Podcast Summary: TED Talks Daily

Episode: Sunday Pick: Tech Solutions (#3): How one of China’s biggest tech companies is tackling carbon removal (with Xu Hao)
Date: November 30, 2025
Host: Sherrell Dorsey (TED Tech)
Guest: Dr. Xu Hao (Vice President of Sustainable Social Value, Tencent)

Overview

In this engaging TED Tech episode, host Sherrell Dorsey sits down with Dr. Xu Hao, who leads sustainability and carbon removal initiatives at Tencent—one of China’s largest technology companies, behind WeChat and the world’s biggest video game vendor. Their discussion centers on Tencent’s forward-thinking approach to carbon neutrality, the challenges of scaling industrial carbon removal, and the creative ways digital technologies (including video games!) are driving climate education and action. The episode is part of a miniseries spotlighting tech-driven climate solutions highlighted at TED’s Countdown Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of Carbon Removal Tech

(08:16–10:30)

• Investment in Hard-to-Abate Sectors: Tencent's Carbon Neutrality Lab and “CarbonX” platform focus on supporting technologies for carbon removal and decarbonization, especially in difficult sectors like cement, steel, and chemicals.
• Primary Challenge: High Costs

  “The single challenge they face is actually they cost too much today, right? So we really need to push the technology forward so that they can reduce their cost and they can scale up, then they can play a big role.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (08:44)

• Lab-to-Industry Pipeline: Technologies are moving from lab prototypes (measured in kilos/tons) to real-world industrial applications (tens of thousands/millions of tons).
• Danger of “Technology Lock-In”: If industries commit to high-carbon technologies today due to lack of alternatives, those choices “lock in” emissions for decades.

2. Real-World Progress and Examples from CarbonX

(10:30–13:00)

• Many startups in China are focused on carbon utilization: converting captured CO₂ into cement, chemicals, or building materials.
• Market Realities:

  “...they have to compete head to head with the fossil fuel alternative without the price on carbon. And then the good thing about it, or exciting, [is]... they can actually compete...”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (10:31)

• Exciting breakthroughs: startups building cement using steel slag and CO₂ at similar or lower costs than conventional methods, and making chemicals using CO₂ more cheaply.
• Parallel with the clean energy wave: First it was solar and wind, now these next-generation decarbonization technologies are following that pathway to affordability and scale.

3. Leveraging Digital Capabilities for Decarbonization

(13:01–16:54)

• Tencent’s Strengths: AI, big data, and cloud computing are being applied to optimize energy use, plant operations, and industrial efficiency.
• Resource-Productive Operations:

  “If I'm an operator in a plant with digital capability, you can do almost everything in the split of a second... they will produce same amount of output using much less resources.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (13:38)

• Virtual Power Plants:
  • By precisely balancing grid generation with consumption via digital optimization, industries can reduce the need for expensive battery storage.

  “That can almost only be done by digital technology because we really need a lot of data, a lot of optimization and also split of second reactions.”

• Tencent commits to renewable energy for all new data center demand.

4. The Role of Megacorporations in the Climate Movement

(16:54–18:39)

• Corporations must view social and sustainability challenges as long-term business opportunities.

  “Any solution that solve big social or sustainability issues in the very long run will generate business value sooner or quicker.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (17:29)

• Unlike typical short-term tech investments, sustainability ROI may span 5–10+ years but is essential for future relevance.

5. Climate Education through Tencent’s Video Games

(18:39–21:32)

• Tencent has begun integrating real climate concepts and advocacy opportunities into its games, leveraging massive reach with young gamers.

  “...in many of our games, the theme of the game actually fits this topic very well... can we leverage some of these themes with the young players... with the work we actually supporting in the physical world?”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (18:51)

• Case Study: In Southeast Asia, a new game hero themed as “the son of the forest” led to 20 million+ players participating in climate-related in-game tasks, matched by Tencent’s real-world environmental protection efforts.

  “Over two, three weeks we got like 20 million plus players actually participated... That's a pathway to the young generation, deliver the message the way they like. And it's not boring, right?”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (21:08)

6. The Path Forward: What Will “Move the Needle” by 2030

(24:03–27:04)

• First Wave: Electricity, renewables, storage, heat pumps—already competitive and scaling fast.
• Second Wave: Decarbonizing hard “hardware-based” industries (iron, steel, cement, chemicals) is next; emerging tech is “designed to be carbon neutral or net zero from the very beginning.”

  “I think by 2030 many of them will be much cheaper and much more scalable. So that we will see maybe the first generation or the second generation of low carbon technology unicorns grow out of China or anywhere in the world.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (24:57)

• Dr. Xu Hao refuses to “bet on any single technology,” emphasizing a diverse tech ecosystem for climate solutions.

7. The Challenges and Uncertainty Ahead

(27:04–29:08)

• Fundamental challenge: No guaranteed “right answer.”

  “We don't really know the right answer, right? ...But we don't have time to find out the right answer and then scale up that single right answer. So that's why we need to push all the possibility forward, which makes... everybody nervous. It makes. Makes me really nervous.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (27:29)

• Emphasis on urgent, parallel pursuit of multiple solutions—there’s no time for a single “silver bullet.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Technology Lock-In:

  “If you choose a relatively higher carbon technological pathway, you build a plant, that plant will be there for 15, 20, 30 years, then the emission is almost locked in.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (09:41)

• On Competing Without Carbon Pricing:

  “They can make cement using steel slag and carbon dioxide at a similar cost or sometimes even less than the fossil fuel alternative.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (11:07)

• On Engaging Youth Through Gaming:

  “That's a pathway to the young generation deliver the message the way they like. And it's not boring, right?”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (21:08)

• On Urgency and Uncertainty:

  “We don't really know the right answer... but we don't have time to find out the right answer and then scale up that single right answer.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (27:29)

• Optimism for the Future:

  “Everybody play our role and take action. We will get there.”
  — Dr. Xu Hao (29:08)

Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 08:16 | Introduction to CarbonX and challenges for carbon removal tech | | 10:31 | Real-world examples from CarbonX’s startup cohorts | | 13:01 | Bringing AI/data to industrial emissions and resource optimization | | 16:54 | Role of corporations, long-term value of solving sustainability issues | | 18:39 | How Tencent games are used for climate education and engagement | | 21:32 | (Ad break, end of main content) | | 24:03 | Looking ahead to 2030: transformative technologies and industry waves | | 27:04 | Dr. Hao shares the core uncertainty and need for multi-pronged innovation approach | | 29:08 | Final words of optimism and collective responsibility |

Conclusion

This episode gives a rare inside look at how a major tech conglomerate, better known for messaging apps and gaming, is taking a leading role in carbon removal innovation. Dr. Xu Hao’s perspective is pragmatic yet hopeful: solving global climate challenges is daunting and uncertain, but requires urgent, creative, and wide-ranging action—and that includes leveraging everything from industrial AI to the storytelling power of video games. From lab breakthroughs to real-world, million-ton impacts, this episode spotlights how technology can mobilize both industry and the public toward a greener future.

Listen to more climate tech conversations on the TED Tech feed, and stay tuned for future episodes from the Countdown Climate Summit.