It is no longer business as usual when it comes to how we tackle climate change and rising global temperatures. Dubbed ‘a code red for humanity’, the bumper United Nations report on global climate released this month, warns us that as average temperatures rise, acute hazards such as heat waves and floods will grow in frequency and severity while drought and rising sea levels will intensify.
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These physical risks from climate change will translate into increased socioeconomic risk, confronting policy makers and business leaders with the challenge of how to address them.
Nations and the private and public sectors have made ambitious proclaimations to slash carbon emissions ahead of COP26, a pivotal climate conference which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from the end of October.
At first sight, these pledges to decarbonise send the right signals, and show promise. However, they may not go far enough to deliver on the decarbonisation of the global economy that has to rapidly happen.
It is very normal in human nature to be reluctant to change, to fear change especially when it is so fundamental to how we have operated, and lived our lives and done our jobs for such a long time. In this case, change is really not an option anymore. It is a non-negotiable, it is happening with or without our agreement.
Elena Philipova, director of sustainable finance, Refinitiv
In this week’s podcast, Eco-Business is joined by Elena Philipova, the director of sustainable finance at Refinitiv, a London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) buisiness which is also one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure.
Philipova explains the issues with ambitious pledges to slash emissions, and says that data is key to ensuring that companies and nations are accurately measuring the success of decarbonisation.
Elena Philipova, director of sustainable finance, Refinitiv
“Time is of the essence,” Philipova told Eco-Business. “We are at a point where we are moving into the execution of the plan.”
Tune in as we discuss:
- How the recent IPCC climate report will likely shape conversation at COP26
- Moving from rhetoric to implementation
- Net-zero commitments and the danger of not moving fast enough to decarbonise economies
- Data and the importance of measuring absolute carbon emissions
