The ambition of reduce 1.5°C The temperature of the planet is becoming unattainable.
As highlighted in The State of Climate Actionachieving 1.5°C would require an annual emissions reduction of around 7% globally, more than the impact of COVID-19 and against a trend of +1.5% annually.
While the road is getting steeper, progress on climate action remains insufficient, from national and corporate commitments and actions to scaling up and financing green technology.
Drastic and immediate mitigation measures are needed against every tenth of a degree of warming. COP28 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change) showed new impact measures, such as the recognition of the need to abandon fossil fuels and the commitments of triple renewable energy y double energy efficiency by 2030and to raise more funds for loss and damage and mitigation in the Global South. But much more is needed.
Although more and more measures are being taken, the sum is still insufficient. Important systemic constraints persist, such as high costs and interest rates, low willingness to pay, or lack of stable regulations. This requires businesses and governments to quickly move from incremental measures to those that can transform systems, overcoming these obstacles and enabling exponential impact.
Governments need to rewrite the rules
Governments have the great responsibility to get closer to net zero emissions and, at the same time, guarantee a just transition that benefits the most vulnerable. They can set bolder, shorter-term ambitions. They have the power to support the leaders and penalize the laggards. They can change the context of companies (and entire societies) with smart policies and better purchasing, and by pricing externalities (side effect, positive or negative, of production or consumption), supporting the Global South and incentivizing new technologies.
But the measures adopted by the governments until now have been extremely insufficient: There is a global gap between ambition and action. As of today, only 35% of emissions are covered by national zero emissions commitments net by 2050 and barely 20% by 2030 with commitments that are at least close to a 1.5 °C trajectory. Policies are even more insufficient: Only 7% of emissions are covered by sufficient commitments backed by strong policies.
Governments must urgently close these two gaps, prioritizing short-term and large-scale impacts to ensure a sustainable climate but also to generate substantial social benefits (for example, creating the almost 40 million green jobs needed by 2030).
Businesses can lead systemic change
Beyond the role of governments, the private sector has a great responsibility and opportunity to accelerate action, in particular to strengthen the resilience of their companies and ecosystems. Companies must look beyond their own operations and find ways to create systemic impact by restructuring value chains, industries and policies.
For each type of action, There are numerous high impact examples that show practical paths to success:
The Zero Carbon Project Schneider Electric reduced the operational emissions intensity of 1,000 suppliers by 25% in three years, notably leveraging hands-on training, digital tools, and on-site implementation support.
Tesla revolutionized the automotive market by making electric cars more attractive than those powered by fossil fuels for many customers, before price parity, leading in design, performance and digital features.
Kloeckner, global steel distributorintroduced the world’s first “green steel” standard, which immediately unlocked nascent demand and willingness to pay for low-carbon steel.
The most of 90 members of the First Movement Coalition committed $15 billion in purchases to create early 2030 demand for key technologies in seven hard-to-cut sectors.
Maersk strongly advocates for an ambitious carbon tax on the shipping sector, to help the industry shift towards cleaner fuels.
The narrative may sound old-fashioned, but it is still true: the time advances and time is running out to avoid disaster. It is no longer the time to ask ourselves if we can do itbut of find out how we will do it.
