The motto of ChangeNOW2025 in Paris. Solutions, solutions, solutions and a mind-blowing experience! No chance to pack this in a single blogpost, but here are my top takeaways. 💬
A truly historic conference 10 years after the Paris Climate Agreement
It was absolutely capturing to have people like Laurent Robins, President of COP 21 on stage. Looking back and ahead, what’s the imperative message of our times? I love Laurent’s shoutout: „Implement, baby!“ With current policies we’re still heading for 3.2°C, a far too hot future. The solutions are there, let’s get to work.
The outlook for Europe: We need to stay on track.
No matter wether Omnibus is delaying progress or helping companies by pushing back overwhelming buerocracy, the green transition really is Europe’s last resort. While the Trump administration is pushing back on climate and sustainability standards, the U.S. are still investing very much money on green technologies from the Inflation Reduction Act, and so is China.
„Switching to a green economy is vital for Europe for resilience and competitiveness. It’s a misconception to think we can be competitive with a fossil-based economy.“
Mikael Nordlander, Vattenfall
The competitiveness of the economy is a major factor for the sustainability transition: „As long as we are competitive we can work on sustainability. When we no longer are, it’s game over.“ said Joseph Maria Recasens Laguarda, CSO Renault Group. On the other hand, sustainability is a factor of competitiveness: „We are really seeing returns on sustainability investments, saving costs and gaining a competitive edge.“ Karen Pflug Ingka Group (IKEA Retail)
New Narratives – probably the most discussed topic in the conference.
„We need to change narratives to innovation, creativity, growth, jobs, health, safety. We need to create an ‚urgent optimism‘, a sense of agency to overcome climate denial and anxiety.“ Hannah Jones, Earthshot Prize. Change the framing and address the immediate needs and future concerns of people and connect benefits to the planet. Make it sexy, seduce. How? With unexpectedness.
Here’s a good question for your next brief: „Does it create global yawning?“ Love that.
It’s what we’ve been up for at coool since day 1.
The call for cities
Cites culminate 75% of global GHG emissions and most are not responding fast enough, said Kirsten Dunlop, Climate KIC). To get ahead, they need effective tools and the engagement of the civil sector for implementation and scaling. (By the way, that’s exactly what we aim for with our application for the Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund).
„Often the reality is, the climate action plan is a nice slide deck.“
Héléne Chartier, C40
Democracy is vital for change.
„Science proves that the higher the level of democracy the higher the achievements in environmental protection and reduction of GHG emissions.”, said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Directrice de recherche CEA au Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Paris Saclay. Climate action is also democratic action.
And we need to stand up for science as it faces an unprecedented pressure. Ingmar Rentzhog from We Don’t Have Time launched the #MakeScienceGreatAgain Campaign at the conference, something definitely to watch. https://www.wedonthavetime.org/makesciencegreatagain
We can do it – together.
I’ve met so many potential partners and initiatives, it was just overwhelming.
PS: ChangeNOW was not only a global highlight on the sustainability discourse with more than 40,000 delegates, but also a landmark of a sustainable event design.
I’ll be sharing more on Linkedin in the coming days, so stay tuned.