"Time to Take Action" on Climate Change
Last week, global leaders shared the following comments at COP28, a United Nations climate conference in Dubai:
U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: "We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels... I urge governments to help industry make the right choice – by regulating, legislating, putting a fair price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and adopting a windfall taxon profits."
Bill Gates: “Every time you opt for a climate-friendly product — whether it’s an LED bulb, installing a heat pump, eating plant-based meat or driving an electric car — you’re sending a signal to the market that this green product is in demand.
"We won’t realize the full potential of the world’s incredible clean electricity advancements without the infrastructure to deliver it. That is why we need to build new, smarter power grids.
"Technologies like clean hydrogen and carbon capture have huge potential but need significant investment.
"We must help people adapt to a planet that is already getting warmer."
Pope Francis: “May participants in #COP28 be strategists who focus on the common good and the future of their children, rather than the vested interests of certain countries or businesses. May they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame."
EPA Administrator Michael Regan: "EPA heeded the urgent guidance of health experts across the country and finalized a strong methane rule that, when fully implemented, will significantly reduce hazardous air pollutants and climate-warming methane pollution from the oil and gas industry."
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken : "A growing population means the global demand for food is likely to increase by an estimated 50 percent by the year 2050. An escalating climate crisis means that crop yields could drop by as much as 30 percent over that same period - Our goal is for farmers, for ranchers, to be able to sustainably achieve bigger yields of more nutritious crops, at lower costs, using less land, producing lower emissions."
Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida: “In line with its pathway to net zero, Japan will end new construction of domestic unabated coal power plants, while securing a stable energy supply."
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Suzanne P. Clark: “Climate change is a serious threat that cannot be solved without the investment, collaboration and innovation of the private sector - [we] have explored investment opportunities and created pathways for cooperation on issues ranging from renewables to hydrogen, biofuels, industrial decarbonization, carbon capture and food and water security."
OUR TAKE
The challenges of climate change include: more frequent and severe weather events, rising sea levels, and higher temperatures around the world.
These environmental dynamics are global, but unevenly distributed - with impacts across most part of the economy: food, healthcare, transportation, utilities, real estate, insurance and more.
Mitigation and adaption strategies will be central components in addressing these challenges – and require focus and engagement from the private and public sectors both locally and globally.