Over 170 Non-State Actors Have 80-100% Climate Commitments
A report by CDP and The Climate Group reveals that over 170 major companies, states, regions, and cities around the world have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80-100%, or procuring 100% of their power from renewable sources.
The findings reveal a trend toward increasingly ambitious climate action on the part of “non-state” actors (for example, non-national governments), in the lead up to the Paris Climate Conference later this year.
The UNFCCC’s Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) now includes nearly 4,000 climate commitments by non-state actors, from states and regions pledging to end forest loss by 2030, to companies adopting an internal price on carbon and setting targets in line with climate science.
The message from leaders at The United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, called for strong action from national governments at the Paris Climate Conference later this year.
The main question asked in the report is what motivates these leaders to be bold in addressing climate change, when so many national governments remain hesitant? Three main motivators are:
Efficiency – by reducing energy use, productivity can be increased with less waste, meaning lower costs.
Competitiveness - many companies and governments believe that investing in low-carbon industries today will give them a competitive advantage in the future.
Values – there is no longer a choice between being profitable or socially responsible.
Examples of companies who have joined the pledge include Google: Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman says “We’re serious about environmental sustainability not because it’s trendy, but because it’s core to our values and also makes good business sense. After all, the cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use in the first place, and in many places clean power is cost-competitive with conventional power”. Google has now committed more than $1.8 billion to renewable energy projects, including wind and solar farms on three continents.
As the largest greenhouse gas emitter in Australia, AGL has committed not to build, finance or acquire any new conventional coal-fired power stations, and will close all existing coal-fired power stations by 2050. “We are pragmatists when it comes to evolution of the (utility) business model in Australia. You can debate the speed of transition, and certainly the technical solutions that will form part of it, but it’s pretty clear that a high degree of distributed generation and storage are likely to be a key feature,” Jerry Maycock, Chairman at ALG Energy.
States and regions are also involved, Jerry Brown, the governor for the state of California, commented, “California energy policies are a road to a real innovation that will drive business investment and development, in California and throughout the rest of the country”.
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