The time is NOW!

Last week I had the privilege to visit COP 26. It was the first time I attended a COP and I came up to the conclusion that it is a unique experience which puts everyone back on track on the material issues that worth taking the effort to change personal life habits and do one’s best to influence any organization to be transformed. 

 Politicians, NGOs, activists, business leaders, students from 200 countries across the world, they were all there and agreed that the time is now. The time is now to act and translate loud pledges and announcements- which are good because are demonstrating strong will and a NorthStar- into tangible action plans. Because these orchestrated and immediate small actions will lead to a hello effect achieving down the road Net Zero by the middle of the century.

 By Net Zero we mean to avoid adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere either by reducing emissions as much as possible or balancing out any remain by removing an equivalent amount. Science sets this level at keeping Earth’s temperature to a lower than 1.5°C-pre-industrial levels- until 2040. Breaking this bar means breaking planet’s balance and derailing human life and activity on planet Earth.                

The clock is ticking, and the time is now to collectively face the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. Everyone agrees; and this is the positive outcome of this COP. However, no one has a clear roadmap on how to achieve it. Therefore, this is the effort that should be taken in the next couple of years if we want to secure our own and our children’s life undisrupted. COVID 19 is proving that by the time humanity agrees on a common threat, then, the will is coming and is followed by prioritization on the investments and identification of solutions to confront the battle.                    

 As an optimistic person, this what I keep from this COP. There is the understanding, the will, and a lot of potential in new solutions contributing into tackling climate crisis. Therefore, the challenge that has arisen, is to work on tangible actions and endorse a new collaborative way of leading and operating.

 Governments and institutions should frame the context of actions, redirect the focus of investments, set stretched but feasible targets, create a valid measurement system and give benefits to those that are taking bold actions.

Corporations should begin by redefining their purpose; why they do exist. Needless to say, they do not exist only for making profit. Profit is needed and will remain a priority for businesses but profit alone is not enough, anymore, it should be paired by positive impact on the nature and the society (climate/nature and society positive economy) and should serve all stakeholders’ interests and not only shareholders’ ones.

 To be more specific, the systems that surround us should be transformed. This should be an end-to-end transformation from the why, to the how and the what. And this will lead to societies’ and individual human beings’ transformation to a more natural-friendly, inclusive, and fair way of leaving and consuming conscious of the impact that this leaves on the planet and our fellow citizens. Or it can be the other way round; whatever the order, the outcome is the same: we are leaving the fourth industrial revolution which is driven by technology, nature-based solutions and reentering of human values in the epicenter. We have the chance in this revolution to lift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on shared sense of destiny. We cannot do climate, technology, business, any kind of revolution on people but with people.

 Data are important in this transformation and we have much more to do to have access to the right data in order to take informed decisions, making choices, design actions that can lead to the desired direction and measure the progress. The analysis from Climate Action Tracker outlines that the pledges and commitments made at COP26 so far still fall short of what is required to keep 1.5 degrees within reach. There is a clear sense of urgency, and the science has highlighted every nation needs to go further and faster in their actions.

Materiality is a key: you can start from the material topics at your company’s discretion and then take different opportunities that will appear to accelerate. We should seek for progress not perfection. And we have to distinct those organizations that are not focusing on next 6 months’ cash flow versus those they’re trying to be proactive in the market and lead a transformation; Market makers vs market shapers!

 The truth is that everyone has a role to play in this new era. Big corporations and institutions have an additional role: this of helping SMEs in joining this new pathway and they can be enforced by leveraging their big supply chain networks. They should not penalize SMEs that are not making their part in this transformation but reward those ones that try to contribute; some indicative ways to do so are beneficial interest rates, capability building, education, reward for performance schemes. And we should realize that at this stage the Awareness of How is the No1 need for SMEs but also for some bigger companies.

 Governments in their turn are also a main pillar of making people aware of the loans exist in this change, the road maps, educate new generation and re-skill existing workforce. In addition, they need also to adjust their own state plans and endorse new ways of leaving and operating based on circularity, inclusivity, nature positive-including climate but not exhausting action only on it -to avoid a new biodiversity loss crisis after the climate one.

Of course, this transformation won’t be made without any cost but again it’s a matter of prioritization and perspective. We should not talk about the cost of action but about investing for our common future that will allow us to continue operate and exist on this planet. And I was wondering, instead of thinking the cost or investment needed to act, have we ever thought the cost or disinvestment of inaction?

 The time is Now, and the change should and will happen for our shared benefit. I hope few years later looking backward we will commemorate COP 26 as the time that humanity decided to take real action on climate, and this had become the trigger point for a positive domino effect that is going to have the power and the momentum to lead to the real transformation of humanity 4.0.