COP26: The role of entrepreneurs in climate action

Why we need action now

We all know that the continued wide scale use of fossil fuels is contributing to growing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 2020 clocked a new record in terms of GHG emissions, with levels of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane surpassing the annual average for the past decade. These emissions are being driven by steadily increasing consumption and energy requirements. Fast fashion, single-use products, intensive agriculture, air travel, and overtourism are all adding to the exploitation of our planet. This combined with uncertainty about our ability to meet a growing global population’s food, water and energy needs – an estimated additional 2.5 billion people will be living in cities by 2050 – together with rapid climate change, have exposed serious weakness in infrastructure as well as a reduction in greenbelt land and biodiversity loss.

Even more alarmingly, increasing emissions have caused massive shifts in weather patterns, resulting in extreme weather everywhere. Devastating wildfires, more intense tropical storms and heavy flooding, droughts, and searing heat waves are ravaging our world.

The impact on humanity is spreading, and as more people with agency and voice are being affected, there is a growing swell of concern and demands for consolidated action.

The power of the individual: entrepreneurs 

Whilst there is a lot of energy and expectation around COP26, for some there is also a sense of trepidation, and potentially even a feeling of powerlessness. These global summits often feel far removed from the regular person on the street – the person directly and wholly experiencing the negative impacts of rapid climate change.

Global negotiations between politicians and climate experts can feel high level and ineffective. Where is the practical action? Why can’t decisions be made more quickly? There can be a sense of helplessness felt by the general public – a waiting game they must endure, whilst a small select group participates in conversations that don’t seem to move things along.

There are, however, spaces and opportunities for individuals to affect change. Consumer choice holds influence. Our decisions on what and how much we consume and buy, the activities we engage in, and how conscious we are about waste are some of the key areas in which individuals can affect change. We can be vocal about our decisions and we can demand action from businesses and governments, like Greta, but another way is through supporting entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs on the ground are doing innovative and practical things within their communities to create alternative options to support sustainable choices. They hold the potential, the ambition, and the flexibility to test out innovative ideas, and iterate and grow them to develop solutions for rapid climate change. An example is Kenyan and woman-led social enterprise Gjenge Makers, which originally started out in plastic waste collection, but pivoted to include the manufacture of sustainable and affordable alternative building products, like paving blocks, tiles, and manhole covers out of the waste. Beyond environmental impact, Gjenge Makers is committed to creating job opportunities for youth and women, and to promote a cultural shift towards recycling and upcycling in Kenya and across Africa.

Innovating to create bottom-up solutions

Support around innovation for the environment has really picked up pace in recent times, but Challenge Works has been doing this for almost a decade. From the Big Green Challenge and the Dynamic Demand Challenge, to Challenging Plastic Waste through the European Social Innovation Competition, Challenge Works has been supporting innovation for climate action.

Currently we are running a number of challenge prizes in the climate space. The Afri-Plastics Challenge is looking to reduce marine plastics in Sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement in a way that promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Million Cool Roofs is a global challenge to accelerate access to affordable, sustainable cooling through the rapid deployment of cool roof materials. We have been supporting teams to rapidly scale up the deployment of highly solar-reflective “cool” roofs in developing countries suffering heat stress and lacking widespread access to cooling services.

And finally, the Climate Smart Cities Challenge is working with the cities of Bogotá, Bristol, Curitiba, and Makindye Ssabagabo to invite innovators to demonstrate and scale cutting-edge solutions to reduce GHG emissions and create a better future for all.

Whilst COP26 offers hope for a stepchange at the global policy level, the power of the individual still holds true. The choices we make and the innovations we create can push us more quickly to identify multiple solutions fit for different communities and localities and their particular experience of climate change. In turn this can influence and speed up policy change, pressurising corporations and governments to adopt the micro practical actions being modelled on the ground and to mainstream them effectively across society, turning down the heat and ensuring that the integrity and beauty of our planet is preserved.