The world in 2041

Fund management company Liontrust has announced its intention to launch the Liontrust ESG Trust PLC (ESGT), with a portfolio of between 25 and 35 holdings in sustainable companies around the world that it has judged to have the highest sustainability scores.

Peter Michaelis, head of the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team, reveals the trends he expects to shape ESGT between today and 2041:

“Over the last 20 years, we have experienced huge transformation across so many facets of life, and Covid-19 has shown this change will likely accelerate as we move past the pandemic. The changes we can expect over the next two decades will be reflected in ESGT, for which the IPO is planned for early July.

“Increasing urbanisation looks set to continue, with more than two-thirds of the global population likely to be city dwellers by the early 2040s. Currently cities emit 50% to 60% of greenhouse gases and will therefore have to invest in retrofitting to mitigate environmental impacts.

“Healthcare is a huge part of a more sustainable future, as people need to be around to enjoy a better world. Looking beyond the pandemic, our view is that we will see significant advances across areas such as gene editing and DNA sequencing, and these will revolutionise how we think about treatment.

“By 2041, our hope is that the electricity we consume will primarily come from renewable sources and be delivered through a hugely upgraded and more intelligent grid that includes demand-side management. Many things that currently consume fossil fuels will have switched, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps to heat and cool buildings.

“Electric cars should be 2041’s dominant form of passenger vehicles, and the combustion engine is likely to be an antique as quiet, clean cities become the norm. Cars will be charged from solar panels connected to houses and battery technology so developed that refuelling is a thing of the past. We anticipate autonomous vehicles as the norm for deliveries of food and parcels; while driving your own car is unlikely to be fully autonomous, safety systems should take control of braking and manoeuvring.

“The digital economy is increasingly central to a properly functioning global economy and this will continue. We predict ongoing shifts in the future of networking, systems, applications and services. While the internet will continue to play a vital role in how we communicate, artificial intelligence could personalise our experiences within platforms and quantum technologies and computing make networks faster and more available.”

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