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Up to this day the two ‘classic’ positions in policy development are: ‘we could do something, but it is (too) expensive’ and ‘we should do something, and those who can afford should pay for it’. Tackling climate change combines the best of both worlds, as it is the cheapest way to address many of today’s economic, environmental and social concerns, while at the same time creating a more equitable, sustainable development pathway for this 21st century society. Our climate is not a consensus subject where we all have to give in a little to reach agreement. On the contrary, climate action is perhaps the most decisive subject, where the best way to act in one’s own interest is to invest in our common future.So, what will it take to keep any potential warming of the earth as close to 1.5 degrees centigrade as possible? Looking past all the debates and reports, the answer is pretty simple. To arrive at a carbon neutral world by 2050, we need to drive energy efficiency improvements of at least 3 per cent per year. ‘We’ – industry, transport, public infrastructure, homes – must at least double the rate of energy efficiency improvement, mostly by accelerating infrastructure renovation to around 3 per cent per year. This must happen while also converting the existing and new energy demand to clean energy sources at a rate that similarly equates to 3 per cent of our energy mix per year.The current rate of energy efficiency improvement hovers around 1.5 per cent per year. At the same time, demand for energy continues to rise at about 3 per cent per year driven by population growth, increased prosperity and mobility. Simply doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement would reduce global energy cost by more than US$2trillion by 2030, slash the average household energy bill by a third, and create more than 6 million jobs by the end of this decade. There are two main components that are necessary to double the rate of energy efficiency improvement: The first one is accelerating the renovation of existing infrastructure in developed countries. The second one is leapfrogging to clean technologies like solar-LED combined with new business models in developing countries.When speaking about energy we often talk about individual technologies and their potential in their respective silos. In reality, we must pursue them all. Energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon engineering are all needed. Only by enacting all of them in unison will we be able to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality in the coming 40 to 50 years. The International Energy Agency projects that energy efficiency needs to do over half of this job. It will be a crucial success factor for the renewable energy and energy access objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All programme captured by the SDG7. One could say that by combining ‘EE + RE’ we can decarbonize society twice as fast and twice as cheap. At Philips, we walk the talk transforming the agreement reached at the Paris COP21 UN Climate Change Summit in Paris into tangible action. By the end of 2016 we reached the goal in our US operations to source 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources. We are also on track to fulfill the pledge we made in Paris to become 100 per cent carbon neutral by 2020. Now, what will it take for society as a whole to achieve this? In generic terms, it requires that we connect the dots in four areas:For technology, we need to connect Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at a rate of 3 per cent per year so that they deliver their full potential on our pathway to a carbon-neutral society. Pictured: The Dutch island of Ameland has adopted innovative connected LED streetlights, which not only help save energy and increase public safety but are also friendly to migrating birdsINDUSTRY INTRODUCTION 039