WWF: Business is key to providing solutions for climate change mitigation | WPN World People News

WWF aims to increase its focus on collaboration with business to tap the enormous potential of the private sector in mitigating climate change.

Special attention will be given to energy intensive sectors and global companies with a high potential of influencing consumer behaviour.

This follows closely on the release of the latest Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report a few weeks ago in which the unprecedented rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) was highlighted again.

During the international business Summit The Power of Power, that took place in Mexico City on Thursday, companies that are part of WWF’s Climate Savers programme and leading Mexican companies reviewed the latest, most profitable corporate strategies to contribute to solving the problem. Bimbo, Walmart, Gauss Energy, BioPappel, Fuerza Eolica, FEMSA and PwC were amongst the participating companies.

“We intend to drive companies towards more efficient energy production models and renewable energy acquisition, and to seek business opportunities for a future economy which should be very low or zero-carbon, if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” said Vanessa Pérez-Cirera, WWF-Mexico’s Climate and Energy Director.

“For example, transport electrification, zero-emissions housing, waste reduction and management, or telecommunications, they all have a great potential to reduce people’s carbon footprint.”

WWF has been working globally with the business sector for more than 10 years through the Climate Savers programme. It commits global companies to becoming the best in their particular sectors in terms of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and shifting to a more efficient energy use, while influencing the renewable energy markets and the development of low emissions development policy.

The Climate Savers programe has 30 member companies, including Coca-Cola, Volvo, Sony, SKF, HP, Resolute and Nike. Together, the member companies have achieved a reduction of over 100 million tons of CO2 in the past 10 years, a figure which equals the annual emissions of countries the size of Belgium, or Greece.

“One of the central learnings of the companies which have worked with WWF is that implementing energy efficiency measures and switching to renewable energies does not restrict their growth, but quite the contrary,” says Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Head of Business Engagement of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative.

“Furthermore, data shows that the investments companies make to reduce their emissions have average return rates higher than 30%, in periods under 3 years. In the United States, for example, 79% of Standard & Poor’s 500 index report that their emission reductions projects have produced higher returns than other types of capital projects,” Carrillo said.

Omar Vidal, WWF-Mexico’s Director General says the private sector should be thought of not only as an indispensable party in the reduction of GHG emissions, but in a wider sense as a provider of innovative, cost-effective solutions. “The private sector also has a major role to play in raising people´s awareness and promoting sustainable consumption patterns,” he said.

At the event, it was announced that iconic global companies Catalyst, Coca-Cola, HP, Johnson & Johnson, and National Geographic had renewed their membership of the Climate Savers programme. NYSE-listed Yingli Green Energy was also acknowledged as the first Chinese company to join the Climate Savers programme.

Source: World Wildlife Fund