The next 10 years will be crucial in the fight against climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has sent a clear and unavoidable message: the global economy needs to undergo rapid and far-reaching decarbonization. We need to reduce emissions 45% by 2030 and hit net zero by 2050 to hold off the worst impacts of climate change. There is no time to lose and we need the most powerful tools for the job.

IPCC, Talanoa Dialogue and the Paris Rulebook

Next week in Katowice, the negotiators will refocus their efforts to collectively raise their climate ambition and to agree a powerful tool; the ‘Paris Rulebook’. This year-long, multi-stakeholder dialogue, aimed at raising collective climate ambition comes to a close in Poland. It should provide a strong call to action for all stakeholders, driving the levels of ambition needed by 2020 – particularly in countries’ new round of climate plans due that year – and ultimately bring the world closer to meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Rulebook, meanwhile, will set the framework for action, providing a set of robust guidelines to fully operationalize the agreement and provide much-needed transparency and clarity.

It is expected to include detail on how countries communicate their climate plans, outline how, and how often countries should update these plans, and against what metrics they will monitor and report on progress. Most importantly it will lay out the foundations for countries to move at varying speeds, and how they will support each other to collectively move the dial on ambition. Together these processes will set the groundwork for action.

Rules and transparency vital for businesses

At CDP we see first-hand, every day, the steps that companies, investors, cities, states and regions are taking to build a sustainable economy for both people and planet.

We know that rules and transparency matter to the business community – it’s how markets operate.

We also know that when governments send a signal, business acts.

When it comes to climate change, the Paris Agreement sent the signal, but a clear roadmap – laid out in the Rulebook – will enable them to go further, faster.

The power of disclosure

At CDP we understand the power of transparency.

For almost two decades we have been asking companies, cities, states and regions around the world to disclose their environmental risks, opportunities and strategies in a bid to transform capital markets and build a sustainable economy for all.

We believe that transparency is the vital foundation for action: and over the last 18 years, we have been proved right.

As more stakeholders step-up to realize the opportunities they see in a low-carbon, water secure and deforestation-free world.

Building out the rulebook: what governments can learn from business

By its very nature, transparency can lead to scrutiny. It is precisely this that makes it such a powerful tool for improved performance and finding efficiencies.

We know that asking the right questions, in a consistent, global manner, means we can gather meaningful and comparable data – allowing companies, investors, cities, states and regions to benchmark themselves, those they invest in, and those they buy from.

At CDP we also understand that this global challenge does not affect all stakeholders equally. When it comes to business, some sectors can, and should, do more than others. At CDP we have turned to sector-based reporting to help overcome these challenges and provide more meaningful data.

Meanwhile, by providing the right signals in Poland, government will send the clear message back to the real-world economy that it too can go further.

By setting clear rules, governments will map the direction of travel, while government support for the IPCC’s findings will mark the destination.v