Current headwinds for climate action. Companies  and consumers are being buffeted by a number of  challenges today – inflation and a looming recession,  the energy crisis in Europe and heightened food  risks. Society must not, however, allow these  near-term problems to distract us from moving  with urgency on the growing threat posed by a  warming world. Climate action remains insufficient  today. Current projections hold that emissions will  rise nearly 11% by 2030 versus 2010, far from the  43% decline that is needed to limit warming to  1.5°C. Although adaptation and resilience were at  the top of the COP27 agenda, with some progress  being made through the establishment of a loss  and damage fund, only a fraction of nationally  determined contributions were updated. As United  Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres stated  plainly: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our  foot still on the accelerator”.

The role and opportunity for corporate climate  action becomes primary. For roughly two decades,  governments called upon the private sector  to engage on climate. But that dynamic has  shifted. Corporate leaders are increasingly urging  governments to act while moving on their own to  take action that will preserve our economies and  livelihoods alike. US Special Presidential Envoy for  Climate John Kerry has spoken frequently of the  critical private sector role, noting: “I believe the  private sector has the ability to win this battle for  us”. Early movers in various sectors have started  to find a market for their green products. They  understand how decarbonization commitments  made by consumer-facing corporations and  evolving government policy will drive green demand. 

This World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting  Group report explicitly takes a business  perspective on how to find, create and shape  those green markets.

Winning in green markets. While sustainability still  often comes at a cost today, green leaders can  thrive, nonetheless. A critical element of successful  go-to-market strategies is collaboration. Leaders  understand that partnership is the new leadership. 

Companies can work with suppliers to secure and  develop supply, often sharing the costs across the  value chain. They can partner with customers to  design and bring new green products to market  and engage with government to drive the right  enabling environment. They can even work with  competitors to scale the critical supply, demand,  transparency and infrastructure needed for green  markets to materialize. 

The findings of this report are based on quantitative  and qualitative evidence from across the private  and public sectors. The analysis is based on  company sustainability commitments, announced  green technology costs, as well as survey  responses from over 65 companies and interviews  with more than 20 sustainability leaders across  various sectors and geographies. 

We remain in the decade of urgent delivery. 

The benefits of action are clear, and the costs  of inaction pose a threat to humanity and to  biodiversity more broadly. Decisive corporate  action has become an imperative and an  opportunity to not only lead in a growing market  but to also create, shape and scale the green  markets that will transform our economy and protect our planet.