Exploring where environmental goals, economics, and social responsibility intersect in practice.

The 26th Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, known informally as COP26, is planned to take place—with the acquiescence of the novel coronavirus—in my hometown in November. The event has already been postponed from November 2020, and at the time of writing (mid-July), it is not clear if it will go ahead this winter.

The COP26 has already started. It is being co-hosted by Italy and the U.K., and the preparatory meetings in Italy have been held. It is expected the big announcements will be saved until the end of the conference, and they may be as significant for our future direction in reducing climate change as COP21 was in Paris in 2015.

COP21 produced a number of key initiatives with the general goal of limiting global temperature rise to significantly less than 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels. But while all 196 parties to the UNFCCC have adopted and signed the Paris agreement, it is clear the pledges made to date are not sufficient to meet the two degree target. The best estimate of the effectiveness of current pledges is they will limit the temperature rise to about 3°C (5.4°F) whereas it could have been well over 4°C (7.2°F) with no climate policies enacted. It’s clear that if the conference of the parties doesn’t happen in-person in Glasgow in November then some alternative mechanism will need to be used to ensure action as we cannot afford to delay these commitments.

In the same year as the Paris Agreement, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on a set of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). These are very wide-ranging and have been slow to capture the public’s imagination but are finally seeming to be gaining some traction. They replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which ran from 2000–2015, and are intended to be operative from 2015—2030. They have been criticized for being far too complex, but the truth is it’s a complex situation and “too simple” would have been just as bad, if not worse. The 17 goals are: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequality; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice, and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals.

Last year, in an exercise at work, we gathered all our senior managers and divided them into small groups of three—four people, giving each group a single UN SDG to consider. The objective was to investigate what aspects of the SDGs applied directly to our business and our lifestyles, both at work and outside of work. It was very interesting to hear almost every group report they had thought the goals were primarily about things that other people do in far-away places, but they came to realize every one of the 17 goals had a direct application for them personally.

Over the next few months leading up to the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, I plan to explore the relationship between a few of these and the refrigeration industry. It will be interesting to see if your view of the intersection between your expertise and the goals matches mine or is completely different.

*I would usually refer to a temperature rise in SI units as “a 2 K rise” but in this instance I am using the units as stated in Article II clause 1(a) of the Paris Agreement.

Sustainable, adj., doing what we need to do in a way that ensures that future generations will be able to do what they need to do.