The Sustainable Business Revolution 2030

Where will you be in 2030? With just a decade in which to achieve the carbon emissions reduction target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), businesses and public bodies alike must radically transform how they operate – for the sake of our planet and future generations of employees, consumers and citizens.

In a new Point of View launched to coincide with the World Climate Summit 2019, we assert that carbon emissions are now a business-critical issue. The paper, Sustainable Business Revolution 2030, describes the coming decade as one characterized by disruption and reinvention. Those organizations failing to grasp the sustainability agenda may cease to operate in the hard realities of the environment beyond 2030. 

In Sustainable Business Revolution 2030, we emphasize that no one company alone can tackle the massive global transformation needed to address climate change. Rather, the only way to make a substantial impact on emissions—fast—is through cooperation in broad-ranging ecosystems with a single focus on achieving net zero carbon emissions. This will demand radical reinvention of business models, open collaboration and sustainability-driven technology choices.

We offer our 2030 vision for three ecosystems with the potential to contribute to sustainability in the decade ahead:

• Energy – from smart grids to distributed technology-enabled business models
• Mobility – embracing AI, blockchain and 5G for greener transport and manufacturing
• Smart cities – addressing the challenge of urbanization with new partnerships and innovations

Within these ecosystems we are already seeing how innovation and technology decisions made through a sustainability lens can make a big impact. But this is just the start. There is now an urgent strategic priority for all organizations to pivot to a new, greener ecosystem model.

For best practice examples of organizations already transforming their operations and recommendations on how to respond sustainably to the disruptive force of climate change, download Sustainable Business Revolution 2030.