Investing in climate action is not just an environmental necessity but also an economic imperative. This article explores why allocating resources to mitigate and adapt to climate change can yield significant economic benefits and prevent substantial losses.

The European Commission has unveiled the Competitiveness Compass, a strategic initiative aimed at enhancing the EU's economic resilience and sustainability. This framework outlines key priorities and actions to drive competitiveness while addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.

Despite increasing awareness of climate risks, only 41% of global companies have published a climate transition plan, according to the 2024 EY Global Climate Action Barometer. This highlights a significant gap in corporate climate action, posing a threat to achieving global environmental goals.

The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders has successfully reduced its aggregate emissions by 10% while achieving an 18% revenue growth over the past three years. This demonstrates that significant climate action can coincide with robust economic performance.

In a recent survey by PwC, 4,700 CEOs shared their insights on how climate action can drive business value. Despite the challenges, many CEOs are finding that addressing climate-related opportunities and risks can lead to better financial performance.

For the first time, the average global temperature has surpassed the critical benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels over 12 months. The findings from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) indicate that the global mean temperature for February 2023 to January 2024 reached an unprecedented 15.02 degrees Celsius, exceeding the 1.5C threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

A new Report by the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme finds that both investors and policymakers may not be paying sufficient attention to the risks of legal risk of fossil fuel investments. Noting that the number of cases before courts worldwide is at 2500 and rising. The Oxford group says is a relatively new field and is mostly focused on physical risk to companies, and investors and regulators who do not account for the possibility of large payouts from climate litigation

In 2023, renewable energies power over half of Germany’s electricity consumption, a 5 percentage point increase from the previous year. This is a monumental step as months like July, May, October, and November showcased high peaks in renewable electricity generation, with record-breaking figures in solar and onshore wind energy. Lower overall electricity consumption contributed positively to the renewable energy quota, reaching 52 percent, while the total renewable energy production surged by 6 percent to 267.0 billion kWh. Leaders emphasized the crucial need for continued policy support and global scaling of renewables, particularly for green hydrogen and direct air capture systems, to meet climate targets and foster a sustainable energy future.

A lack of US climate reporting regulation may pose negative side effects to US companies in the long run as they will have to adhere to stronger EU compliances.

As Cop28 is halfway done there has been massive discussion over urgent climate policies. A discussion over a loss and damages fund as well as a fossil fuel reduction plan that mirrors the Paris Agreement.

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is introducing a new fund to the private credit market that embraces the burgeoning trend of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing in the US. Known as the Climate Transition-Oriented Private Debt (CPD) Fund, this initiative is part of BlackRock's extensive investment platform, valued at over $100 billion.

The EU took a pioneering step on October 1st by launching the world's first Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a system designed to impose CO2 emissions tariffs on carbon-intensive goods imported into the EU.

Yesterday, The European Commission adopted a detailed set of reporting regulations for the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Set to begin on October 1, 2023 and extend through the year 2025, this transitional phase aims to lay the groundwork for the CBAM's full implementation.

In efforts to combat climate change, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced an investment of $1.2 billion dedicated to launching the nation's first-ever Direct Air Capture (DAC) program. This program will launch two new demonstration projects in Texas and Louisiana to essentially vacuum carbon dioxide out of the air. Once captured, this carbon dioxide will be stored underground or used in industrial materials such as cement. This initiative, unveiled on August 11th, 2023 truly highlights the Biden administration's unwavering commitment to innovative solutions aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving our planet for future generations.

This summer, across the globe we have seen record-breaking temperatures that are leaving scientists concerned, many saying that these climate records are unprecedented given their speed and timing. Records broken include the hottest day on record globally in June and July, extreme marine heatwaves in the North Atlantic, highest Ocean temperatures, and record low Antarctic sea ice.

On Sunday, national governments gave their final approvals on the latest IPCC report after approval was delayed due to battles between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations. The IPCC report was intended to be approved last Friday, but was repeatedly delayed as officials from big nations such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the European Union negotiated around specific wording of key phrases found in the report. After approvals finally happened, the report was publish Monday afternoon and made some very clear statements regarding what is possible and what the stakes are when looking at climate change.

Early this month, Reuters reported around a study that says that due to extreme weather caused by climate change, Germany could be looking at a bill of about 900 Billion Euros in total damages by mid-century. This is a direct example of how sustainability and ESG is affecting the bottom line. The study, originally from economic research companies Prognos and GWS and Germany's Institute for Ecological Economic Research comes as Berlin works on a climate strategy that is supposed to be presented by the environment ministry.

On Wednesday Amazon announced that they would expand their already vast portfolio of renewable energy projects by 71 more projects. With a total of now 379 renewable energy projects these 71 new projects are dedicated to wind and solar around the world which will add 2.7 GW of energy capacity. Amazon expects that all 379 of these renewable energy projects will generate about 50,000 GWh of clean energy which equals enough energy to power 4.6 million US homes each year.

The seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly opened on September 13th under the theme of “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”. This week marks the second week of the United Nations General Assembly and is the begging of the High-Level week. Yesterday, the SDG Moment was a 90-minute event that is meant to place a spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals. In that 90 minute session, it became extremely clear that the world is not on track to reach these goals and we have a lengthy “to do” list to get back on track.