lead to complex decline paths that are not always linear.

A plot of US residential energy consumption showing the peak of petroleum consumption in the 1970s and its gradual decline.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

⚛️ Nuclear power experienced a long, uneven decline - Nuclear once was the future of energy - But a delegitimation crisis eroded trust in nuclear - A long market decline led to resource demobilization - And as big firms left, guidance towards exit strengthend But today, some are trying to revive it

Bar plot showing that starts of new power plants slowed in the 1970s, making nuclear power share of global electricity stop growing and plateau at around 380 GW.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

🚗 ICE cars are only entering decline—but already with big resistance - Some countries are banning them (delegit., g.t.e.) - EV sales are growing (market decline) - Some automakers are shifting to only EVs (res. demob) But… incumbents dragging their feets and policy changes are causing reversals

Four bar plots showing the market share of ICE cars in Norway, China, Germany, and Italy going down. Except for two years in Germany and Italy when sales percentage of ICE cars went up.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

Most people assume that once a new technology emerges, the old one fades away. But it’s not so easy. For once, if demand rises faster than new techs, both old and new can keep growing! Technology decline is more than just substitution. Understanding it is key to speeding up the energy transition.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

The decline of polluting technologies is critical for fighting climate change. No decline, no lower emissions However, research focuses on innovation, leaving questions about decline open Our new paper explores how technologies like nuclear and ICE cars decline—and why it’s never a straight line 🧵

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

I was happily surprised to read Thomas Friedman, citing @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social in the NYT Opinion: “There is no such thing as the American economy anymore that you can identify in any real, tangible way. There’s just this accounting fiction that we call U.S. G.D.P.”

Quote from article: Ecosystems? Listen a bit to Beinhocker, who is also the executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. In the real world, he argues, “There is no such thing as the American economy anymore that you can identify in any real, tangible way. There’s just this accounting fiction that we call U.S. G.D.P.” To be sure, he says, “There are American interests in the economy. There are American workers. There are American consumers. There are firms based in America. But there is no American economy in that isolated sense.”

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/02/2025

“It’s the ecosystems, stupid.” Who would've thought Trump may help change economics research?

New York Times opinion article by Thomas Friedman: "Why Trump's Bullying is going to backfire".

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 27/01/2025

"What you are doing is at the heart of the ETH domain. No technology would be able to solve real world problems without considering the social aspects related to it." Martin Ackermann, director of @eawag.bsky.social, opens the 1st Social Science conference of the ETH domain

Martin Ackermann, director of Eawag, opens the social sciences conference on the stage in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 06/01/2025

We are hiring 1 PhD in energy modeling! The PhD investigates policies to accelerate supply chain development for net-zero technologies like hydrogen through agent-based and energy system modeling. Details: emea2.softfactors.com/job-opening/... Apply until 31.01.2025. Please share!

Picture of the SusTec research group at ETH Zurich with all its members standing in front of the Geneva lake on a sunny summer afternoon. There is text saying: We're hiring! 1 PhD student: Modelling net-zero supply chains.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 12/12/2024

Stellantis and CATL sign €4.1 bn investment in a 50 GWh #battery plant in Spain planned for 2026 This plant alone will make Spain one of the world's top battery manufacturing countries by capacity. Map by S&PGlobal: www.spglobal.com/marketintell...

World map showing battery manufacturing capacity by market in GWh for 2023 based on data for May 2024.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 10/12/2024

Together with @fraunhoferisi.bsky.social colleagues, we host a #EUSPRI track (exciting topic 27). If your work touches on concepts, methods, policies, limits, or empirics of acceleration, send it to us before 31.01.2025! Details: euspri2025.de/index.php/to...

Title of the conference track: Stimulating acceleration and avoiding deceleration of transformation: Concepts, challenges, empirical evidence and best practices. And authors: Florian Wittmann, Annegret Stephan, Ralf Lindner, Jakob Edler, Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez, Jonathan Köhler, Aline Scherrer, Carsten Schwäbe, Henning Döscher

Main research questions addressed by the track.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 10/12/2024

📢Call for paper! On June 11-13, 2025, join us for the Eu-SPRI conference in Dortmund! 33 topics explore how to shape societal futures through science and technology innovation policies. Deadline: 31.01.2025 Details: euspri2025.de/index.php/ca...

Skywalk Phoenix West in Dortmund, by Achim Meurer

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 09/12/2024

3. Technological change Solar technology changes fast. For example, solar cell efficiencies have increased by ~2% every 5 years [1]. If you own a solar cell manufacturing plant, you want to use it as much as possible before it gets antiquated.

Two graphs. Global PV cell production and manufacturing capacity utilization (left) and market shares and module efficiency by cell type (right), 2010-2022. On the left, rising global capacity dominated by China and falling utilization rates. On the right, rising cell efficiencies and market share changes from BSF to PERC cell types.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 06/12/2024

Why so angry? It's surprising to see Bavarians (news articles) being so angry about #wind energy when they have so few turbines!

Two maps of Germany. On the left, it shows that the anger with which local newspapers describe wind energy is higher in Eastern Germany. On the right, it shows the density of wind turbines across Germany, which is highest in the North and North-East.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 22/11/2024

Good morning from snowy @ethzurich.bsky.social! Today, we continue a great workshop on energy system modeling with Prof. Giovanni Sansavini, Dr. Matteo Gazzani, from @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social, and Prof. Sonja Wogrin, from TU Graz. And I want to share how beautiful Zurich looks this morning! 😊

View of snowed Zurich's old town from the terrace of the ETH Zurich early in the morning.

Terrace of the ETH Zürich covered in snow early in the morning.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 19/11/2024

#Hydrogen deployment in Europe is likely to be slower (and smaller) than expected, based on ACER's market monitoring Interestingly, the price gap between electrolytic and grey H2 is around x3 to x4, smaller than other estimates (but I could not figure out if SMR w/o CCS considers emission prices)

A line plot showing the evolution of hydrogen production costs in Europe since 2023, with SMR costs between 2 and 4 EUR/kg and electrolytic hydrogen between 4 and 8 EUR/kg.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 15/11/2024

The afternoon session began with Albert Rösti, member of the Swiss federal council. Now, Johannes Tiefenhalter, co-founder of Neustark, explains how they capture CO2 and permanently store it through mineralisation.

Johannes Tiefenhalter co-founder of Neustark presents in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 15/11/2024

Many opportunities for #solar in Switzerland as PV keeps getting cheaper and easier to integrate in buildings Christophe Ballif, photovoltaics prof at EPFL, gives examples of innovative installations across 🇨🇭 ...but also mentions incoming cuts in federal research funds that'll make things harder

Professor Christophe Ballif presents in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 15/11/2024

What is Switzerland's #energy superpower? With around 700 power stations across the country and 9 TWh of storage capacity, it is hydropower! Cécile Münch-Alligné, from HES-SO Valais, explains that 1 TWh of flexible hydropower helps integrate 3.5 TWh of solar and wind.

Professor Cécile Münch-Alligné presents in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 15/11/2024

Mobility will be a priority topic for #energy research in Switzerland for 2025-2028. And within mobility, it's mainly electric vehicles! Prof. Priscilla Caliandro, who studies the circular economy for batteries at Bern Uni of Applied Sciences, explains why EVs are key to cleaner mobility.

Professor for electrochemical energy storage Priscilla Caliandro presents the motivation to investigate electric vehicles in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 15/11/2024

The 12 #Energy Research Conference in Switzerland is on today in Bern. Prof. @retoknutti.bsky.social opens the day, talking about how researchers can engage with the public, and how important it is to do so, including social media to meet the public in the channels they use!

Reto Knutti, professor of climate physics at ETH Zurich, starts his talk in front of an audience.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 03/10/2024

It looks like a mix of increased energy efficiency and lower consumption. Primary energy consumption is going down faster than final energy consumption and electricity demand, but all of them are heading in the same direction.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 02/10/2024

This is excellent news, but it is partly explained by lower overall electricity demand—around 20% down in 2023 from the peak in 2014. Without nuclear and with more costly gas, coal's downward trend may flatten if electricity demand picks up. So, the coal phaseout is not entirely done yet!

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 01/12/2023

Switzerland stands to benefit from bolder policies: 1-Improve its energy security. Swiss import ~70% of their energy. 2-At moderate costs. Research estimates that NZE by 2050 requires 300-1,400 CHF/yr/person. 3-And mitigate climate change. Temperatures in Switzerland have already increased by 2.5C.

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Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez @anunezjimenez.com · 01/12/2023

Nearly thirty countries, including major economies like the United States, Japan, Germany, and France, have adopted net-zero emissions targets. This list also includes Switzerland. Net-zero emissions commitments cover 92% of the global economy; this is a major economic opportunity!

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