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Environment and sustainability
Soaring electricity demand is straining a 20th-century grid built for a different world. Keith Norman, Chief Sustainability Officer at Lyten, argues that the energy transition hinges on new business models, not just new technology. From decentralised storage to 85% mining-free lithium–sulphur batteries, Lyten is reimagining energy infrastructure to enable abundant, cleaner power for the 21st century.
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Keith Norman
Chief Sustainability Officer
Lyten
Keith: Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Global electricity demand will nearly double in the next 25 years, driven by AI/data centres and emerging economies, which are projected to account for approximately 80% of the increase by 2040.
Realistically, meeting this demand will require an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy portfolio, including fossil fuels and renewables. But the real challenge is in distribution. Expanding transmission lines is a slow and costly process, tied up in decades-long permitting battles.
The risk is defined by inaction and working within legacy models for commercial, financing, permitting and policy. Technological innovation alone isn’t enough. The best analogue from my lifetime is the leap to cellular. Entire continents with little communication via landlines were connected within a decade, not because we built more land lines, but because cellular technology created an entirely new model. We need the same thinking in energy. The opportunity lies in taking proactive, collaborative action on the energy transition.
Keith: We see two big opportunities.
The first involves the grid. On the generation side, renewables have expanded rapidly, but grid dependence prevents fully bringing that capacity online. Our grid was designed for steady, centralized power plants, but it struggles with the intermittent, decentralised nature of modern renewables. This mismatch creates bottlenecks, forcing us to waste clean energy because it can’t get to the right place at the right time.
We believe a big part of the solution is adding decentralised energy storage at the edge of the grid, where electricity is consumed. This bypasses bottlenecks and makes renewables reliable 24/7, elevating batteries from ‘climate tech’ to critical energy infrastructure. Based on ExxonMobil’s 2024 energy report, the world will need to scale an additional 20,000 TWh of electricity generation by 2050. To put that in perspective, that is equivalent to two-thirds of the entire world’s current output, which Ember Energy reports finally broke 30,000 TWh in 2024 after over a century. Renewables plus batteries are projected to meet 85% of that new demand. That is why we are incredibly bullish on the role of batteries over coming decades: they are the key to enabling this transition by providing cleaner energy where and when it’s needed most.
The second opportunity is the supply chain. Today, batteries depend on massive mining and minerals processing operations. To meet transition goals, Benchmark Minerals suggest we’d need upwards of around 400 new mines in a decade. That’s unrealistic and environmentally damaging. Compounding this, geopolitical concentration in the battery supply chain sends materials on a 50,000-mile global tour for processing and assembly, concentrating risk, cost and carbon in a product meant to be sustainable. We saw this play out with solar panels, where regional monopolies led to the deep PV dependencies today.
Lyten’s approach is to remove mined minerals from the battery supply chain. Our lithium-sulphur battery removes about 85% of mined mineral content, including nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite. We see a pathway to over 90% mining-free batteries using lithium from brines. Shifting to abundant, locally sourced materials is the way to leap batteries forward. We believe lithium-sulphur is the chemistry that will lead the way; it’s a more energy dense battery, using lower cost materials and massively diversifies and secures our battery supply chain.
Keith: Absolutely. We’re also using our materials platform to decarbonise physical infrastructure. A prime example is concrete. Cement is a major climate problem, responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions. We’re addressing this with a new admixture that makes concrete 30% stronger. This delivers two wins: the enhanced strength extends the lifespan of infrastructure and, crucially, you can use significantly less cement, which slashes the carbon footprint.
We’re already seeing strong demand because the product solves customers’ primary performance and cost challenges. This validates our core belief that for a sustainable solution to achieve mass adoption, it must first be the better performing and more economical option. For builders, stronger infrastructure with less cement is an economic win. The CO2 reduction is a major co-benefit. That’s the power of our core material innovation. It works across industries, from batteries to buildings.
Keith: We need to break out of old ways of thinking. Even as renewables and batteries surge, energy infrastructure has relied on the same centralised model for 75 years, which is no longer enough. Supplying cleaner, more reliable electricity will demand innovation not only in technology, but in business models, financing and policy.
At Lyten, we’re already seeing how pairing new battery systems with creative financing unlocks entirely new markets. The incredible demand we are seeing for our battery energy storage systems in emerging economies would be impossible without the supportive financing model we received from the US Export-Import Bank. Technology alone cannot solve the transition. Pairing it with scalable financing makes all the difference.
The single message I’d leave with global business and policy leaders is this: the energy transition is not about replacing fuels; it’s about re-architecting the system to enable abundant, clean energy. We need leaders who can think creatively across that entire value chain, from materials science to project finance to partnerships and policy. Incremental improvements help but are not enough to get us there; we need bold commitments that pay off not only next quarter, but for decades to come.
2025 is a critical year for the Paris Agreement. Ten years on, we need to rethink how we frame the challenge. And seeing challenges differently is what business and we are all about.
ICC is committed to securing what businesses need at the upcoming climate negotiations, COP30, in Belém, Brazil. Learn more about our Opportunity of a Lifetime climate campaign and how to get involved.
*Disclaimer: The content of this article may not reflect the official views of the International Chamber of Commerce. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and other contributors.
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