A GlobeScan-SustainAbility Survey
We are entering the climate decade.
A ten year period where our collective actions will determine the kind of world our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Since the launch of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, every two years GlobeScan and SustainAbility have asked global experts to assess progress towards reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. In the time since our first report was released in 2015, and second report in 2017, urgency has grown. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that we have just ten years to halve emissions in order to avoid dangerous impacts from climate change, and that the threshold for dangerous warming is lower than previously predicted, at 1.5°C.
In this context, we have once again asked experienced sustainability experts representing business, government, NGOs, academia, and media to share their perspectives on the current state of climate action, including the most effective solutions and tools for accelerating and scaling impact. We received more than 554 expert responses from across 66 countries.
Explore the 2020 GlobeScan / SustainAbility Survey report: The Climate Decade: Ten Years to Deliver the Paris Agreement.
Key Findings
- Only a small percentage of experts believe there is still time to avoid major, irreversible damage.
- Experts increasingly look to both public and private leadership to achieve meaningful progress on reducing emissions.
- Consumer-facing and technology companies are most recognized for their efforts around climate change.
- Experts agree that a variety of tools and strategies will need to be used to rapidly reduce emissions.
- For climate change adaptation, experts name supply chain resilience and advocating for increased government action to increase infrastructure resilience as the most crucial actions for companies.
Experts view the next ten years as crucial for companies to make significant progress on both climate mitigation and adaptation in order to remain successful. A majority of experts state that companies need to become carbon neutral by 2030 or sooner. Just two percent of experts surveyed believe that there will be no negative financial consequences for companies that fail to act on climate change.
