How to Compete in the Green Economy

Entrepreneurs are at a pivotal moment for climate action. The net-zero transition is reshaping the global economy, opening new markets and jeopardizing others.

"We now face multiple imperatives: reducing emissions, ensuring affordability of energy and materials, providing reliable and secure energy systems, and strengthening competitiveness for companies."

Entrepreneurs have to take a holistic approach concerning the green economy.

Meaningful momentum toward net zero is building; if you wish to compete, you must accelerate your efforts.

So how do you start?

1. Strategy

Most entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and individuals accept that the world faces a climate crisis. A McKinsey research shows that about $275 trillion of cumulative spending on physical assetes would be needed over the next three decades?to reach a net-zero 2050 scenario. This presents an enormous opportunity for visionary entrepreneurs to seed and grow new green businesses that will reshape the world for a sustainable future.

While making strategic considerations, the industry lifecycle is a key component. Because the Green Economy is still in its early stages, as entrepreneurs, you need to consider strategic alliances.

Collaborate with industry leaders, investors, and innovators to create groundbreaking climate innovations, expand market presence, expedite the growth of current ventures, and facilitate capital flow into emerging sustainable business prospects.

2. Goals

Your goals need to align with the stage of your business in the Green Economy.

If you are starting, unlock larger, impactful opportunities by expanding your networks. Join dynamic industry and cross-sector communities to learn and drive innovation and decarbonization. No one organization can achieve this transition on its own.

For entrepreneurs already active in the space, data credibility is imperative. Familiarise yourself with the regulatory requirements and ESG ratings from financial institutions and other stakeholders. By knowing what is needed, you can effectively create processes that ensure you capture and validate your decarbonization efforts.

3. Reporting

The benefits, risks, and trade-offs involved in the Green Economy decision-making are complex. Entrepreneurs and their Stakeholders should align around a shared outcome and untangle what can initially appear as conflicting interests.

Effective reporting of positive transformations, risk assessment, and integrity-driven markets are a good way to enhance stakeholder support. To achieve net zero, the world needs technological innovation, deployment, and scale-up at unprecedented speed.

To implement these technologies at scale, stakeholders need clarity on how they work: the science, capital investment requirements, scaling economics, prices, regulations, environmental impact, and much more. They need to understand where those factors stand today and how they’re likely to change over time.

All sectors of the economy are exposed to a net-zero transition; business gains would be largely associated with the transition to low-emissions forms of production, such as renewable power generation. Business losses would particularly affect emissions-intensive sectors. Entrepreneurs need to have deliberate plans for this transition.