The Climate of Business #62: COP27 Week 2 Recap - Today chosen yesterday

COP27 came to a close this weekend and the fireworks rightfully didn't launch. The win on "loss and damage" was undoubtedly the biggest highlight, but beyond that the conference failed to reconfirm to concerned state and non-state actors this event deserves the most prominent role in the global sustainable transition agenda. One could highlight an endless amount of important initiatives that kicked off or that were advanced since COP26, but the overall pan-national approach one must see, feel and live by by the next COP was overall missing.?

What is next??

The only way to fix the status quo and confidently progress towards our individual but simultaneously group net zero goals until next year will be defined by 3 key actions:

• continuously monitoring progress of all business and governmental initiatives - we need to observe progress monthly rather than yearly. All initiatives launched over the last two years are admirable, but would only do justice to salute in case they lead to the set at the get-go outcome. To create trust across stakeholders, allow from cross learning,?and support overall transition that is led by education and practice rather than panic and bias.
• contextualising business net zero - all goals that businesses set themselves don't matter if they are not contextualised to all stakeholders involved in achieving them, and that goes beyond suppliers, employees, investors. COP27 demonstrated that businesses are open to work with competitors even to skip the individual learning and allow synergies across the board. Giving each other context on what works be it in relation to business or government iniatives, will shorten the timelines to implementation.
• facing reality - it is sad to have to say this year after year working in this industry, but COP27 is a painful reminder many of our high-level high-stakeholder big-decision-makers conferences of the COP sort show we don't accept the severity of climate change. Climate Change requires change - it is for the daily human loss, it is for the financial loss today and ahead, it is for the loss of sovereignty in decision making when our reality would stop reflecting anything familiar.?

What agenda points did Week 2 include??

Days of COP27:

• Gender Day - November 14
• Water Day - November 14
• Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) and Civil Society Day - November 15
• Energy Day - November 15
• Biodiversity Day - November 16
• Solutions Day - November 17

What was the key news during Week 2??

• COP27: EU pledges funding for African adaptation and resilience (Reuters)
• Brazil's Lula promises to protect Amazon (Reuters)
• Protecting biodiversity is protecting the Paris Agreement (UN)
• Environment Secretary calls for action to protect and restore nature at COP27 (UK Government)
• Leaders boost sustainable forest management (UN Climate change)
• Lack of women at negotiations raises concern (BBC)
• Without Greta, activists make waves at Climate Summit (BBC)

Nigel's Farewell?

One of my personal highlights last year was being able to get to know Nigel Topping, High Level Champion for COP26, who also served in the same position in COP27. As his job commenced in Egypt, his closing speech was a powerful account of the learnings from the last years in the formal UN High-Level Champion position, but also from his many years of empowering the business world to accept its important role as a driving stakeholder, eliminating climate risk for our economy.?

Here are a few quotes from his closing speech:

"1.5 C is not a target but a limit; there needs to be more accountability and the use of current and future tools and innovation at our disposal to achieve true action."

"During my run, in the past five years I witnessed the pattern of the transition to the net zero economy to be following a kind of Moore’s law of industrial transformation, where technology deployment is leading the way and growing exponentially, which inevitably brings the? costs down, with the case of EVs and renewable energy being a prime example."

"I also bore witness to the power of radical collaboration, when governments, private sector and communities unite and share values, resources, skills and knowledge towards a shared goal."

3 key learnings from COP27

New funding arrangement on loss and damage for countries most affected by climate change - long time coming.

This is a a first step to rebuilding trust, which is more valuable than even money. The world needs a global approach to addressing climate change and allowing for funding to flow to nations already bearing the impacts allows for a clear demonstration we are aligned the negative impact created in one place, is be felt elsewhere. The responsibility is where the damage is create, the response is local to align to the context.

The promise of 1.5 C limit is showing cracks.

Some say COP27 was the end of the 1.5 C agenda. Be it because of an obscure badge distribution system, offering fossil fuel representatives badges on behalf of the most vulnerable countries, be it because the national agendas still often didn't fit the global agreement. Many small islands nations worry about the failure to keep the promise alive to be a death sentence to their communities.

Businesses have a chance to lead.

Making this statement in the title of my newsletter last week got me some exciting, dramatic and angry comments. This has led to my exciting famous guest for the final episode for 2022 of my LinkedIn Live series, when we will ponder if climate change is a symptom of a larger disease. More on that in the coming days. The businesses I met at COP27 showed up and spoke with results, didn't shy away from discussing challenges and opening up to collaboration. They also understood the role of technology. In the 5 years left to fix the trajectory we are on, I think their speed is the one that gives me hope still.

Highlights of Initiatives launched in Week 2?

• The COP27 Presidency launches the? Enhancing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for Climate Transformation (ENACT) in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The aim is to drive collective action across climate, biodiversity and desertification to help close the finance gap for nature-based solutions.? ENACT will serve as a hub for government and non-State actors to foster collaboration, accelerate action, facilitate policy dialogue? and bring global coherence to activities. The partnership will ensure adherence to the NbS Global Standard.
• High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance was launched outlining what’s needed to create high-quality blue carbon projects and credits to ensure accountability, sustainability, and transparency in the marketplace. This is in response to the growing demand for blue carbon credits which has attracted many new actors.? Coastal blue carbon ecosystems are valued at over USD 190 billion per year and are estimated to reduce costs associated with impacts such as flooding by over USD 65 billion annually.
• Launch of Beat the Heat: Nature for Cool Cities Challenge. Cities in developing countries are invited to participate in the challenge by pledging to increase nature based solutions in their urban areas by 2030 and demonstrate tangible progress by 2025.? Participants will be supported via funding, technical assistance, partnership opportunities, and communications support.
• Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the US join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA). The Alliance aims to be a global driving force for the uptake of offshore wind by bringing together governments, international organisations and the private sector to close the emissions gap and enhance energy security. The Alliance was founded at COP26 by Denmark, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).?
• The Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) Offtake Pocket Guide is launched by the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow initiative and the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The guide explains how businesses can help to decarbonize aviation by purchasing SAF for their corporate travel in order to signal demand and leadership while other business cases and long-term policy are developed. Leading companies and governments have set the goal for SAF to meet 10% of aviation’s fuel needs globally by 2030.
• Launch of the Planning for Climate Commission, a new global initiative focused on speeding up planning and approvals for the massive deployment of renewables and green hydrogen needed to address climate change and energy security.? The Commission is a joint initiative by the Green Hydrogen Organisation, International Hydropower Association, the Global Wind Energy Council and the Global Solar Council.?
• Launch of the Global Renewables Alliance. Organisations representing wind, solar, hydropower, green hydrogen, long duration energy storage and geothermal energy industries will officially join forces in an unprecedented alliance. It brings together, for the first time, all the technologies required for the energy transition in order to ensure an accelerated energy transition. As well as ensuring targets are met, the Alliance also aims to position renewable energy as a pillar of sustainable development and economic growth.?
• The Roof Over Our Heads campaign will be officially launched today at the Resilience Hub with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, Sheela Patel, Director, Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) and Nigel Topping, COP 26 High-Level Champion.? The campaign was developed through global and regional roundtables in September and October. Its aim is to provide two billion people with resilient, low carbon and affordable homes by 2050, beginning with community project labs in India.?
• Ten leading shipping organisations and green hydrogen producers commit to producing and deploying at least 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030 to supply the 5% zero-emissions shipping fuels needed to put the global maritime sector on a decarbonization path aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5C or below.