The We Mean Business group of corporates committed to climate action has formally partnered with tech giant Amazon in a bid to quickly expand the coalition of companies working to delivering net zero emissions. Last year Amazon launched its own green business grouping, dubbed The Climate Pledge, alongside its pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than the goals established by the Paris Agreement. The move was broadly welcomed, but also sparked concerns in some quarters that the new group’s work could overlap with existing corporate climate coalitions, of which We Mean Business is the largest with 1,200 companies in its network boasting a total market capitalisation of $24.8tr.
However, on Thursday the two groups announced a wide-ranging agreement designed to establish “the world’s most comprehensive effort to drive companies to adopt more ambitious carbon emissions reduction goals”. The new partnership will encourage all companies to accelerate their existing emissions goals to bring them into line with The Climate Pledge’s 2040 target date, work with their supply chains to accelerate climate action, and develop “ambitious and accountable” means for companies to credibly integrate Nature-Based Solutions into their climate strategies.
“The science is clear,” said María Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business coalition. “We must hold temperature rise to 1.5C. Thanks to the long-term vision of the IKEA Foundation, and the tireless work of the partners of the We Mean Business coalition, business is already taking bold action on climate. Through The Climate Pledge, we will pick up the pace. With a commitment to collaboration and innovation, those at the head of the pack can reach net-zero emissions by 2040.”
Her comments were echoed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who said the “size and scale of the climate crisis demands that the business community joins forces and works together to invent, fund, and implement bold decarbonization programs to help protect the planet”. “No one company can solve this problem on its own,” he added. “We look forward to working with the We Mean Business coalition to encourage businesses around the world to accelerate their commitments to tackle climate change.”
The new alliance was also welcomed by former UN climate change chief, Christiana Figueres, who worked with Amazon on The Climate Pledge initiative through her Global Optimism think tank. “Climate change is everybody’s business,” she said. “I am delighted that deeper and broader collaboration in The Climate Pledge will result from the partnership with the We Mean Business coalition.
The agreement also sets out a number of specific priorities for the new partnership, including providing new frameworks and toolkits to help enhance supply chain engagement efforts and promoting the Four Principles for Nature-Based Solutions, which was published in May 2020 as a framework to help business decision makers distinguish credible carbon mitigation projects and evaluate regenerative investments.
The groups will also support the new TED Countdown initiative to stimulate debate on how to turn ideas on how to tackle escalating climate risks into action, the popular Science Based Targets initiative, and the Race to Zero programme, which has seen the organisers of the COP26 Summit call on companies to deliver net zero pledges ahead of the crucial Glasgow Climate Summit next year.
Source: Business Green
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