Dandelion fluff — Image courtesy of © John Short/Design Pics/Corbis
COP26 was the first UN climate change conference to truly recognize the critical role of business in driving change, and the first Conference of the Parties that SAP attended. Now that COP26 is over, we can look back on almost two weeks of SAP activities on the ground.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, COP26 recognized this sense of urgency following the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report in 2021, which found that human activities are a clear cause of rapid changes in the climate. The Glasgow Climate Agreement was signed after two weeks of negotiations between more than 120 world leaders. The agreement sends a strong signal to countries and businesses to be more ambitious and focus on the actions needed to protect the planet from further irreversible damage.
The Glasgow Climate Agreement requires countries to further strengthen and strengthen their 2030 targets next year. Countries agreed on rules governing international carbon markets, mobilizing financial flows to developing countries, phasing out coal and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and reducing methane emissions. It also recognizes the importance of international partnerships and includes language on technology development and deployment and technology transfer. There were pledges from groups of countries to stop deforestation and shift funding to clean energy.
Daniel Schmidt, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP, along with a small team representing SAP's leadership in climate action, the circular economy, consumer industries, and government issues, will explain how the event will work and explain the science. We explored how to understand and work with businesses, policy makers, and government officials. Start-ups need to highlight his SAP role and influence. Given the COVID-19 situation, plans have been disrupted and most other companies reported rushing to finalize plans in the last few days.
At COP26, we participated in as many forums as possible across business, media and government and were inspired by many CEOs, CSOs, policy makers, activists, NGOs, partners and start-ups. In this context, our circular economy team has also launched an innovative software solution: SAP Responsible Design and Production.
We've always heard the phrase, “You can't manage what you can't measure.” This simple idea was repeated and re-emphasized in almost every forum and by every stakeholder group. It is clearly linked to the strengthening role of data and digital solutions in climate action.
The Glasgow Summit also saw a significant corporate presence, something missing from previous climate change gatherings. SAP is a critical stakeholder in business operating systems, and addressing climate change in our industry requires first and foremost transparency and alignment with the business processes that cause problems. We have emphasized our view that there is. Another part of COP26 business leaders' lexicon: SAP holds the key to how the business world organizes itself for a renewable, net-positive future . The question is how can we support all stakeholder groups to enable the necessary collaboration and change across business, finance, policy makers and NGOs?
After nearly two weeks and countless interactions, it is clear that SAP's role is to support these key stakeholder groups.
- Promote the necessary transparency of system-wide material impacts
- Connect your business across complex business networks and ecosystems
- Equitably involve the Global South in solutions and support the social dimensions of climate change
- Deliver the insights you need to support the appropriate allocation of capital to support initiatives that deliver renewable business outcomes.
- Navigating the complex policy environment and climate-related legislation that will need to be submitted after COP26
Looking back, our role as SAP should be to actively advocate and inspire action on what business technology can do, and above all support the COP26 goals.
After all, the purpose of climate conferences like COP26 is simple. The aim is to limit the rise in global average temperatures to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and mitigate the effects of climate change. COP26 brought the world closer and kept its potential within reach.
Agreements and commitments are meaningless unless they are implemented at the national level. Governments need to develop policies that provide clear direction for businesses across sectors to achieve a net-zero economy, backed by significant investment and engagement with businesses to drive multi-stakeholder initiatives. there is. COP26 will trigger consistent engagement over the next decade. It's not a one-time effort.
Our role is to help make this potential a reality and drive the actions needed across all markets and industries.
