Accelerating Progress Towards Climate Goals - Three Critical Areas That Government and Business Leaders Should Focus On

COP27 is over and some important decisions have been made, but the climate crisis is still looming large. Combating the devastating effects of climate change requires mobilizing governments, corporations, finance, and civil society. At COP27, public- and private-sector leaders united in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to seek solutions alongside BCG, the exclusive COP27 consulting partner.

At COP26 in Glasgow, parties agreed to accelerate climate action but progress since has been muted. I am optimistic due to the efficacious actions pursued by several governments and businesses, but there is a long way to go in terms of technology, finance, alignment of goals and execution on commitments. All of this has become increasingly complex in the backdrop of geopolitical headwinds, war, recession, inflation, and energy and food security challenges.

I want to specifically highlight three areas that are critical for government and business leaders to accelerate progress towards climate goals.

1.?????Delivering on climate finance commitments

This is the foundation that underpins our ability to invest in technology, adaption and resilience and skills required for effective climate action. Earlier this month, India’s minister of external affairs had called out that “the vehemence of the rhetoric has never been matched by putting money on the table”, this sentiment is echoed by several other countries particularly in the developing world. One of the biggest outcomes of COP27 is the loss and damage fund; however, questions about how it will be funded are yet to be answered fully. There is lots of work ahead to top up the fund and get payments flowing.

My colleague Vinay Shandal points out - finance is the key that will unlock climate action - but the gap in required funding is still overwhelming. In fact, according to an analysis from BCG and the Rockefeller Foundation, the capital deployed today provides only ~16% of the required total to mitigate negative climate effects and adapt processes and infrastructure worldwide.

The flow of climate funds specially to lower and middle-income countries is crucial to their efforts around climate transition as well as adaption and resilience.

2.?????Protecting lives and livelihoods during transition

The green revolution is taking off, but the transition must be managed thoughtfully to be fair and inclusive.

?The transition to a sustainable economy requires significant shifts in the skill sets of the overall workforce. Climate action will affect some communities much more than others, depending on where they are located, what type of work they do, and how quickly they can adapt. These risks must be anticipated to ensure that vulnerable groups are not unfairly disadvantaged by the climate transition.

We believe that education—often overlooked as a factor in reaching these goals—must become a more central theme in climate discussions. For this, the education sector needs to ratchet up its own ambitions to spur climate justice.

Read some of our related content here –

Fostering green skills to accelerate climate literacy | BCG

How to Ensure a Just Transition to a Green Economy | BCG

3.?????Investing in adaption and resilience

Whether or not the world will be able to follow through on the 1.5degree pathway is uncertain but the devastating effects of climate change are all around us in the form of rising sea levels, floods, wildfires and more. Despite climate adaptation and resilience being high on the COP27 agenda, most governments and businesses remain unprepared.

It is imperative for national and local governments and corporates to ensure they are prepared and have built climate-risk resiliency.

Watch this video of my colleague Charmian Caines talking about the importance of adaption and resilience at COP27.

Achieving climate goals requires exceptional collaboration and ongoing effort, COP27 has been a major milestone, with many more needed. The motto of ‘together for implementation’ is the need of the hour but it needs to be inclusive, thoughtful, and most importantly, adequately funded.