Happy 2022nd year of improvement!

The beginning of a new year is a sweet moment. We think about the future with the comfort of a clean slate, make bold plans that exceed the days in the year and hope that all the ills of the past will heal by the smoothness of a promise. In this yearly ritual, we always forget that the beginning of the new year is simply an invitation to continue building upon what we kicked off last year and progress further on improving.

In the context of 2022 and sustainability this is vital piece of information. Rather than trying to restart the whole process and assume we have to be inventive and novel, we can simply focus on implementing the steps that deliver on the promises we made. We have made the commitments, now it is time to take the actions to get them achieved.

2022 will be a truly transformational year.

It will be a year like many other. As every other year businesses will get smarter, investments will go to businesses that will revolutionise the way we live (or disappear in the face of the diminishing value of hype), the stock market will swing in line with the public view on politics, society, and the fair share of sensation.

But like no other year 2022 will be the first time we are standing the closest we have ever been to implementing our set climate agenda, engaging our stakeholders on their share of the responsibility and ultimately following up tangibly on the sustainability promises for our businesses.

But let's get practical.

How can 2022 be transformational for our climate commitments?

Collaboration

We are in this together. For all the 682 publicly listed companies that made net-zero committments up until the end of 2021, that account for 88% of the total global CO2, the only possible way to achieve their net-zero committments is by involving their Scope 3 (suppliers, employees, investments, etc). So the sooner you as a Chief Sustainability Officer or sustainability lead start getting these involved, the less complicated (and less time consuming) will the task at hand be.

Consistency

It is not about the carbon neutrality or the one off tree planting campaign. Becoming a sustainability pioneer takes people, consistency and a plan that is broken down in small steps. For all the hundreds of companies we have worked with at Plan A, we have seen the biggest success in decarbonisation and sustainability strategy implementation not in the companies with the biggest budgets or the best "eco" marketing campaigns, but rather in the companies whose teams were consistent and made plans for this week rather than for in 20 years. Studiously steps by step the decarbonisation kicks off.

Reduction

It is all about reduction. We need to be cutting global emissions by 7.6% every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target. Nothing else can make living on this planet liveable for the many and make again our economy stable. We saw what happen in 2021 with the energy prices.

This is the 2022nd time we improved.

Businesses have shown year after year that we evolve and with this we improve often for the betterment of the human condition. Be it for the tech we built that saves lives, connects us around the world, or moves us seamlessly from one place to another, for the medical system that has revolutionise our thinking about illness or for the financial markets that within seconds change the value of a company based on external sentiments. All of this is to show we can achieve, if we work towards the same goal.

What if this time it is to decarbonise?

I look forward to 12 months of climate action and have no doubt we will close the year with the delivery on the promise for a sustainable transition.

Happy 2022! Let's make it count.