As we start the New Year – and the heating of our planet and climate disruption continues apace – it is more important than ever to tackle the significant global challenge of climate change.
2021 can be, and must be, a turning point in the fight against global warming.
There are already promising signs, with the announcement in September that China will aim for carbon neutrality by 2060. The UK Government released their Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution in November and US President-elect Joe Biden has already introduced his climate and energy team, saying they will lead an “ambitious plan” to combat climate change.
Plans continue apace for the delayed Glasgow Climate Change Conference at the end of the year, and the leaders of three of the world’s most powerful companies, Google (Sundar Pichai), Amazon (Jeff Bezos) and Microsoft (Bill Gates) have made public and meaningful pledges.
There can also be no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything, including the realms of what we consider possible and our views on the pace of change.
The year ahead is clearly an opportunity for us to review our energy needs, back energy efficiency and sustainable consumption and look to the future of reducing our environmental footprint and supporting biodiversity.
At Future Planet, we seek the intersection of high return and meaningful impact while addressing some of the world’s biggest challenges. As Barclay’s Private Bank’s outlook for the year ahead recently set out, climate change as an existential threat and one of the most significant challenges facing current and future generations. Addressing climate change doesn’t require a smaller economy or a decade-long depression. Instead, transition to a low-carbon economy means primarily less emission-intensive growth; by decoupling growth and emissions.
Though pace remains slow, this is occurring. The year ahead is our opportunity to take this further and support initiatives to build back better, support green jobs, and accelerate our path to net zero.
This edition of Future Thinking will be the first in a series looking at ways we can introduce new technology, challenge preconceptions, and how we can invest profitably, to be be more responsible and sustainable – creating a better Future Planet.