“COP28 offers nations a chance to re-centre their climate compass”: Swiss Re’s Mumenthaler

COP28 offers leaders ”another chance to refocus their efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and spur a just energy transition” Swiss Re CEO Christian Mumenthaler has highlighted ahead of the climate meeting.

The world is currently experiencing uncertainty brought by war, geopolitical fragmentation and cultural conflict, yet the existential threat of climate change has remained ever-present since scientists discovered, nearly 40 years ago, that a hole in the ozone layer was opening every spring.

“As thousands of officials and others head to the United Nations’ COP28 meeting in Dubai starting 30 November to discuss progress on limiting and preparing for climate change, it’s worth remembering the push to fix the ozone hole. It shows mountains can be moved when policymakers, regulators and business leaders work across societies to make bold decisions to solve our biggest problems,” Mumenthaler stated.

He continued: “For me, collaboration on the ozone layer is a model for tackling today’s far greater challenge: climate change. The urgency has grown as we seek to preserve a hospitable, habitable planet.

“This was again made clear as this past summer in the Northern Hemisphere became the Earth’s hottest on record. Climate change is driving severe weather, contributing along with escalating economic values to a 5–7% annual growth trend in insured natural catastrophe losses documented by Swiss Re over the past three decades.”

At this year’s COP28, assessing progress on an issue of existential importance will be particularly critical, as it will be the first time nations formally take stock of whether they’re fulfilling their Paris Agreement commitments.

In the case countries have not been able to do so, they would also discuss hat must be done to kick-start efforts to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Mumenthaler noted.

He said: “The goal is reachable but at risk: governments are on track to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be needed to achieve the temperature limit, according to a new UN-backed report.

“Consequently, it’s good to see that leaders of the two biggest economies, the United States and China, have resumed more active cooperation on this issue ahead of COP28, including shared commitments to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030.”

Mumenthaler also highlighted that Alliance partners, including Swiss Re, have written an open letter to world leaders asking them to work with the group on transformative policies and actions to accelerate the public-private push to address climate change.

The CEO is co-chair of the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, part of an international consortium of 126 companies with 12 million employees committed to achieving the 2015 Paris Agreement’s net-zero ambitions.
From 2019 to 2021 Alliance companies achieved a 10% emissions reduction as we pursue our goal of cutting our CO2 footprint by a billion metric tonnes by 2030.

Among the letter’s proposals, the group calls governments to rapidly scale up renewable energy investments, including in-grid infrastructure, like storage capacity, necessary for integrating solar and wind.

In addition to investment, Mumenthaler added, targeted policies to better enable the private sector to improve its energy efficiency would also be welcomed.

Managing the energy transition effectively is crucial to ensuring the shift now underway from a fossil fuel-based economy to one reliant on low-carbon resources is orderly, the CEO notes.

Therefore, the Alliance is also asking governments to commit to low-emission public procurement policies. In the European Union, public procurement makes up 14% of the economic bloc’s gross domestic product.

“Such a commitment would send a powerful market signal to deepen adoption of low-carbon technologies throughout the broader economy,” according to Mumenthaler.

“Additionally, while emission mitigation must anchor our efforts to limit climate change, Alliance members are also seeking government commitments to set appropriate carbon removal targets. Accelerating investments in nature-based and technology-driven carbon removal like those Swiss Re supports through our partnership with Climeworks can also help.

“Carbon removal is critical. Beyond 2050 society must achieve net-negative emissions, removing up to 20 billion tonnes of CO2 annually and storing it forever.”

Mumenthaler notes that despite the Alliance’s recommendations for governments participating in COP28 talks being ambitious, they “offer a science-based approach focused on common ground where the public and private sectors can collaborate on actions to reshape society, public health and the global economy during a just transition.”

He added: “I also acknowledge our recommendations aren’t quick fixes. They’ll unfold over decades. New challenges will arise as we navigate lingering ones. In particular in our digital age, slow change like this may be difficult to accept given we’ve become so accustomed to immediate results.

“But consider this: Even fixing the ozone hole, something many view as having reaped swift, unequivocal rewards, will take a long time. While the ozone layer over the Antarctic has passed significant milestones, full recovery may take beyond 2070 because stratospheric chemical declines take longer over the Antarctic than elsewhere.”

He highlighted that, right now, the most important thing is that governments, businesses and civil society work together “to ensure this endeavour stays on course. At COP28, this should be the guiding principle for leaders shaping our climate future.”

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