The Climate of Business #12: What meaningful happened during Week 1 of COP26?

"Climate change is leading to hyper inequality", "The sustainability revolution has the magnitude of the industrial revolution and the speed of the digital.", "The history of climate change is not a history of facts and figures, it is human history.", "The final decisive decade has come."

My heart is so full. After a week at COP26, I am excited, exhausted, hopeful, committed, elevated, sad, but also happy. Never in my entire career have I participated in an event where the room lives and breaths one single topic and is fully aligned around one problem - people from all over the world gathered to share the grief, anger, commitment and progress on climate change. Throughout this week I met some of the most inspiring people I have met in my entire life - indigenous leaders, chief sustainability officers, world leaders. I told Al Gore about Plan A, spoke extensively the High Level Champions of COP, spoke to Mary Robinson, first woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I also spoke at three events - on the panel session hosted by Mark Carney, at the NYTimes Climate Hub and at roundtable on the role of social media on addressing climate change.

All of these people have dedicated their work towards a more equitable society, healthier planet and better resource distribution and have come to Glasgow to reinstate this same belief in the minds of others, while setting up concrete agendas on how all of this can be achieved. I am honoured to have shared space, thoughts and laughter with them.

But what concretely happened this week? Is there actual progress to be proud of? The answer is yes and I am happy to highlight a few of the key announcements and agreements.

Oceans Pledge

The Oceans Pledge, sadly widely discussed as "weak" (Reuters), has stipulated that more than a dozen countries, including the US, will step up protection of their national waters. The pledge is vague, but puts on the map our waters which often have been and continue to be ignored while carbon and methane usually make headlines. The health of our oceans plays a huge part in addressing effectively climate change. "In the last 200 years, the oceans have absorbed a third of the CO2 produced by human activities and?90% of the extra heat trapped?by the rising concentration of greenhouse gases."

Deforestation Pledge

The pledge that stole the show was certainly the deforestation pledge. Over 100 leaders made a landmark pledge to end deforestation by 2030. leaders of countries covering over 85% of the world’s forests have committed to stop and reverse deforestation and land degradation. What does it mean in money terms? $12 billion of public funds will be committed to protect and restore forests and $7.2 billion of private investment. The pledge was applauded internationally but received some backlash from countries like Indonesia, stating the deal was unfair to their people. Read more about the pledge here.

Global Methane Pledge

The US and the EU announced The Global Methane Pledge which aims to limit methane emissions by 30% compared with 2020 levels. Methane is a huge contributor to climate change. Mainly created by kettle (cows burping), this gas is responsible for a third of current warming from human activities. "Although there's more CO2 in the atmosphere and it sticks around for longer, individual methane molecules have a more powerful warming effect on the atmosphere than single CO2 molecules." The pledge covers over 100 countries which emit nearly half of all methane, and make up 70% of global GDP. Read more here.

No more coal investments

40 countries agreed to phase out coal-fired power by 2040. 18 of the 40 countries will stop investments in new coal-fired plants domestically and internationally for the first time, including countries heavily dependent on coal like Canada, Poland, Ukraine, and Vietnam. "Several of the world’s biggest coal-dependent and emitting economies have failed to sign up for the pledge. This includes Australia, China, India, and the US, who were all missing from the deal. China, India, and the US alone accounted for?49.5%?of all fossil fuel emissions in 2019, making their absence from the deal is especially notable." Read more here.

$130 trillion for net-zero investments by 2030

$130 trillion of private capital have now been committed to transforming the economy for net zero, thanks to the an initiative led by Mark Carney. Banks and asset managers representing 40% of the world’s financial assets pledged to meet the Paris climate agreement goals. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) kicked off in April and will be co-chaired as an initiative by Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg. Read more here.

No more foreign investments in fossil fuels

Over 20 countries and several financial institutions will stop all financing for fossil fuel development overseas. They will also divert the spending to green energy instead from 2022. Sadly, the initiative was not signed and also criticised by China and Japan, two big financial supporters of fossil fuel development around the world. The challenge with this pledge has been the fact that the countries involved will continue to develop their own fossil fuel resources at home, including oil and gas fields. Read more here.

Net-zero India in 2070

Finally India has made its net-zero pledge and it aims to get there in 2070. As the fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the US and the EU, India is an important country to have committed to net-zero. To put it into perspective, India emits 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per head in comparison to the US with 15.5 tonnes and 12.5 tonnes for Russia. One of the key elements of the pledge was that 50% of India’s energy will be sourced from renewable sources by 2030. Read more about the pledge here.

What happens next?

Week 2 will focus on science, adaptation, cities and most importantly on the closure of the negotiations. Usually the last two days of the COP agenda are the toughest - the nights are long as the negotiations go into the small hours so every details is confirmed before all national representatives go back to their home countries.

What did I like during week 1?

• The people - regardless if we are talking about Gonzalo Mun?z or Al Gore, or a board member of a corporate, everyone was incredibly open to chat, engaged and kind. This is the kind of leadership we need to address climate change.
• The depth of the content at COP26 - all events I took part in, all panels I listened to amazed me with their depth. It is truly encouraging to know that these people exist, they are working on the problem and are committed to fixing it.
• NYTimes Climate Hub - I had the great chance to be a speaker at the NYTimes Climate Hub and was stunned by the quality of the content, the incredible line up and the stellar work all together of the NYTimes team. Thomas Friedman hosted the debate I participated in and amazed me with his sense of humour and quick mind. If you want to watch my debate, watch here.

What did I miss during week 1?

• Vegetarian food at the venue - meat was widely served everywhere which is a bit perplexing given meat consumption is one of the biggest reasons for carbon and methane emissions worldwide. The options for people with vegan or vegetarian diet were very limited.
• Clear agenda and guidance - many people were like me confused even after utter research what events to go to, where to charge their phones, just in general what was happening when. Thanks to having many friends at COP26, I was able to navigate the Blue Zone (where the negotiations were happening, where countries had pavilions, where world leaders such as Joe Biden were to be see walking around).
• Some crucial actors were missing from the table - The leaders of Russia and China didn't show up to COP26. This is a scary reality given China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide while Russia is the fifth largest.

Back to reality.

I am leaving Glasgow with a slight fear that this boost of energy and belief in the positive advancement of the climate agenda, will evaporate once we all dive into the business as usual. I hope the committments made will be the guiding light for corporate leaders in their efforts to bring the world to the 1.5 degree goal. I have no doubt we have the capacity, given all the corporate and political leaders I met and spoke to - they showed up and want to see this fight through.

For this newsletter the next thing on the agenda is getting back to the systemic and structured model - from next week onwards I will be reporting back in the format familiar to many - summary of the news of the week and some commentary on some key topics concerning the board room's decision making on the sustainability agenda.