If countries are serious about climate change, they should get serious about quantum computing
The COP28 Conference in Dubai has already unveiled several declarations that underscore the disastrous consequences of climate change and galvanize global initiatives to keep a resilient future within reach. Though laudable, these declarations are ultimately futile if countries fail to successfully implement them. If countries are serious about meeting their climate commitments, they should get serious about quantum computing, a potentially game-changing technology that could support implementation and drive breakthrough climate innovations.
The Role of Quantum Computing in Climate Change
COP28 participants aim to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels by 2050. Green energy technologies — such as electric vehicles, carbon capture and storage, and climate resilient agriculture — are key to help countries remain on target and cut net emissions in half by 2030.
The problem is that many green energy technologies are too costly and cumbersome to be useful. Further, existing approaches to scientific research and discovery could take years or decades to produce needed improvements, and the world cannot afford to wait. Rising temperatures already cause environmental degradation, weather extremes, food and water insecurity and conflict. Thankfully, quantum computing can help.
Advantages of Quantum Computing
Quantum computing uses the laws of quantum physics to store and process information, and rapidly solve complex problems. Quantum computers available today require additional maturation to deliver on their full potential, they are still error-prone and small in scale. But even in their current, limited state of development, quantum computers demonstrate significant computational advantages over conventional computers. They could solve problems in minutes that would take today’s best performing conventional computers millions of years to crack.
Quantum computers are particularly good at solving the optimization and simulation problems underpinning many sustainability and energy-related challenges, and could overcome barriers to green technology innovation much faster than their conventional counterparts. Quantum computing, though an imperfect technology itself, could expedite critical breakthroughs and help achieve global climate objectives within desired timeframes.
Examples of Quantum Computing Applications
Quantum computers could, for example, accelerate improvements in electric batteries, which are pivotal to the renewable energy transition. While conventional computers struggle to model chemical processes and illuminate molecular interactions, quantum computers can provide exact simulations of quantum-mechanical phenomenon, paving the way to better battery efficiency and performance. Quantum computers could help identify battery materials that are cheaper and more sustainable to source and produce, while also reducing the number of lab prototypes that require extensive testing. They could also help improve the energy density of batteries, allowing for increased range and greater flexibility.
Aside from supporting battery research and development, quantum computing can unlock more eco-friendly fertilizer manufacturing processes and facilitate more affordable green ammonia. Quantum computers could help overcome the challenges associated with replicating nitrogen fixation artificially, for instance. Quantum simulation could illuminate ways to enhance enzyme stability and oxygen sensitivity and improve the rate of ammonia production by nitrogenase. These advances would result in a 67 percent cost reduction over green ammonia produced through today’s methods and dramatically lessen the CO2 impacts of ammonia production for use in agriculture and shipping.
Other possible sustainability applications for quantum computing include identifying better materials for solar cells and wind turbines, or more absorbent catalysts for carbon capture technologies. Quantum computers could help solve grid optimization problems as well, leading to significant power and energy savings, or contribute to more accurate and timely weather forecasting, enabling proactive and effective climate adaptation strategies. Quantum simulations could also support earth system modeling or nuclear fusion research and development efforts.
