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Bold climate policy drives decisive business action

The transition to a net zero economy has begun. It’s achievable and brings significant benefits.

Businesses are calling for bold policy ambition in key areas:

Economies
Finance
Energy
Transport
Industry
Built Environment
Land and Nature
Highlights

COP28 business pavilion for climate leadership

We Mean Business Coalition will once again host a pavilion at the COP Summit in 2023, with WBCSD and 70+ partner organizations, bringing an ambitious and coordinated business voice to COP28.

It’s time to go all in on climate action to cut emissions, build resilience and redirect finance. Find out more.

Economies for People and Nature

Now is the time for all countries to commit to the 1.5°C trajectory, translate global goals to policies and deliver climate action in this critical decade. Accelerating action towards the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement will help drive sustainable economic growth, build resilience and solidarity, and create new jobs as part of a just and inclusive transition. To achieve this, governments must work with business to drive systems transformation across Finance, Energy, Transport, Industry, the Built Environment, Land Use and Nature.

Business calls on government to:

Put forward strengthened, high quality Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in line with a 1.5°C trajectory and the latest science to halve global emissions by 2030.

Put forward strengthened, high quality Nationally Determined Commit to achieving economy-wide net zero emissions in a just and inclusive manner by 2050 at the latest and reversing nature loss by 2030.

Develop policies, implementation plans and laws across the economy, including evidence from business, that reach NDC and net zero targets and are nature positive.

Develop policies that ensure a just transition that is fair and supports NDC achievement, respect the needs of all people and countries, and builds a more inclusive economy.

Business is acting for net zero
- 1300+ companies across 40+ sectors and countries are aligning their emission reductions with the 1.5°C target, through the Business Ambition for 1.5°C.
- This includes companies from high-emitting sectors such as cement makers️ LafargeHolcim and India’s Dalmia Cement, plus many of the world’s largest companies by market cap, including Microsoft, Apple, and Walmart.
- 300+ companies are acting to reach net zero by 2040 with The Climate Pledge, including Amazon, Colgate-Palmolive, PepsiCo and Visa.
- 4000+ small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from over 100 countries have committed to net zero via the SME Climate Hub.
Business advocates for ambitious policy
- In the US, 400+ companies called on the US government to adopt the ambitious and attainable target of cutting emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.
- In the European Union, a call from 200+ CEOs in 2020 helped increase ambition in the NDC, laying the foundation for implementing the Green Deal and ambition in sectoral strategies.
- In Japan, almost 180 companies called on the government to reduce emissions by at least 50% below 2013 levels by 2030.
Green recovery is good economic recovery
- Recent analysis by Cambridge Econometrics, shows that green recovery plans - that include renewable energy, EVs, energy efficiency and tree planting - boost income, employment and GDP better than return-to-normal stimulus measures, with the added benefit of reducing emissions.
- 2,000+ companies globally have signed a number of open letters calling on world leaders to ensure that economic stimulus packages tackle both the impacts of the coronavirus and the ongoing climate crisis.
- Clean technologies and innovation have already created millions of jobs worldwide - renewable energy alone employs over 11 million people - and with inclusive planning we can ensure that no one is left behind in the transition.
Business calls on government for a just transition
- Develop just transition plans coupled with robust policies to create an enabling environment for sustainable business, based on the ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition. This may include establishing a Just Transition Commission as in Scotland. This may include establishing a Just Transition Commission as seen in Scotland.
- Demonstrate global solidarity by supporting emerging economies to set up national just transition funds, similar to those being established in the US and EU.
- Encourage businesses to join the Business Pledge for Just Transition and Decent Green Jobs. Existing leaders include Ørsted, Iberdrola, Acciona, Engie and Enel with 230,000 direct employees and millions of workers in their supply chains.

FINANCING THE TRANSITION

To finance the transition and encourage environmentally-aligned investment, markets need full information on climate risks and opportunities, clear pricing signals and policies, and public climate finance support. Public and private money must be spent to help countries accelerate towards a green and net zero economy to stimulate net zero products, services and business models.

Business calls on government to:

Deliver on the commitment by developed countries of at least $100B per year in support of inclusive climate action by developing countries and agree an ambitious post-2025 climate finance goal.

Put a meaningful price on carbon and implement the Article 6 rules to develop carbon markets that drive ambition while ensuring environmental integrity and avoiding double counting.

Make climate-related financial disclosure mandatory for corporations, in line with the TCFD and ISSB recommendations.

Require companies and financial institutions to put in place climate transition plans for near-term, credible action.

Business Action
- Leading finance firms with more than $130 trillion assets have signed up to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero .
- Climate Action 100+ released a Net-Zero Company Benchmark to help investors evaluate the ambition of systemically important carbon emitting companies.
- There are now 60+ carbon pricing initiatives in place or scheduled for implementation globally.
- More than 3,400 organizations across 95 jurisdictions support the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations.
- Several countries are taking steps to make climate-related disclosure mandatory for publicly listed companies, including New Zealand and the UK.

A New Energy Market

Cutting global emissions by more than 50% by 2030 and achieving a just and inclusive transition to the net zero economy requires radical transformation across all sectors, in particular the energy system. Despite the remarkable uptake of renewable energy, fossil fuels still account for a majority of energy demand and the transition away from fossil fuels is not happening fast enough. This underscores the need to accelerate the deployment of zero and low-carbon fuels and technologies at scale.

BUSINESS CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO:

Commit to reaching 100% decarbonized power systems by 2035 in advanced economies and by 2040 for other countries, at the latest. invest in capacity building that supports a rapid and just transition.

End new coal power development and financing immediately. Develop plans to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2030 for advanced economies, and 2040 for other countries, at the latest.

Set out national action plans in 2022 to eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. Repurpose those towards energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other measures to support a people-centred and equitable clean energy transition.

Accelerate the deployment of energy efficiency technologies and solutions in buildings, industry and transport, and integrate energy efficiency criteria into public procurement rules.

Invest in modernizing the grid to improve balancing and resilience.

Commit to public procurement at the national and local level and stimulate corporate procurement of renewables.

Business Action
- 1,000+ companies have joined calls for governments to immediately set policies that accelerate the transition to clean energy.
- 350+ companies are switching to 100% renewable electricity through the RE100 initiative initiative, led by the Climate Group, in partnership with CDP.
- RE100 companies, committed to going 100% renewable electricity, now have bigger electricity demand than either the UK or Italy.
- 50+ electric utilities have committed to set or have already had approved a science-based emission reduction target, including Europe’s Enel, Iberdrola and Ørsted, NRG Energy in the U.S., and The Tata Power Company in India.

The Road to Clean Transport

The way we move people and goods needs radical change. The transition from polluting internal combustion engines to zero emission vehicles, ships and airplanes is accelerating, but not fast enough. More is needed to achieve zero emission multi-modal freight transport. A holistic approach with policies and programs that drive innovation, enable uptake of solutions, and scale infrastructure can get us there. A parallel decarbonization of the power sector is vital to ensure net zero transport.

BUSINESS CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO:

Implement increasingly stringent emission standards aligned with the 1.5°C pathway for all modes of transport.

Continue to promote fuel efficiency and the shift to low and zero emission transport modes.

Commit to 100% sales of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) for new light-duty vehicles by 2035, and by 2040 for new heavy-duty vehicles, at the latest, with clear interim targets to support progress towards these goals.

Adopt coherent policies across transport, energy and the built environment, and Work with business to accelerate investment in and deployment of infrastructure for reliable and seamless electric vehicle (EV) charging that is accessible to all.

Business Action
- 120+ companies are transitioning their fleets to EV100 by 2030, through the Climate Group’s EV100, including Indian food delivery company Zomato, multinational company Siemens, Chinese internet giant Baidu and the world’s largest consumer goods group Unilever.
- The total number of vehicles pledged to transition to EVs by 2030 through EV100 now stands at approximately 5.4 million.
- 28 major global and US companies, including Amazon, AT&T, IKEA, the National Grid and Uber are working to accelerate the deployment of ZEVs in the US through Ceres’ CEVA by aggregating demand, advocating for strong policies at multiple levels and sharing best practices on fleet electrification.
- Major automakers are announcing bold plans to complete phase out the internal combustion engine in the 2030s, including Mercedes Benz Group, Volvo Cars, Ford and General Motors.
- A growing number of automakers have committed to 1.5°C science-based targets, including Ford and Volvo.

A Pathway for Industry

Heavy industries are responsible for over 30% of global emissions and roughly 37% of global energy consumption, with steel, cement and chemicals being the top emitting sectors and among the most challenging to decarbonize. Decarbonization must address these sectors’ reliance on fossil fuels for feedstock and heat, and the need for their products to continue to meet stringent quality criteria. Inter-connected decarbonization strategies exist: energy efficiency and broad deployment of low carbon heat; increasing demand for zero carbon materials and products; and deployment of circular economy approaches; innovation and mass scale deployment of zero emissions production processes. With the right policy support, these strategies are economically and technically feasible as well as offering other social, public health and environmental benefits in addition.

Business calls on governments to:

Put sectoral decarbonization roadmaps in place with interim targets and milestones to accelerate transition in the 2020s towards net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

Facilitate financing and R&D, demonstration and deployment of zero emissions technologies to accelerate public and private sector investment and drive innovation at scale.

Implement policies and regulations to overcome the green cost premium that businesses face for production of low-CO2 steel, cement and chemicals.

Drive demand for low carbon and circular materials via sustainable public procurement policies and creation of lead markets.

Combine ambitious carbon pricing instruments with focused regulatory action to drive and de-risk investment in hard to abate sectors, with provisions for preventing unfair competition and carbon leakage.

Signal of change
Business action
- Over 19 companies have committed to procuring 100% zero carbon steel by 2050 through the SteelZero initiative, led by the Climate Group in partnership with ResponsibleSteel.
- Over 25 chemicals companies and 20 cement manufacturers have committed to setting science-based targets, such as Novozymes, Syngenta, Holcim and Heidelberg Cement in the EU, Clorox Company and CEMEX in North America, and TATA Chemicals, ACC and Ultratech Cement in India.
- ResponsibleSteel launched the first global standard for steel sites, with exacting climate change and greenhouse gas emissions criteria. Membership now numbers 120 organizations representing nearly 12.5% of global steel production across steelmaking, mining and automotive and construction sectors, as well as civil society organizations.

A Sustainable Built Environment

The Built Environment is responsible for almost 40% of global energy–related GHG emissions and 50% of global resource extraction Its demands on natural resources accelerate climate change, and inefficient buildings negatively impact human health and wellbeing. Governments must target a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from the built environment by 2030 in order to reach net zero by 2050. They must implement bold national and local roadmaps and policies that address whole life carbon emissions of existing and new assets. Radical collaboration with all stakeholders will be critical to accelerate action in this decade to achieve the paradigm shift to a net zero and resilient built environment.

Business calls on governments to:

Develop national and sub-national decarbonization and resilience roadmaps aiming to address whole lifecycle emissions and promote multi-stakeholder collaboration with cities, regions, businesses and civil society actors to accelerate action.

Implement mandatory, performance-based building codes and planning standards addressing whole life carbon and lifecycle emissions for new buildings as well as major refurbishments, as well as measures to enhance building resilience.

Increase deep renovation rates of the existing building stock to 3% per year by 2030 and beyond, focusing on heating and cooling systems, insulation and building materials.

Establish data tracking standards and systems to track and assess progress towards decarbonization and reduction of lifecycle emissions.

Align public procurement standards to incentivize low carbon solutions along the value chain and build zero carbon, circular and resilient buildings and infrastructure.

Accelerate deployment of public funding for innovation and R&D projects, for workforce development and to de-risk private sector investment in the built environment.

Signals of change
Business action
- Over 120 businesses and organizations have committed to driving net zero operational emissions in their buildings through the EP100/Net Zero Carbon Buildings commitment, led by World Green Building Council in partnership with the Climate Group and C40, including major owners and operators of buildings such as Hilton, Majid Al Futtaim, Grosvenor Group and Lendlease.
- Over 80 construction and real estate companies have set science-based targets including Skanska, the world's fifth largest construction company, and Daiwa House, Japan’s biggest home construction company.
- WBCSD together with leading companies, including Holcim and Saint-Gobain, have developed a new framework for aligning all actors of the built environment around a common language and vision for reduction of carbon emissions.

Protecting Land and Nature

Biodiversity loss and environmental degradation are both accelerated by climate change and exacerbate its impacts. Addressing climate change strengthens nature’s ability to absorb carbon and adapt to climate impacts. Nature-based climate solutions only receive 5% of global public finance dedicated to mitigation measures, despite the potential to abate 30% of greenhouse gases by 2030 to achieve a 1.5°C pathway. The interlinked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are most effectively solved if addressed in tandem. Resilient economies and thriving businesses also rely on nature as more than half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature.

Nature-based climate solutions should promote measures to protect, improve management and restore forest and other biomes aligned with the Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) mitigation hierarchy. Initiatives should strive to achieve positive impacts on biodiversity and contribute to food security, livelihoods, and other ecosystem services.

See our integrated policy recommendations with Business for Nature for further detail.

BUSINESS CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO:

Deliver Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by COP27 that establish bold targets for food systems transformation and reflect the ambition of the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use on Forests and Land Use to reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

Eliminate commodity-driven deforestation by 2025 through trade policies developed in collaboration between producer and demand-side countries.

Recognize the important role of public subsidies in harmful land-use change and ecosystem degradation by reforming $520 billion in agricultural subsidies by 2030 through alignment with climate and biodiversity objectives.

Ensure 30% of international climate finance is channeled to high quality, nature-based climate solutions by 2025 to reflect their potential to provide 30% of the emissions reductions and removals needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Align climate policy with the Convention on Biodiversity by integrating targets within (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to ensure policy coherence and adequate finance supports the transition towards a nature positive world by 2030.

Signals of change
Business action
- Over 1,000 companies are calling on governments to adopt policies now to reverse nature loss by 2030 though the Call to Action ‘Nature is Everyone’s Business’
- Unilever has established a €1 billion brand-driven fund to protect and regenerate 1.5 million hectares of land, forests and oceans by 2030. The funding will support farmers and smallholders to regenerate soil, conserve biodiversity, reduce emissions from land and nature, and improve access to water for communities in water-stressed areas.
- By 2025, BNP Paribas has committed to achieve €3bn in financing linked to the protection of terrestrial biodiversity. The bank is helping its clients to focus their projects not only on climate, but on nature as well, taking a holistic approach to address these interlinked challenges.
- Through the NCS Alliance, companies are embracing high quality and high integrity action to conserve, manage and restore nature for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The use of NCS as a compensation action, beyond the value chain is also being recognized as a credible additional solution to deep decarbonization.
- 10 leading companies have joined the LEAF coalition in an effort to mobilize at least $1 billion in financing to reduce tropical deforestation and its associated emissions while conserving nature at a jurisdictional scale across the tropics.

Policy instructions for building a net zero world

Bold climate policy drives decisive business actions – policies that give clarity and certainty will encourage more companies to deliver towards our 2030 goals.

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Corporate Advocacy

Businesses around the world are calling for governments to set bold, ambitious climate targets and enact stronger, clear policies to achieve them. These targets and policies give businesses the clarity and confidence they need to invest in and build the technologies, markets, and business models of the zero-carbon future.

In the US, 408 companies and investors, collectively representing over $4 trillion in annual revenue and employing over 7 million US workers across all 50 states, called for an NDC of at least 50% emission reduction by 2030 (April 2021)

In Japan, more than 170 Japanese companies called for an NDC of at least 50% emission reduction by 2030 compared to 2013 levels (March 2021).

In Japan, 50 RE100 companies headquartered or with operations in the country and more than 150 Japanese companies called for a stronger renewable energy target of 50% of the energy mix by 2030 (October 2020 and April 2021).

In the European Union, more than 170 CEOs called on the EU to raise the bloc’s NDC ambition to at least 55% by 2030 (September 2020).

In the UK, over 200 companies called on the British government to deliver a clean, just recovery in line with the net zero by 2050 commitment (June 2020).

In the US, over 75 U.S. businesses met with a bipartisan group of U.S. federal lawmakers to call on Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation, including a price on carbon (May 2019).

In the European Union, CEOs from more than 50 businesses, investors and business networks called on the EU to endorse a long-term decarbonisation strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 (May 2019).

In the UK, 120 companies called on the UK government to legislate for a net zero by 2050 economy (May 2019).

In Germany, big businesses called on the government to rapidly speed up the shift to electric vehicles (March 2019).

In Japan, more than 90 Japanese businesses called for their government to commit to net zero domestic emissions by 2050 (November 2018).

Globally, the We Mean Business Coalition has called on governments to support ambitious policies across key systems for a just transition to a net zero emissions by 2050, including at the G7.
We Mean Business Coalition Policy Resources

The Ambition Loop
The Ambition Loop report by United Nations Global Compact, the We Mean Business coalition and World Resources Institute showcases specific examples where strong national policy measures built upon business leadership are spurring additional investments and climate action. Where policies are clear and strong, businesses are stepping up to do more and the pace of change is accelerating.

Climate Ambition Benchmarks
The Climate Ambition Benchmarks project is a joint initiative of the ClimateWorks Foundation, the European Climate Foundation and the We Mean Business Coalition. The project seeks to break down the overall goal of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C, into a set of intermediate sectoral benchmarks, to demonstrate what can and must be achieved in key systems and geographies to be on track.

Forging a carbon-neutral heavy industry by 2050: How Europe can seize the opportunity
This briefing synthesises some of the latest thinking around the challenges and opportunities involved in decarbonising European heavy industry. It brings together the key findings from recent reports on industrial transformation, such as those by Material Economics and the Energy Transitions Commission, on what is technologically possible and financially feasible.

WMB Policy Z-Card: COP25
Leaders at the 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) must urgently set clear policies and targets to help companies deliver the zero-carbon transition at the pace required. Read our infographic summary of what business is calling for at COP25.
We Mean Business Coalition Policy Statements

Letter to G7 Heads of State and Government, 2021

Letter to the US, 2021

Letter to G7 Heads of State and Government, 2019

Letter to G20 Heads of State and Government, 2019

Letter to Japan, 2019

COP 24 minisite, 2018

Letter to the EU, 2018

Bold climate policy drives decisive business action

The transition to a net zero economy has begun. It’s achievable and brings significant benefits.

COP28 business pavilion for climate leadership

Economies for People and Nature

FINANCING THE TRANSITION

A New Energy Market

The Road to Clean Transport

A Pathway for Industry

Business action

A Sustainable Built Environment

Business action

Protecting Land and Nature

Business action

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