As the world gathers for COP30, the conversation rightly centers on how to cut emissions, finance clean energy, and build resilience. But one essential factor is often missing from too many of these discussions: safety.
Safety is what makes innovation possible. It’s the foundation that allows new technologies to scale, gain public trust, and deliver lasting impact.
Innovation without safety quickly runs into limits. Consider lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles and grid storage. When wildfires tore through Los Angeles earlier this year, emergency crews faced an unexpected danger: more than a million pounds of damaged battery debris. Even after the flames were extinguished, those batteries could reignite or explode due to thermal runaway.
The same story played out on a larger scale at California’s Moss Landing energy storage facility, where a major fire raised serious concerns about the safety of grid-scale energy storage. The response was swift and sobering — new local moratoriums, proposed zoning setbacks, and public skepticism. One official called it “a Three Mile Island event for this industry.”
These incidents remind us that technology alone cannot drive the energy transition. Public confidence determines whether clean solutions are embraced or resisted. Safety is what turns promising innovation into reliable progress.
Standards Enable Faster Adoption
Safety frameworks and standards don’t slow innovation; they scale it. Standards define how technologies perform under real-world conditions, ensuring resilience when systems are stressed by climate extremes. They translate ambition into durable, testable practice — making new solutions safer, more reliable, and more widely adopted.
Standards also create a common language for collaboration. They help governments, companies, and communities align around trusted benchmarks so that innovation can spread faster and further. In a world of increasing climate extremes, this shared foundation is essential to protecting people, infrastructure, and progress itself.
The COP30 Opportunity: Build on Safety
COP30 offers a chance to embed safety into the global climate agenda and accelerate progress that lasts.
Now in its second year, the Standards Pavilion — with UL Standards & Engagement joining ISO and IEC as presenting sponsors — demonstrates how international standards build trust, foster collaboration, and drive lasting climate progress.
To build on this foundation, leaders can:
- Integrate safety standards into international resilience frameworks and climate pledges.
- Partner with organizations like UL Standards & Engagement to apply scientific rigor and transparency to emerging technologies.
- Expand global knowledge-sharing so every nation benefits from safer, scalable climate solutions.
When the world builds on the foundation of safety, innovation thrives — and climate progress becomes not just possible, but permanent.
