Handshake has prepared this analysis of last week’s White House climate summit, which marked a step change from previous administrations—and a clear path through the COP summit later this year, towards new regulation, investment and even legislation. The summit gathered 40 world leaders, alongside business and non-profit leaders, to focus on dramatic changes to several industries, driven by the climate crisis and associated investor flows. While the summit lacked key details and fell short in several areas, it also represented a clear shift in tone and focus from other global discussions about building a net-zero carbon economy. Here are the key takeaways:
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
› The Leaders Summit on Climate was the first substantive attempt to chart a course to the next four years of the transition to a new green economy. It pointed clearly to the next global convening event, in Glasgow in November.
› It outlined the mixture of economic incentives, regulatory interventions and political pressure that will drive investment, technology and commercial opportunities over the next decade. Many of these trends were already evident and accelerating, through investor flows, new technologies, and regulatory changes.
› But there is no substitute in geopolitics for American leadership, and the Biden administration demonstrated that the US can drive and coordinate greater progress on a faster timeline than individual countries acting independently.
› For the private sector, the message was clear. Executives will either lead this transition or struggle to adapt to forces beyond their influence and control.
IN SUMMARY
The climate summit was the first substantive attempt to chart a course to the next four years of the transition to a new green economy. It pointed clearly to the next global convening event, in Glasgow in November. And it outlined the mixture of economic incentives, regulatory interventions and political pressure that will drive investment, technology and commercial opportunities over the next decade. Many of these trends were already evident and accelerating, through investor flows, new technologies, and regulatory changes. But there is no substitute in geopolitics for American leadership, and the Biden administration demonstrated that the US can drive and coordinate greater progress on a faster timeline than individual countries acting independently.
For the private sector, the message was clear. As the health sector has experienced through the pandemic, massive US intervention in the economy can lead to extraordinary opportunities and challenges. The pandemic-era model is now being applied to multiple industries that represent a new green economy – energy, transportation, construction, technology, and finance. Navigating these shifts requires proactive engagement with policy-makers and leaders across the public, private and non-government sectors. Executives will either lead this transition or find themselves struggling to adapt to forces beyond their influence and control.
To read the full analysis, you can download it here: