No one understands the 2°C climate change target, it’s time to reframe the debate around the real, tangible impact of climate change – like floods and wildfires, says Lewis Liu

I was recently at a dinner for venture capital investors in New York when someone asked me, “As a trained physicist, what’s more investable: fusion or quantum?”

I thought for a moment and answered, “Sadly quantum, even though fusion has a more tangible impact on humanity.”

The rationale I gave: fusion can elevate our civilization to orders of magnitude more energy consumption, with well-known applications. Quantum computing’s practical uses remain somewhat mysterious except for breaking the current cryptographic system. Yet quantum feels more investable because it triggers human urgency through defense applications – specifically, the looming threat of Q-day, when quantum computers could break all mainstream cryptography protecting banks and hospitals. Fusion, by contrast, is just “making something we already have but cleaner”.

Last week was Climate Week in New York. As my wife attended various events (she works in carbon finance), this thought kept nagging at me: climate change has a branding problem.

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