Net-zero future requires a change of mindset

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, is a milestone moment as the world takes stock of the progress that has been made in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The summit, which concludes on Tuesday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has also sought to streamline efforts and spur ambition on climate action, including measures that need to be put into place to bridge the gaps of mitigation, adaptation and finance.

Considering the acute geopolitical crisis in the real world and the green transition toward the imperative net-zero future, COP28 presents the opportunity for all parties and stakeholders to pause, zoom in and zoom out to identify novel solutions and pathways to achieve net zero.

The first week of COP28 was full of positive signals. The first day of the climate summit saw the agreement on the Loss and Damage Fund to compensate poor countries for the effects of climate change. Leaders from around the world, including China's Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, also shared their views and expectations, which helped move the world's first global stocktaking closer to a conclusion that aims to increase ambition and accelerate action on climate change by informing the next round of climate action plans due in 2025. Yet any significant actions and commitments on mitigation and accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy remain to be seen.

Beyond the current challenges and old topics, there are three key points that should be highlighted.

First, building up joint leadership is needed. At COP21 in December 2015, 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, a landmark international climate change treaty that seeks to keep global temperature from rising 2 C above preindustrial levels. Right before COP21, the United States and China had announced two joint statements, and France and China issued one. It was the joint leadership demonstrated by China, the European Union and the US that created the necessary momentum for the Paris Agreement to materialize.

COP28 calls for this kind of joint leadership. The positive step is that right before COP28, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua met in California and reaffirmed their commitment to working jointly with other countries to address the climate crisis. It sent a strong signal in the context of the current tensions between the world's two biggest emitters. But joint leadership by the US and China is not enough on its own. More countries should stand beside them to make joint efforts to address climate change and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and carbon neutrality.

Second, there is a need for a change of mindset. If we look back at the previous two energy revolutions, the first was based on coal and the second on oil. Now is the time for renewable energy. The indispensable energy transition will revolutionize the global system, including social and economic development, food systems and livelihoods. Net-zero approaches should go beyond the climate camp. Net zero is about everything, everywhere and everyone. Only if everyone steps out from silos can we reach the green transition goal. In this context, different initiatives taking shape at COP28 cut across sectors. Industry and government leaders with remits far beyond climate are showing up.

Third, we need to reflect on the economic system. Climate change is an existential threat to humanity. From the Industrial Revolution until recent decades, we have been able to increase our living standards and almost eradicate poverty. However, these important achievements came at an immense cost to the biosphere and our co-inhabitants in it. Through human activities, we have systematically polluted many of our water resources and our air, poisoned our soil and caused immense damage to the Earth's biodiversity. One salient and unfortunate outcome we are witnessing is that many species are going extinct in our lifetime. Among many possible reasons, one stands out: our economic system.

This system has been serving humanity for more than two centuries. It shaped society and politics in many ways, for good and bad. In 1776, Adam Smith, who pegged the term "the invisible hand" for free markets, published one of the most important books in modern history about wealth creation and distribution, The Wealth of Nations. According to his theory, free economies can effectively create wealth while distributing it in an equal way and enabling Earth to regenerate its natural resources. In practice, however, Smith's "invisible hand" did not perform as flawlessly as expected, and the market has failed the Earth.

Climate change is perhaps the most drastic negative outcome of the current economic system. If the damage being done is not halted and reversed, it could destroy the wealth that has been created in recent centuries.

Rebecca Henderson, in her book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, pithily points out that there is a need to save capitalism from itself. Despite being one of the best economic systems created, capitalism needs to be adjusted at its core while governments, businesses and other stakeholders adapt and rewrite their social contract with the global citizenry. In this new contract, accountability and responsibility should be at the heart of the economic system.

More than ever, the world needs a shared vision for our planet. We cannot allow a daunting catastrophe to occur on our watch. The window of opportunity is rapidly closing; decisive action is needed — now. COP28 might be our best and last chance before we cross the Rubicon. To do so, we need to act jointly, wholeheartedly, and in a responsible manner. Making the needed concessions and renegotiating our economic system, regardless of how painful, is mandatory, not optional.

Leaders who gathered for COP28 should set themselves the goal of changing the global mindset and mobilizing all nations toward an agreement that can save us from the destruction of the fragile balance of life on Earth that is inevitable if the global temperature rise is not restrained. It may be a tall order, but it's the only choice.

Wang Binbin is executive secretary-general of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate and a 2023 World Fellow of Yale University. Tamim Saad is a board member of the Israel Securities Authority, senior deputy CFO of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and a 2023 World Fellow of Yale University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.