Beyond COP26: How corporates can take lead in climate action agenda

In October last year, conversations around the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) ruled the conventional and social media spaces. The discussions focused on global commitment to avert a climate crisis by transforming intention into action.

With the event recording a notable attendance of 40,000 and over 100 Heads of State, according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it was clear that there was a need to do more through partnerships with state and non-state actors to steer the action on the resolutions made.

COP26 helped to achieve some notable results—including collective commitments to curb methane emissions, halt and reverse forest loss, align the financial sector with net zero by 2050 and deliver resources to bridge the gap on climate emission reductions.

But how the concerned entities will turn their commitments into results is unclear. Moreover, 2030 is drawing closer, putting more urgency on the need to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda sustainability goals focusing on people, prosperity, planet, partnership and peace—the ‘5 Ps’. In the run-up to 2030, three approaches are key in enabling corporates to make significant gains on climate action.

Climate action

First, nurturing an element of climate action culture in an organisation ought to take root. Better climate culture nurtured in an organisation is key; participating in tree planting can greatly contribute to closing the gap on the climate crisis. But we must go a step further and nurture the seedlings to attain 100 per cent growth rate success, thus a shift from just planting trees to growing forests.

According to a 2019 study, “The potential for global forest cover”, planting more than half a trillion trees could capture about 205 gigatonnes of carbon (a gigatonne is one billion tonnes), reducing atmospheric carbon by about 25 per cent. It is the simplest way of mitigating climate change where resources are much limited and corporate leaders do not have to specialise to make this done.

Creating solutions

The second element of mitigating climate crisis is innovation. During the COP26 panel discussion themed “Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment”, where I was one of the speakers, innovation was cited as key to climate action through creating solutions. Corporate leaders can make innovation an integral part of their organisation’s climate action agenda and culture.

The UN says fostering the use of climate innovation and technology can help to implement national climate action plans as stipulated in the Paris Agreement. That way, corporate leaders may leverage on technology and innovation in fields such as agriculture and energy to reduce gases like methane, which accounts for a third of global warming.

Coal mining

McKinsey’s research shows five industries—agriculture, oil and gas, coal mining, solid-waste management and wastewater management—could reduce global annual methane emissions by 20 per cent by 2030 and 46 per cent by 2050. This is enough to catalyse a significant shift towards a 1.5-degree Celcius warming pathway.

Thirdly, partnerships and collaborations sit at the core of achieving all that was agreed in COP26. Looking, for instance, at an aspect like finance—which was extensively discussed throughout the sessions and is crucial in achieving all other goals—there is, evidently, no way corporates and governments can achieve this without proper collaboration. The duty to fulfil the pledge of providing $100 billion annually from the developed to developing countries can only be realised if corporate leaders joined hands in this cause.

At the COP26 event, 197 countries agreed to report their progress towards more climate ambition at this year’s COP27. Co-ordination, collaboration and partnerships is, thus, critical.  At the launch of Standard Chartered Bank’s Carbon Dated Report in July last year, a forum where I spoke, similar sentiments were shared, further giving credence to the concerted efforts towards a greener planet.

Practising and maintaining these three aspects may help to achieve COP26 resolutions.

Mrs Miano is the managing director and CEO of KenGen PLC. md&[email protected]. @rebecca_miano