Rebecca Miano 

Last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference focused on global commitment to avert a climate crisis by transforming intention into action. 

It was clear at the end of the conference that there was need to do more through partnerships with State and non-State actors to help steer the action on the resolutions made.

COP26 helped achieve some notable results, including collective commitments made to curb methane emissions, halt and reverse forest loss, align the financial sector with net zero by 2050 and deliver resources to bridge the gap on climate emission reductions. 

However, exactly how the involved entities – governments and organisations  – would turn these commitments into results still remains unclear. 

Three approaches are key in enabling corporates to make significant gains on climate action. 

First, nurturing a climate action culture in an organisation should take root. In its simplest forms, participating in tree planting campaign can greatly contribute towards closing the gap on climate crisis.

We, however, must go a step further and nurture the seedlings to attain 100 per cent growth rate success, thus a shift from just  planting trees to growing forests. 

According to a 2019 study titled “The potential for global forest cover”, planting more than a half trillion trees, could capture about 205 gigatons of carbon (a gigaton is 1 billion metric tons), reducing atmospheric carbon by about 25 per cent.

It is the simplest way of mitigating climate change where resources are much limited and corporate leaders do not have to specialise to make this done. 

At KenGen, the company, through its environmental sustainability initiative, has just completed the rehabilitation of 10.7 acres of degraded land by planting and maintaining 7,000 indigenous seedlings at Ngong’ Hills.

This initiative is a significant component of the company’s environmental conservation culture adding to other similar efforts in various parts of the country. 

With a climate mitigation or awareness culture rooted in an organisation, it brings to fore a second element of mitigating climate crisis which is innovation.

During the COP26 panel discussion themed Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment, where I was one of the speakers, it was clear that innovation plays a key part in climate action through creating solutions to climate problems. 

Corporate leaders can make innovation an integral part of their climate action agenda and organisations’ culture.

According to the UN, fostering the use of climate innovation and technology can help implement countries national climate action plans as stipulated under the Paris Agreement.

This way, corporate leaders may leverage on technology and innovation in different fields such as agriculture and energy to reduce gasses like methane which accounts for about one-third of global warming. 

Research from McKinsey showing that five industries: agriculture, oil and gas, coal mining, solid-waste management, and wastewater management – could reduce global annual methane emissions by 20 per cent by 2030 and 46 per cent by 2050.

This alone is enough to catalyse a significant shift towards a 1.5° C warming pathway. With this knowledge, now is the right time for corporate leaders to identify innovative ways of scaling down gas emissions.

Thirdly, partnerships and collaborations sit at the core of achieving all of what was agreed in COP26. Looking for instance at an aspect like finance, it is evident that there is no way corporates and governments can achieve this without proper collaboration.

The duty to fulfil the pledge of providing 100 billion dollars annually from developed to developing countries can only be realised if corporates join hands. 

This message of unity has dominated development discussions globally and it is now becoming more apparent that transitioning to a net-zero emissions economy requires coordinated action across all sectors supported by an enabling policy framework. 

With these three aspects, the world will be in a better position to achieve the resolutions made at COP26.

Further, these approaches may lead to a quick achievement for a more environmentally friendly earth which is home to all of us and generations to come. —The author is the Managing Director of KenGen  —md&[email protected]