To decarbonise the worldwide economy to net zero emissions, every bank, every business and each investor will have to adjust its business design.
For Mark Carney, governor from the Bank of England and incoming UN special envoy on climate action and finance, that leaves a simple – but believe it or not ambitious – goal in front of the 2010 critical UN climate summit in Glasgow: ensuring every private finance decision takes global warming into account.
Moving the dial on finance could turn an existential risk into “the greatest commercial opportunity of our time,” he told businesses and investors at the launch of Cop26's private finance agenda.
As global politics remains bogged down in nationalist interests, trade wrangling and a worldwide virus, pressure on cities, regions, companies, banks, investors and other non-state actors to step up to the challenge of decarbonisation went up a gear.
That means rethinking the interaction between national governments and non-state actors, warned Nigel Topping, the UK's climate action champion and former CEO of We Mean Business.
“We need to recognise that climate change is a collective leadership problem,” he told Climate Home News in an interview.
In the run-up to Cop26, Topping said he wanted to gather “coalitions from the ambitious” that can also slowly move the dial on innovation and sector-specific issues.
His goal? For 60% of world economic output to become generated in areas that have a 2050 goal of net zero emissions by the end of the Glasgow summit – up from almost half currently.
An objective, he states, will be a stepping-stone for much greater ambition through the 2023s. Ten years former UN Climate chief Christiana Figueres called “decisive” to address climate change.
“There isn't any guarantee of success,” she told Alister Doyle before the release of her latest book “The Future we Choose” this week, “but not trying is a guarantee of failure.”
Confirm, enhance, increase?
Switzerland is the latest country to possess informed the UN that it will “enhance” its climate intend to reflect a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The small European country is revisiting its CO2 Act, which officials hope is going to be approved by parliament in the summer, with sufficient time to formalise the brand new plan before Cop26.
But a new intend to 2050 does not always mean a brand new 2030 target. A government note to the UN simply “confirmed” its existing 2030 plan of cutting emissions by 50% below 1990 levels.
Chief climate negotiator Franz Perrez told CHN, Switzerland “did not announce that we'll increase our 2030 target” – despite pressure on all countries to do this this year. Read the updated story here.
'Test case'
Meanwhile, holland is under pressure to slash its emissions this year-. by its very own Supreme Court.
A ruling last year ordered the government to chop emissions by 25% from 1990 levels after 2023. At the end of 2023, emissions had only fallen by 15%.
Amsterdam is now needing to quickly curb emissions in key emitting sectors. For Christiana Figueres, this is “a test case for very rapid emission reductions”.
Grounded
And it's not just holland feeling heat.
In the UK, judges ruled intends to expand Heathrow airport, the country's busiest air hub, were unlawful because they didn't take into account the country's commitments towards the Paris Agreement.
The ruling has been hailed as “historic” by campaigners. And the repercussions could reach beyond the UK shores, inspiring others to consider law suit against carbon-intensive infrastructure projects.
For Andrew Murphy, from the NGO Transport & Environment, the ruling “kills from the idea that aviation is somehow outside the Paris accord” and the implications are “huge”.
Seeds for a lifetime
In other news, a seed vault within the Norwegian Arctic received its single biggest deposit because it opened in 2008.
Known as “Noah's Ark”, the collection has now risen back to greater than a million varieties.
This week's top stories
- Net zero goal 'greatest commercial opportunity of our time,' says Mark Carney
- UK's Heathrow airport expansion ruled unlawful over climate change
- UK's Nigel Topping seeks broad movement to drive global economy to net zero by 2050
- The Netherlands faces pressure as global 'test case' for deep emissions cuts in 2023
- Switzerland joins few nations confirming to UN it will enhance climate action plans
- 'Noah's Ark' Arctic seed vault gets new crops, recovers to 1 million samples
- World faces 'decisive decade' to repair climatic change, former UN climate chief says
And in climate conversations
- To be credible at Cop26, the united kingdom requires a plan for its climate plan
- UN biodiversity meeting must deliver transformative change, not only targets
