Davos 2020: ICC mobilises business leaders to advance a more sustainable global economy

Building off last month’s United Nations Climate Conference (COP25), ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO has made environmental initiatives the focal point of his participation at this year’s Forum in Davos. ICC has contributed to several environmental initiatives, tools, services and policy recommendations launched at this year’s Forum.

Business provides policymakers with concrete proposals to protect biodiversity

Business for Nature, a global coalition of leading organisations and forward-thinking businesses committed to reversing nature loss and restoring natural ecosystems, unveiled a set of policy recommendations calling upon government leaders to take concrete action to protect nature.

As a proud member of the Business for Nature coalition, ICC contributed to these policy recommendations, which included input of hundreds of companies from across 15 sectors. The recommendations call upon governments to advance policies that value nature and enforce environmental laws.

On the release of the recommendations, Mr Denton said: “Business recognises that we must protect, conserve and restore nature, to safeguard our communities, livelihoods and economies. Having provided input, ICC supports the policy recommendations announced by the Business for Nature coalition to untie the private sector and develop collective solutions to transform our relationship with nature for the future of humanity.”

Backing science-based targets with 1.5°C Business Playbook

ICC joined leading experts and business stakeholders to launch the 1.5°C Business Playbook, a framework for business to reach net-zero emissions by integrating climate into their business strategies and halving their greenhouse gas emissions. The framework encourages businesses to reduce their own emissions, address value chain emissions, integrate climate into their long-term strategies and form partnerships to raise climate ambition.

The Playbook, which is based on the Exponential Roadmap initiative, aims to provide companies of all sizes with a structure for aligning their operations with the 1.5 ambition and achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. “Now is the time for business to step up and take bold climate action,” said Mr Denton. “ICC is proud to support the 1.5°C Business Playbook to provide companies of all sizes with a tool for actionable and ambitious climate policies that will accelerate the adoption of net-zero emissions targets across the private sector.”

Providing SMEs with the tools to address environmental performance

While more and more companies around the world are using digital technologies to track their environmental outputs, these tools remain inaccessible to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the side-lines of this year’s Forum, Mr Denton joined Pavan Sukhdev, CEO of GIST and President of the World Wildlife Foundation, to introduce two digital platforms for tracking the environmental impact of business operations for companies of all sizes. The platforms, I360X and SME360X, utilise analytics and global databases to measure the environmental impacts of market goods and services. “New technologies have the potential to shine a light on the carbon footprint associated with trading goods. These technologies can be used by businesses of all sizes to reduce the carbon intensity of goods worldwide,” said Mr Denton.

During an interview with France 24, Mr Denton discussed the importance of raising climate ambition and how digital technology can equip business with the tools to take concrete action.