Firing the starting pistol on climate action

If the world is to avoid irreversible climate change, then business needs urgently to get on board. It’s the task of Nigel Topping, United Nations’ climate change champion, to show them how

As a one-time factory manager, Nigel Topping isn’t someone to mince his words. For business owners tiptoeing around climate change, he has a simple two-word message: “Wake up!”

He doesn’t labour the science. Seven of the planet’s warmest years have occurred since 2014. If that’s not enough to persuade company leaders, then no amount of peer-reviewed research will either.

Instead, the United Nations’ high-level champion for climate action goes straight for the jugular: “If you think you can be a late follower, then you've decided to give up market share and be a slow loser.”

Like it or not, the transition to a low-carbon economy is “inevitable”, he argues. Social expectations, regulatory demands, even investment trends all point to the inexorability of a low-carbon transition. 

Smart companies, moreover, are already on the case. Just look at Tesla. A decade ago, the idea of an electric-only carmaker seemed bizarre. Now every other major auto-manufacturer is desperately playing catch-up.

“We have to avoid any framing that says, ‘Oh, maybe we should do a green thing on Friday afternoon’. This has to be front and centre of business strategy,” Topping insists.

Hard targets, not empty words