Sustainability

WHAT'S NEXT?: Preparedness and mitigation plans to increase resilience and reduce economic impact will be crucial over the coming years.

• [New] The pace of poverty reduction is slowing down and current projections suggest that 6% of the world's population will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030, missing the target of the first Sustainable Development Goal - No Poverty.
• [New] Consistency between policy initiatives should reinforce different measures and mitigate the risk of additional barriers, such as cross-border transportation.
• [New] With the world population expected to grow to almost 10 billion by 2050, the agricultural output needs to be more than doubled by 2050 to meet increased demand, while ensuring the sustainability of natural resources and combating climate change.
• [New] While coal-fired power plants currently dominate the Polish energy market, renewable energy-based power generation is forecast to grow exponentially over the next decade as part of Poland's long-term strategy for sustainable development.
• [New] Growth in installation of photovoltaic solar panels means that 78 million tonnes of material will need to be recycled by 2050, while electric vehicles could provide another 11 million tonnes of batteries by 2030.
• [New] Deeply decarbonizing the U.S. energy system by 2050 will require rapidly increasing energy efficiency, decarbonizing electricity supply, and electrifying energy end uses, including buildings, transportation, and industry.
• [New] While Australia has made a commitment at PIF to develop a 2050 strategy next year, Morrison has made it clear the Coalition will not be investing more in the UN climate fund, and will instead pursue investments in climate resilience directly with Australia's regional partners.
• Wales has ambitious waste reduction targets, including to cut food waste by half by 2025 and to be a zero waste country by 2050: As a result, there will be a reduced role for landfill gas over the coming years as the amount of organic waste in landfill sites reduces.
• The IEA has calculated that solar goals for 2050 consistent with the Paris Accords will require disposing of solar panels that will constitute more than double the tonnage of all today's global plastic waste.
• Weather routing is considered a low hanging fruit in terms of improving efficiency, and with fuel prices expected to leap by 40-50% in the wake in IMO 2020, more shipowners and charterers will be wanting to reduce fuel consumption next year.
• The need to manage waste in an efficient manner with the help of a standard recycling technology is expected to boost the growth of the market in the coming years.
• By 2030, renewable energy sources will power over 60% of new electricity access, and stand-alone and mini-grid systems will provide the means for almost half of new access.
• In order to adapt to new technologies, increase both efficiency and consumer convenience, the global critical infrastructure will have to switch to go digital over the next few years.
• Chile will generate 65 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2035, and has imposed strict new energy efficiency standards on manufacturing, mining and transportation.
• The World Bank is committed to USD200bn of funding between 2021 and 2025 to help emerging economies tackle climate change; a lot of it will go on driving energy efficiency.
• By mid-century, global GDP will have grown by 120% from today's levels, but energy demand will have risen by only 6% and, importantly, will be on a declining path.
• Transitioning to a low-carbon, sustainable growth path could deliver a direct economic gain of $26 trillion through to 2030 and generate 65 million low-carbon jobs, compared to business-as-usual.
• The world's top 100 cities will account for 35% of global GDP growth between now and 2025 as the global population continues to migrate to urban living, with 68% estimated to be residing in cities by 2050.
• Global sustainable investing grew to more than $30 trillion in 2018, a 34 percent increase in two years; and this year, many CEOs have cited climate change as the top risk to their organization's growth.
• If the UK is to benefit from sustainable increases in productivity it's crucial that companies explore opportunities to invest in and maximise the benefits of new technology.
• If the Chinese economy remains on track in the second half of 2019, GDP growth will hit the government's target of around 6.2 percent.

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Last updated: 12 October 2019