Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future, Says DNV GL

A global movement of companies taking ambitious climate action aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C is emerging, states a new report released by the United Nations Global Compact, DNV GL, and Sustainia on the sidelines of the UN Climate Action Summit.

87 companies, with a total market capitalization of over US$ 2.3 trillion and annual direct emissions equivalent to 73 coal-fired power plants, have joined the “Business Ambition for 1.5°C — Our Only Future” campaign. The companies have promised to scale up their climate ambitions by setting science-based targets aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The report, 1.5°C Business Leadership, features the solutions and strategies developed by these companies to make their critical contribution to tackling the worst impacts of climate change.

“Companies have an opportunity to step up as leaders at the forefront of the climate movement, re-imagining the way they can work together with both Governments and the United Nations to shift industries and transform the way we do business,” said Lise Kingo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.

“Existing technology can deliver the future we desire, including meeting the Paris Agreement targets, but only through considerable acceleration on many fronts,” says Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO, DNV GL. “The transition is certainly a source of risk. But a cleaner and more efficient energy system opens up many opportunities, both for businesses today, and, with wise stewardship, for generations to come.”

The companies joining the campaign are committed to setting science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which independently assesses corporate emissions reduction targets in line with what climate scientists say is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Integrating this process into corporate strategies and decision-making requires buy-in from all employees, and the 1.5°C Business Leadership report examines some of the ways in which leaders are beginning to do this.

“The Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign should be seen as a major transformer of business models — an opportunity to rethink the raison d’être of companies in a new world order,” said Rasmus Schjødt Pedersen, CEO & Senior Partner of Sustainia.

The UN Global Compact today recognized the companies that have stepped up as part of the campaign at the Private Sector Forum — the official luncheon of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit — which annually brings together more than 350 Chief Executives, Heads of State and leaders of UN agencies.