Welcome to the September edition of the We Mean Business coalition newsletter.
Already this month we’re seeing phenomenal progress with business, government leaders and other groups coming together at the Global Climate Action Summit to celebrate action and push for increased ambition.
More and more companies are embracing the low-carbon transition and the goals of the Paris Agreement. Since January alone, over 130 companies have joined the Science Based Targets initiative, to reach a total of 488 leading companies either committed, or with an approved target.
Many of these companies are stepping up their ambition. For example, in India both the $20.7 billion conglomerate Mahindra Group and leading cement manufacturer Dalmia Cement have committed to go carbon neutral by 2040.
Companies from heavy-emitting sectors are also stepping up by joining EP100, led by The Climate Group in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy, to use energy more productively. New signatories include UltraTech Cement, South Africa’s petrochemicals giant Sasol, and Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers.
The race to electrify the automotive sector is accelerating. 26 cities, states, and businesses unveiled plans to deploy zero emission vehicle fleets, with the #ZEVChallenge, created by The Climate Group, C40 Cities and the Under2 Coalition. And companies including ChargePoint and EVBox announced a goal to create more than 3.5 million new charging points for electric vehicles by 2025.
Plus the world’s biggest furniture retailer IKEA Group committed that all deliveries in five major cities would be made by EVs or through other zero-emission means by 2020. And the task of tackling emissions from heavy transport received the backing of over 20 global companies as they joined together for the Transforming Heavy Transport project.
The Coca-Cola Company and Mars Incorporated became two of the first companies to join the Climate-Resilient Value Chains Leader Platform, led by BSR. The platform will drive collaboration help companies monitor and address climate risk throughout supply chains.
The drive to greater climate disclosure gathered pace, with CDP announcing that over 1,300 new companies, cities, states and regions, spanning 60 countries, are taking part in its annual climate change disclosure cycle. And companies including Enel, Safaricom and Unilever pledged to ensure a just transition, declaring that all jobs in the low-carbon economy need to be decent, led by The B Team.
The America’s Pledge initiative launched Fulfilling America’s Pledge, a new report detailing the impact and importance of states, cities, businesses and universities working to help meet the US commitment under the Paris Agreement. And demonstrating that groups in the US continue to ramp up their actions, the We Are Still In coalition announced 300 new climate commitments through the We Are Taking Action campaign.
Meanwhile, the number of companies committed to climate action via the We Mean Business coalition’s Take Action campaign surpassed 800, representing over 20% of the global economy. Investors are stepping up their climate action too. Some 392 investors with $32 trillion in assets under management are harnessing The Investor Agenda to accelerate the transition to the low-carbon economy.
And California governor Jerry Brown signed into law California’s ambitious energy plan to reach 100% clean electricity by 2045.
This surge of climate action will continue next week during Climate Week NYC (24 – 30 September). You can connect with other business and government representatives during CWNYC at The Hub on Tuesday 25th September. And if you are attending CWNYC and would like to meet in person to discuss how your company can take climate action, please get in touch.