Zurich-The road to net-zero: How businesses are managing the climate transition

The globe is not on track to hit the Paris Agreement targets and warming could exceed 1.5 degree Celsius as early as 20401.

Risks associated with climate change are growing accordingly.

'Accelerating the Climate Transition: Long-term thinking for near-term action,' new research by Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) and a global insights agency Horizon Group, explores areas where the climate transition can be accelerated. It is based on the Sustainability Executives Survey of 668 executives who have responsibilities related to sustainability within their companies.

The research shows that companies across sectors and around the globe are committed to net-zero and are already pushing ahead with the delivery of transition plans in the short-term. However, they are facing challenges on that journey. The most important barrier to developing a net-zero plan - named by 50% of companies overall - is costs and scale of capital expenditure. This is closely followed by three related roadblocks: lack of feasible technological solutions; regulatory challenges; and difficulties in measuring and monitoring impact.

Matt Holmes, Group Head of Political and Government Affairs, Zurich explained: 'Policymakers can support businesses' climate transition by making systemic, economy-wide interventions, such as carbon-pricing mechanisms, that can harness the power of capital markets and incentivize innovation and decarbonization at scale. The discussion so far suggests three priorities for action for governments: creating policy certainty, facilitating investment in mitigation and adaptation, and turbo charging innovation.'

Further findings include:

77% of companies have an active net-zero transition plan. The transport sector is behind other industries with only 37% of companies having a net-zero plan.

85% of companies intend to implement climate adaptation measures within the next five years. Heavy manufacturing is moving at the fastest pace in terms of adaptation; agriculture the slowest.

Management boards, investors and regulators are seen as key advocates for net-zero action taking.

Read the full 'Accelerating the Climate Transition: Long-term thinking for near-term action' report here.

1 https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/faq/faq-chapter-1/

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