worth 750 billion euros, also recently
stated that they will drop dozens of coal
companies from their investment portfolio.
These moves mark a significant step
toward addressing climate change and it
is becoming evident that a movement is
underway and capital is shifting.
The key to unlocking the tremendous
opportunities for business for good
My focus is on business as I believe that
business can be a driving force. And the
market potential for business in this new,
sustainable economy is literally a trillion-
dollar business case. And we have only
just begun. The report, “The Breakthrough
Forecast” by John Elkington et.al., defined
the most promising developments called
the 21 ‘breakthrough sweet spots’ – from
3D printing to sustainable air conditioning
and drinking water management to
genomics. The new economy shows the
potential to produce 1.8 trillion dollars’
worth of revenue and create two million
jobs in the EU alone. According to the
McKinsey report, “The Power of Parity”,
the annual global GDP would increase
by an estimated $28 trillion in 2025 if
we were to create a more equitable
workforce in which woman participate in
the economy identically to men. In the
context of a broader business case this
includes social value and at the same
time generates good financial results.
Between Paris and Marrakech
The COP21 Paris agreement made
it clear that businesses, nations and
whole industry sectors must step up
and drive the sustainability movement.
As a result, leaders are setting their
ambitions higher than ever before for
2020 and beyond. Rachel Kyte, CEO
and Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General, Sustainable Energy
for All, explained it well during the annual
Business and Climate Summit in London
in June: “As leaders we need to keep a
close eye on not just the short term but on
the distant point on the horizon to which
we agreed we would arrive, as we lead
people, business and partnerships; we
have to be able to express this as a future
to have hope in, not a future to be afraid
of.” CEOs and political leaders such as
Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of Michelin
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