As 2021 comes to an end, I’m reflecting on the tremendous challenges we’ve faced this year, the progress we’ve made and the work that lies ahead. From the deadly floods and heatwaves to the record breaking wildfires and hurricanes, even vehement climate skeptics are facing the truth now – the climate crisis has arrived. This must be the decade of execution, action and accountability. But we cannot limit our solutions to our borders. The pandemic illuminated the necessity of tackling global crises with global solutions rooted in equity. Last month, I
attended COP26 to meet with global public and private sector leaders to discuss how we can accelerate a just and equitable global transition to a clean energy future.
I’ve been attending COPs since 2015 and have never seen the private sector show up with anything like the presence they showed in Glasgow. While the government commitments attracted a great deal of attention and discussion, at this year’s COP, the massive new engagement from the private sector – financial institutions, businesses and entrepreneurs – tells the real story; if they follow through. The world needs both public and private sector commitments to materialize into concrete execution plans in the short term.
Earlier this year,
I co-founded Galvanize Climate Solutions to do my part towards finding climate solutions.
Galvanize aims to identify, accelerate and scale companies that contribute meaningful solutions to securing a livable future. Finding solutions to the climate crisis requires deep collaboration across disciplines. This isn’t just a policy question, or a science question, or a public health issue: it’s all of the above. Going into next year, we’re looking for opportunities to combine expertise in all those fields and more when exploring climate solutions. And for real global systemic change, we believe this type of collaboration must happen all over the world –– across industries and sectors.
As we look ahead to 2022 and the rest of the decade, we all must seek opportunities to collaborate to accelerate climate solutions. Below are some of my top recommendations to read about what’s required over the next decade and how to get there.
The transformational change we need demands broad societal participation and radical collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sectors. In 2022, I’m looking forward to working with entrepreneurs, innovators, policymakers and more to scale the bold climate action we desperately need; I hope you’ll join me in this fight.
