Guest Post by Chris Coleman, Quantum Analyst at The Quantum Insider/Resonance
COP30, the UN’s annual global climate conference, brought together governments, researchers, and industry to chart the next phase of climate action. Beyond highlighting the magnitude of today’s climate and sustainability challenges, one message stands out: new and emergent technologies will shape how we respond. Quantum computing was noticeably present, not on the periphery, but actively showcased for its growing utility in sustainability applications.
The Sustainability Quantum Working Group, — a community-led group, founded by IBM, to design quantum computing and hybrid solutions to address sustainability challenges across industries — wrote a report that was released at COP30, showing how quantum systems are beginning to address concrete problems in energy, materials, and climate modeling, areas where classical methods are now stretched to their limits.
Rather than treating quantum as a distant technology, the report frames it as an emerging tool that researchers are already applying to sustainability challenges. From chemical modeling for better batteries and low-carbon building materials to grid optimization and wildfire forecasting, early quantum approaches are being tested against real data and real constraints. These efforts reflect a shift toward methodical adoption, where quantum becomes one component of a broader sustainability R&D pipeline.
What stands out most is the role of collaboration. The working group brings together 60+ experts across energy utilities, universities, national labs, and industry to evaluate where quantum can deliver meaningful advantage and where it cannot. That multidisciplinary approach is essential: sustainability problems are chemical, physical, ecological, and infrastructural all at once, and no single organization has the full view required to deploy quantum effectively.
As hardware roadmaps point toward the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers later this decade, the real work now is preparing high-value use cases, datasets, and partnerships so the quantum community can contribute responsibly and credibly. The report makes an important point: quantum won’t solve climate change, but collaboration around quantum applications can accelerate solutions that matter: cleaner materials, more resilient grids, better adaptation models. And that requires open working groups, shared methods, and global multi-stakeholder coordination.
At COP30, the invitation is simple: engage, collaborate, and help shape how utility-scale quantum computing can support sustainability efforts in a disciplined and scientifically grounded way.
