Saving the world, one step at a time

A positive atmosphere at the Paris climate summit may lead to emergence of stronger measures

It is clear the commitments by the countries attending the Paris climate summit are far from what is required to avoid dangerous climate change.

However, it is possible to look on the bright side of this issue by looking at what may set the stage for stronger action. The world's political leaders are likely to meet in Paris in a positive atmosphere not seen since they met in Kyoto, Japan, for the 1997 climate summit, when they really wanted to reach an agreement.

This positive atmosphere allows us to reflect on how we can achieve what is really needed to avoid dangerous climate change rather than discussing who is to blame for the failure of negotiations. Instead of looking at the current commitments, we can take a step back and look at global needs.

The emission reductions needed require incentives for a race to the top in which leadership is rewarded among countries, companies, entrepreneurs and clusters so that answers are exported to the rest of the world.

The climate meeting in Paris is a good example of where such positive leadership could start. Instead of a focus on the short-term reductions that allow countries to meet the relatively low expectations in Paris, an accelerated export approach could be explored.

Such an approach would focus on an accelerated uptake of answers needed to ensure global zero carbon emissions by 2050 in a way that accelerates poverty reduction. This would be an approach in which companies present how much they need to grow and the revenues they will get from the zero-carbon solutions they provide.

This is far from an agenda in which countries and companies discuss by how much they can reduce their own emissions. This process has resulted in too much focus on finding loopholes and a process dominated by those who want to do the least.

The dramatic, but necessary, reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change are only possible if leading stakeholders work together to deliver on global, not national, goals. A global approach supporting leading countries and companies would also allow the global climate negotiations in Paris - and the follow-up process - to establish the minimum ambition level while leading stakeholders begin to focus on best practices that deliver on the necessary reductions.

It is important to remember that it is not just for climate change that a new kind of leadership is needed. There are many global challenges that must be addressed. With the new Sustainable Development Goals recently adopted by the United Nations, and a number of global catastrophic risks that threaten the very existence of humanity, upcoming bilateral meetings and business collaboration could begin to explore the possibilities of establishing a new standard for meetings where global goals become integrated into the very heart of negotiations.

The challenge to deliver on global emissions reductions, the newly adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals and reduce the global catastrophic risks - all at the same time - is the greatest challenge of our generation. It is a challenge that requires us to rethink the narrow nationalistic and economic short-term perspective that still dominates domestic and bilateral policies as well as business practices.

Just to include global goals in a structured way in all bilateral meetings and strategic business meetings would help to strengthen the focus on the challenges beyond national borders, but more is needed. If we are to successfully deliver on global goals, at least three things are needed.

First, targets and indicators so that meetings can be evaluated based on how they deliver global goals. Initially a list of the global goals that are addressed would be enough to help ensure that these global risks are not forgotten.

Later these targets and indicators could be developed further in order to increase transparency and allow for tracking of progress. It is important that these targets and indicators are not dealt with as a separate part of the negotiations, but are linked to all major bilateral agreements and business collaboration, especially those related to education, infrastructure and trade.

Second, a filter is needed that allows us to identify the solutions that are transformative, meaning that they are able to deliver sustainable solutions for an equitable world with 10 billion people or more. Much of what is being done today in the name of climate change and sustainability are only incremental improvements in fundamentally unsustainable systems that lock society harder into a lack of sustainability.

Such a filter would allow entrepreneurs, academics, non-governmental organizations and companies with truly sustainable solutions to get the support they require.

Third, a change in structure is needed. Instead of approaching climate change based on structures that were created for the challenges of the 19th and 20th centuries, there is a need for a 21st century framework. Such a framework would be based on what we need in society, such as mobility, nutrition and spaces, instead of old ways of delivering such needs.

With virtual mobility, co-creation spaces, buildings that are net producers of green electricity, more meatless-based sources of protein and the like already in place, it is important to let this new generation of innovations become the mainstream way of delivering services, instead of existing on the fringes of society like today.

The idea of a positive approach with global goals is still far from the mainstream climate discussions, and it would be naive to expect the meeting in Paris to spend much time on such an approach.

What would be possible is to have individual countries, companies, NGOs and clusters of stakeholders that publicly welcome the incremental steps delivered in Paris, while recognizing the need for something much more ambitious, different and inspiring along the lines of the suggestions above.

With China's G20 presidency around the corner and Japan's G7 presidency, we have two countries that could provide new, innovative ideas on how global catastrophic risks can become drivers for innovative solutions.

The author is an entrepreneur and founder of 21st Century Frontiers in Sweden. He works with companies, governments and NGOs as a strategic economic, technology and innovation adviser. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/27/2015 page10)