Making Global Goals Local Business - Georgia was a platform for business, UN and Government to foster multi-stakeholder dialogues and yield new partnerships. Following the event, Global Compact Local Networks Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Russia, Poland and Turkey have collected case studies featuring effort from the private sector to deliver significant cuts in carbon emissions and accelerate the transition to clean energy. This publication co-developed by the Local Networks compiles these examples demonstrating a growing momentum in the region towards net-zero emissions and a green transition in Eastern Europe.

This new report from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), prepared by CDP and the UN Global Compact, takes stock of corporate climate ambition in G7 countries, assessing the temperature ratings of the leading equity indexes of these markets. Analysis is based on emissions reduction target data submitted by companies to CDP and the SBTi. It focuses on mid-term rather than long-term target data, given the urgency to halve emissions by 2030. The report frames science-based target setting as the solution to bridge the ambition gap, outlining four levers to unlock breakthrough climate mitigation action through science-based targets.

  The SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting and offers resources and guidance to reduce barriers to adoption. The SBTi Corporate Manual is a combination of two previously available resources, the Call to Action Guidelines-which gives information on the four step process for joining the initiative- and the SBTi Manual-which provides stepwise guidance and recommendations for setting SBTs- now combined, streamlined, and newly-released to best support companies throughout all steps of the science-based target setting journey. 

This UN Global Compact action-oriented narrative synthesizes the key insights gathered through a series of webinars organized in 2020 on the climate-nature-health nexus, in the framework of the Business Ambition for Climate and Health Action Platform. Reminding the business case for taking integrated climate and health action, it provides guidance on how companies can deliver climate and health co-benefits by pointing towards relevant action-oriented initiatives. It focuses on the five areas that were addressed by the webinar series : air pollution, nature and biodiversity, food systems, water resilience, and the future of work and just transition.

This report shows that companies with science-based targets are delivering on large-scale emissions reductions. Five years on from the Paris Agreement, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) analysed the emissions of a group of 338 companies whose climate targets have been approved by the SBTi as aligned with climate science and the goals of the Paris Agreement. This is the first ever study to look at how setting science-based targets correlates with corporate emissions reductions and the extent to which companies are actually delivering on those targets. Target-setting companies have successfully reduced their emissions by 25% since 2015, a difference of 302 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the same as the annual emissions from 78 coal-fired power plants.

A new strategy that spells out our ambition to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the SDGs through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change.

Limiting average global warming to 1.5°C requires an enormous transformation of our economy and energy systems. The movement of companies, countries, cities, and investors setting ambitious net zero targets and leading this transformation is building momentum faster than ever. Though progress is being made, climate action must continue to be accelerated and accompanied by efforts to address the various environmental and societal challenges we face. In the UN Global Compact Network UK’s latest Briefing, we explain how businesses can be at the forefront of this growing movement and why it is important to continue raising ambition and take immediate action.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has launched a process to develop the first science-based global standard for corporate net-zero target setting, to ensure that companies’ net-zero targets translate into action that is consistent with achieving a net-zero world by no later than 2050. The paper lays out the conceptual foundations for corporate net-zero target setting, including clarity on what it means for companies to reach net-zero emissions, analysis of existing net-zero target setting practices, assessment of strategies that are consistent with achieving a net-zero economy, and initial recommendations for science-based net-zero goals. The conceptual foundations discussed in the paper will be translated into detailed guidelines and criteria to be developed by the initiative as part of a continued multi-stakeholder process.

Financial institutions are the key to unlocking the system-wide change needed to reach net-zero emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures. The Science Based Targets initiative’s new framework allows financial institutions – including banks, investors, insurance companies, pension funds and others – to set science-based targets to align their lending and investment activities with the Paris Agreement.

The Blue Resilience Brief outlines areas where scaling-up joint science-industry action could enhance the resilience of the blue economy and contribute towards a more sustainable future.