News & Insights
During Nasdaq’s Annual New York Climate Week Conference on September 25, 2024, a panel of experts gathered for a dynamic discussion on the "Durable Path to Net Zero." The session, moderated by Fredrik Ekström, Head of Carbon Markets Nasdaq & Chairman Puro.earth, aimed to delve into the key topics shaping the sustainability landscape and driving impactful change in the journey towards net zero.
The panel featured esteemed speakers, including Antti Vihavainen (CEO, Puro.earth), Chris Leeds (Head of Carbon Markets Development, Standard Chartered Bank), Injy Johnstone (Research Fellow in Net Zero Aligned Offsetting, Oxford University), and Jamey Mulligan (Head of Carbon Neutralization Science & Strategy, Amazon).
The discussion navigated through several critical aspects, exploring the current progress and challenges in meeting global net-zero goals. Additionally, the panel deep dived into the concept of "Interim Net Zero" as a strategic transition phase towards full net zero, examining how this approach mobilizes ambitious corporations to take decisive actions in reducing and removing emissions.
Fredrik Ekström opened the panel by stating that the concept “net zero” is often mentioned and talked about like it’s an “easy” journey. But Fredrik is quick to say that it is in fact not, and he emphasizes that it's going to be very difficult to get close to net zero and that 2050 might seem very far out, but it is not, and we need to act collectively now.
“Net zero will require collaboration across sectors between public and private. It's going to require a lot of investments. And to make all of this happen we really need to start now, even if we talk about 2050, we have to start now, because it's going to take time – Fredrik”
On a more positive note, Injy Johnstone follows the conversation with stating that “more than 4 out of 5 people are currently living under some form of net zero target and not only on a regional level but on a state, national and global level, even entire cities have committed to net zero goals and lots and lots of corporates of course. “
“However setting these targets is the easy part, but actually implementing them and creating that net zero is the difficult part. – Injy”
So, it seems like the will is there, but a shift of this magnitude does not happen overnight and can only happen through an ecosystem approach that brings all organizations and sectors together to push these target goals into actuality.
From a corporate perspective, Jamey Mulligan explained that even though carbon reduction is a voluntary effort, Amazon has committed to it, not only for themselves but for their value chain as well. He added that protecting nature and scaling durable carbon removals with the help of technology is crucial. Amazon has a $200 billion venture capital fund investing in climate technologies and hundreds of people working to support the development of these efforts.
Jamey continues to state that there are expectations placed on the big companies whether they're voluntary or not. If companies aren't acting on their own to do this, the science will be demanding it, the policymakers, the customers, or investors, or employees, or all those folks together will be demanding action, and they will push companies to do it.
The panelists also emphasizes that a net zero journey should be viewed as an opportunity for corporates, and we should start viewing carbon removal as the cost of doing business. The purchase of durable carbon removals should be seen as part of a corporate’s value chain when operating in a net zero context. To be able to reach net zero the panel agrees that we need to scale up and need to bring capital to the carbon markets, Chris Leeds says that it will be costly, but in the long run will be beneficial for everyone. It's not just about your own corporate goals, it's about reaching global net zero and the impact that will have on climate change. Banks are seeing the needs of financing the carbon market and realizing the need for innovation. We need to bring capital into this market even though it will be costly and knowing the return of the investment may come a lot later down the line.
“So we've all heard about the journey that we're going to have to take. But it's also going to cost an awful lot of money. Trillions, I mean trillions and trillions, and everybody's very much aware of it. And that's part of the problem. Right? You said at the beginning, this is hard. This is going to be really hard. – Chris”
To meet the ambitious goals that the climate challenge demands a mature market for carbon removals must be on the table. High-quality carbon removal projects are a viable solution for mitigating hard-to-abate emissions in a durable way, removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it for hundreds — and sometimes even thousands — of years.
The final question of the session follows, “are we on target for net zero?”
“I would say, with a good news story again, comparing a world without net zero targets, where we were in early 2010’s, we were looking at a 4-degree world. Now, with the Paris agreement and net zero pledges, we're looking at 2.8. So in that trajectory, you know, I think that's some good news. – Injy”
So even though the panel agrees that we are not on track at the moment, everyone stays positive stating that we can still reach our goals in time, if we act now, and just as this year’s theme of New York Climate Week says: It’s Time.
Watch General Session: Durable Path to Net Zero
Latest articles
This data feed is not available at this time.
Data is currently not available