Just a few years ago, much of the business community viewed climate advocates with indifference, skepticism or even outright hostility. Today, however, companies representing 40 percent of the global stock market have committed to science-based targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. In many cases, these businesses are already making billions of dollars supplying climate-friendly products and services. Even corporations that are less directly implicated in the economic upside of climate action recognize the imperative for a low-carbon economy because no business can profit in an environment of climate chaos.
Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement will requirement investment. Indeed, by one estimate, we will need at least $4 in clean energy investment for every $1 maintaining fossil fuels. The good news is that over the past decade, the flow of money into clean energy and efficiency infrastructure has tripled to about $1 trillion annually. Global investments in clean energy transition reached $1.1 trillion in 2022—roughly equal to the amount invested in fossil fuel production in the same year.