Climate Tech is the biggest product-market fit problem of our time. —Kartik Sachdev
As Product Managers, Engineers and Designers we work everyday to identify challenges, research solutions and deliver value through delightful experiences. But the biggest challenge of our time is all around us, and few of us are doing anything about it. Our planet - the meta-framework within which we all build, exist and function, is at risk. Here is a challenge that affects all of us, everyone we know, every living being that exists and every living being that will ever come into existence. Nothing else we will ever build will impact 8B+ humans.
What if we used everything we learned in building products, to solving the greatest challenge of our time?
We need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. We need breakthroughs in five key areas:
⚡ Electricity
🛢️ Manufacturing
🥬 Agriculture
🚚 Transportation
🏢 Buildings
The core technologies required to accomplish these breakthroughs exist today, and AI will accelerate the research & development of newer, more effective means. Our biggest challenges lie in planetary-scale deployments and changing user behaviour at a civilizational level.
The problem space is well-understood and quantified, and there is ample research to back it up. I recommend starting with Bill Gates’ book *How to Avoid a Climate Disaster* which presents a comprehensive framework to understand and address the primary driver of climate change, green house gas emissions.
Image: [epa.gov](http://epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/causes-climate-change)
Image: Ramesh K. based on Bill Gates’ book
If you’d like to understand more about how we got here and are generally looking for some positive inspiration, I recommend watching Canary.
I’m Kartik, a Product Leader with two decades of experience in AI, SaaS and UX. You can learn more about me and connect with me here: https://www.hellokartik.com . Unless stated, the thoughts and opinions on this website do not reflect those of my employer.
This is a side-project (until it isn’t), born out of concern, curiousity and optimism. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet. Right now, I’m learning (or “ramping up” as we like to say in tech), and this site serves as central repository of resources I’m discovering.
If you have ideas at the intersection of climate change and product, please Contribute