Corporates invited to Slash 1Gt Emissions Annually thru NCS

Air pollution by a factory on the bank of the Buriganga near Dhaka

• Leading companies launch a campaign to increase private sector investment in natural climate solutions (NCS) to the tune of 1 Gigatonne of emission reductions per year by 2025

• Under current prices, the estimated investments are over $10 billion

• The initiative is supported by the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance convened jointly by the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and aims to draw more investments crucial to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets

• Natural Climate Solutions include activities across forests, agricultural and coastal lands that strengthen nature’s ability to absorb carbon and reduce emissions

• Members of the Alliance believe contributing to the ‘1Gt by 2025’ investment pool will send a demand signal to carbon markets and reassure policy makers and project developers to scale investments

Geneva, Switzerland, 6 November 2021 – Today, five leading companies, made an announcement to join forces towards creating an investment accelerator, aggregating corporate demand for 1 Gigatonne of emissions from NCS reductions and removals per year by 2025.

At the climate summit in Glasgow, Bank of America, Bayer, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and Unilever- invited corporate leaders to join them as they roll out a sweeping campaign to increase investments into nature.   

By investing in high-quality NCS carbon credits―alongside decarbonizing their full value chain emissions in line with a 1.5°C future―businesses are sending a strong a demand signal to trigger a system change that will lead to higher trust in NCS as a credible and effective solution to reduce and remove greenhouse gases emissions.

As the investment campaign is aimed at drawing investments equivalent to slashing 1Gt of GHG emissions, the leading companies of the alliance look forward to mobilizing support from many more public and private companies, to meet the climate targets defined by the Paris Agreement. 

“This is a ground-breaking development for natural climate solutions. Creating an investment accelerator will send an important demand signal to carbon markets, governments, and project developers on the ground. This initiative will drive credible demand for high quality carbon credits from natural solutions as part of corporate net zero strategies. We are deeply grateful to our 5 founding champions for leading the way towards better carbon markets while increasing financing for nature.” Giulia Carbone, Director NCS Alliance, WBCSD.

“Natural Climate Solutions play a critical role in addressing emissions from agriculture and forestry, as well as offering a natural carbon sink to compensate for emissions from other sectors in transition. The world needs to rapidly decarbonize today, across all sectors, but we also need to start absorbing carbon from the atmosphere if we want to limit global warming to safe levels. The NCS Investment Accelerator will take us one step closer to truly start creating a pipeline of projects that serve the climate, nature and people at the same time.” Teresa Hartmann, Lead for Climate and Nature, World Economic Forum. 

The NCS Alliance

The NCS Alliance, co-convened by WBCSD and the World Economic Forum, brings together public and private stakeholders to identify opportunities and barriers to investment into carbon credits in new, and existing markets, to increase financing for natural climate solutions.

- World Economic Forum