The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of the fragility of our economy. It has also been the perfect example of an ‘ambition loop’ in action - a virtuous cycle where businesses, policymakers, NGOs and the wider community share a common goal and push each other towards it, supportively.
The ongoing climate crisis is another clear threat to our shared stability and its impacts are equally complex and challenging to mitigate. Just as our response to the pandemic has required collaboration like never before, climate action must also be a collective effort and it requires transformational changes to the broader systems in which we operate.
This must start with governments across the world taking a bipartisan approach to climate action, accelerating investment in renewables, incentivising the right behaviour with pricing mechanisms, and setting targets now to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Businesses also have a role to play. Through our recent switch to 100% renewable electricity, as well as our global commitments, we want to demonstrate that governments across the world can go even further and faster in setting clear policies. This will create the right context for change, which will raise the bar across industries and drive business action. Action drives policy and policy then drives further action.
We’ve been members of the NZ Climate Leaders Coalition since 2018 and in 2020, we joined the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition. We’ve also joined WWF-Australia and over 100 businesses in calling for our Government to accelerate Australia’s renewable energy capacity.
In the lead up to COP26 - the 2021 United Nations climate change conference - we hosted a panel to myth bust, sift fact from fiction and help simplify actions all of us can take when it comes to tackling climate change. You can watch highlights from the panel here.
