Future Prospects and Emerging Technologies

This chapter explores some of the future prospects for the sustainable energy transition, focusing on the emerging technologies and the policy and industry trends that can shape the energy landscape in the coming years and decades. The chapter discusses three emerging technologies: next-generation solar and wind technologies, hydrogen, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), and three policy and industry trends: artificial intelligence, carbon pricing, and green recovery plans. The chapter analyzes the opportunities and challenges of these future prospects for advancing the renewable energy development and deployment, as well as for creating multiple benefits for the environment, society, and economy. The chapter concludes that the sustainable energy transition requires a holistic and integrated approach, a visionary and proactive leadership, and a participatory and inclusive governance, and that by exploring the future prospects, and by addressing the challenges and opportunities, the sustainable energy transition can become a reality that can bring multiple benefits for the environment, society, and economy.