Global coalition launches at London Climate Action Week to boost national climate plans ahead of critical UN deadline

Dear Heads of State,

Join us on Mission 2025 to tip the balance.

Holding the line on 1.5°C is not an aspirational target – it is a scientific imperative.

We – as representatives of the world’s largest businesses, networks, cities, regions, philanthropies – are ready to embolden governments to set more ambitious plans and accelerate implementation. We know this can unlock trillions in private investment to protect our nature, scale cheap renewable energy, support industries to compete in a low carbon economy, and safeguard living standards equitably for our people.

Nearly 200 governments have committed to publish by February 2025 upgraded national climate plans covering the period 2025-2035 that are intended to align all sectors of our economies with 1.5C degrees, above which science shows the human and economic impacts of climate change become exponentially costly. This provides a unique opportunity to make good on the promises of COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy.

Some still want us to believe that the transformation is stalling. We know that it is happening, often faster than we think. Progress towards a 1.5-aligned economy is underway – the technology is in place, investment is scaling, business appetite is rife, and public support is building:

• The core technologies of the energy transition have already reached tipping points, beyond which fossil fuel alternatives aren’t viable. Wind and solar are meeting over 90% of global power demand growth. Electric vehicles now make up 18% of global passenger vehicle sales and as much as 20% and 40% of sales in Europe and China respectively.

• The world now invests twice as much in clean tech as it does in fossil fuels.

• 55 of the world’s leading multinationals with combined annual revenues of over $4.4 trillion have published transition plans, in line with TCFD.

• Almost all 100 members of the C40 cities network have climate action plans which are aligned with the Paris Agreement, taking courageous steps to reduce fossil fuel use, increase community resilience and putting in practice a just transition. 75% of C40 cities are slashing per capita emissions faster than their respective national governments.

• 77% of global citizens want their governments to act urgently on climate.

New analysis shows that the falling costs of clean technologies and the proven feasibility of other solutions mean governments’ upgraded national climate plans can be at least three times more ambitious than existing versions. Scaling these solutions so they benefit citizens around the world  will require governments to set the appropriate policies to give business and private capital the confidence to invest at scale. The right incentives and enabling environment can and will mobilize ambitious corporate action. Establishing national and local government partnerships will help transform national targets into tangible action.

Now we need to go much faster, together: the focus must be on implementation.

We urge all leaders to seize this decade-defining opportunity to secure the long-term success of our national economies, our people and our nature, by aligning your updated plans with 1.5C.  

Help us unlock the momentum needed for this transition to happen at the speed and scale required, and with the equity deserved.

We are united behind those leaders in a mission to protect what we love.

It’s time to tip the balance.

Signed by: