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30th November, 2023
Good change management depends on creating awareness about the need for change, building the desire of all stakeholders for change, and acquiring knowledge about the change. The change management process continues by constantly gathering feedback to ensure that adoption and usage occur.
When applying change management to a project, teams often gather for lessons-learned meetings. Those meetings establish a forum for crucial conversations and evaluate the positive and negative aspects of the project. Many times, applying the lessons learned from one project leads to the success of another project. The first insight is often that more can be done with less, or that a process can improve by reducing waste.
On the global stage, mitigating climate change requires similar processes. Because of the need for accountability, regular reporting, and consistent effort, parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement acknowledged the need for setting goals and assessing progress towards those goals.
The first global stocktake concluded at COP28 in Dubai in November 2023. The two-year process evaluated progress toward meeting the Paris Agreement goals and measured the desire of stakeholders to take climate action.
Stakeholders representing COP28 member countries, non-state NGOs, companies, financial institutions, cities, states, regions, and civil society organizations thoroughly and precisely examined:
Work on each of those high-level issues is intended to align efforts on climate action and rekindle the vision for change.
The global stocktake uses a three-phase approach that includes information collection and preparation, technical assessments, and the presentation of findings.
While phase one covers the collection and preparation of national climate plans, scientific studies, and country reports, phase two provides a technical assessment of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change. Phase two also addresses the social and economic consequences of climate change and methods for minimizing loss and damage.
COP28 completed phase three of the global stocktake by establishing a forum for discussing recommendations and possible lessons learned. Participants gained an opportunity to present findings, define opportunities for greater climate action, and build international support. Even with the momentum gained through the annual UN Climate Change Conferences, preliminary assessments underline the urgency of mitigating climate change.
Parties to the Paris Agreement set targets for limiting global warming, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing climate funding. However, preliminary assessments show that efforts by the international community to achieve the Paris Agreement goals have fallen short. For example, current global average surface temperatures range around 1.2oC above pre-industrial levels. Although clean energy investments increased during 2022, subsidies for fossil fuels and global CO2 emissions reached record levels. Moreover, methane emissions that increase global warming and harm air quality remain high.
The prospect of intensifying climate change-induced events demand strategic actions by businesses and municipalities. From a business perspective, those actions rest on mitigating costs associated with climate change and the risks facing value chains. For municipalities, climate change can increase municipal borrowing costs because of increased energy expenditures and decreases in labor productivity.
The Fossil to Clean campaign serves as a global movement of businesses changing from fossil fuels to clean fuel alternatives. Launched during Climate Week, the campaign includes guidance for companies about developing and aligning resources with climate leadership guidelines. The We Mean Business Coalition also provides templates for businesses interested in creating Climate Transition Action Plans. The plans establish near-term actions that businesses can take to cut emissions.
“Business needs coherent, thought-through policies to transition to a decarbonised economy,” says Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition. “In tandem with the active reduction in use of fossil fuels, we need to see the tripling of renewables and doubling of energy efficiency in order to drive down demand for fossil fuels and support a rapid transition to net zero. With the first global stocktake considered at COP28, world leaders have the opportunity to move the conversation to phase out of fossil fuels, alongside the massive upscaling of renewables, taking these goals back to their national contexts to realise within the timeframe of the 2040s.”
Maria Mendiluce
CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition
Transitioning transportation, energy generation, electrification on a massive scale, and building environmental systems from fossil fuels to renewable resources can help establish the momentum shift needed to achieve Paris Agreement climate goals. Using building systems as an example, implementing energy-efficient technologies in existing and new buildings can reduce energy consumption. Those technologies include LED lighting, improved HVAC systems, and building automation systems. Building owners can also reduce carbon emissions through retrofits that include passive solar design, redesigned air flows, and the installation of energy-efficient insulation.
As a leader in connected lighting technologies, Signify will create higher awareness of energy savings through their attendance at COP28. With its focus on demand-side resources, Signify demonstrates the connected lighting systems reduce load and the need for additional generation. Connected lighting systems deliver the same services while reducing electricity consumption. In particular, connected and adaptive lighting systems coupled with building automation systems reduce electricity consumption during peak demand.
Energy-efficient upgrades, in lighting and other sectors, have the potential to deliver what the world needs most at this point in time: significant emissions mitigation, lower energy bills, social benefits including job creation of building retrofits, electrification of heating and transport, and above all the speed required to bend the curve toward zero and inspire some hope that we can keep our one and only planet beautiful and livable.
Parties to COP28 and the global stocktake recognize that reaching the Paris Agreement goals requires a collective effort. Pathways to this collective effort and a brighter future exist through the work of non-state actors. Each step taken by non-state actors towards energy efficiency leads to reduced emissions and lower global temperatures. Businesses, municipalities, private financial institutions, and NGOs can leverage energy-efficient technologies at the business and building level without waiting for governments to enact new policies or pass legislation.
Signify Global Media relations - Professional Lighting
Claire Phillips
Tel: +44 7956 489081
Email: claire.phillips@signify.com
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2023, we had sales of EUR 6.7 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for seven consecutive years and have achieved the EcoVadis Platinum rating for four consecutive years, placing Signify in the top one percent of companies assessed. News from Signify can be found in the Newsroom, on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors is located on the Investor Relations page.
