Climate action is the "defining business opportunity of our time", and the private sector's participation is "vital", the incoming president of the UN Cop 30 climate summit, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago said today.
Businesses and other stakeholders "can shape the future global economy", and must "step forward", do Lago said. Cop 30 is scheduled for 10-21 November in Belem, northeast Brazil.
"In Belem, the private sector will have an unprecedented opportunity to lead the world forward… We are calling businesses to attend and engage through credible solutions, partnerships, investments and ideas", he added.
Businesses can be "co-architects" of governments' plans to tackle climate change, do Lago said. His presidency "sees the private sector as a beneficiary of the climate transition, and an indispensable partner in driving its implementation". This involves companies creating "credible transition plans", he added.
The Cop 30 presidency has launched an "Action Agenda", in order to connect outcomes negotiated under the UN process to concrete initiatives. It can also serve to guide the private sector, do Lago said. The initiative has mapped commitments and plans — many made by the private sector — from previous Cop conferences, and the Cop 30 presidency will ensure that progress is reported transparently, via a publicly-accessible system.
Climate transition ‘irreversible'
Do Lago acknowledged "compounding geopolitical and socioeconomic challenges", but noted that the "ongoing climate transition is irreversible", and a key driver of innovation and growth.
"The private sector has already accelerated the transition in many significant ways", but it must now increase its engagement and tap into the "outstanding opportunities" that the shift to clean energy offers, do Lago said. He pointed to a UN report which in July flagged up the "spectacular cost declines" in energy transition technologies.
The private sector will also draw focus at Cop 30 as a potential source of climate finance, particularly as several major country donors of international development aid step back. Climate finance is a central topic at summits such as the annual UN Cop climate conferences, and will remain so this year. The Cop 29 and Cop 30 presidencies will present a "roadmap" — agreed last year in Baku, Azerbaijan — to scale up climate finance from all sources to developing nations to $1.3 trillion/yr by 2035.
