After another summer of heatwaves across Europe, it’s tempting to take a deep breath of autumnal air and move on.
But even if the temperature on the streets is no longer getting you hot under the collar, the climate trends driving these weather patterns should be. Everyone should be thinking seriously about what this level of global heating means for their companies.
Though we at The Climate Group work with 250 multinationals, there are thousands of large businesses still unprepared for the scale and speed of change coming.
We urgently need to contain global heating. To do that we need to halve global emissions by 2030.
There’s no more waiting for every government, no more ‘we’ll do it if they do it’, or ‘but what about China?’, we all need to escalate our actions to get emissions down. Right down. Halved in a decade, and more beyond.
Halving global emissions is going to be the story of the next 10 years.
This is going to be the climate decade.
Businesses that aren’t ready will disappear. They will be buffeted by changing demands; the best talent will steer clear. Investors have already started to price-in climate risk. If you think creative destruction was just a theoretical part of your economics degree, talk to people at Blockbuster or Kodak about how external existential threats can play out.
As a business exec you need to do your part to help the world hit the goal of being net zero by 2050 because it’s a real threat to your business right now.
So how can you help your business to negotiate this existential threat? Like any business plan, this huge ambitious goal needs to be broken down to clear achievable actions with deadlines.
Below is my list of nine steps every large business can take now to prepare for The Climate Decade.
The combined impact of implementing these will also shift global markets and happen to help save the planet.
Will you play your part? What will you do today?
Helen Clarkson is the CEO of The Climate Group
Next week: Carlos Brito, CEO, AB InBev
- The 2020 Super Year series is a collaboration between freuds, Goals House and Raconteur
