Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Humanity is hanging in the balance and the efforts that are being undertaken today are insufficient.
The ever increasing problem of climate change is the single biggest challenge and greatest threat to our planet today. Every year 50 billion tons of human-generated CO2 are emitted globally. By 2020, that number is expected to rise to 60 billion tons.
And so, in 2009, Virgin Unite supported Sir Richard Branson in bringing together a group of the world’s top entrepreneurs to create the Carbon War Room. Leading the team is Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison, the company that revolutionised solar energy. He is joined by former Costa Rican President José María Figueres, who is renowned for successfully developing his country on the tenets of sustainability. The team is bringing together some of the best entrepreneurial minds, governments and busnisses to help drive solutions that will deliver a low carbon economy.
The Carbon War Room is addressing carbon reduction in a variety of areas, from reducing emissions in the shipping industry and the built environment to challenging issues of deforestation and agricultural land use. In some areas, it’s as simple as this - what’s good for the environment is also good for the bottom line. Many big businesses can profitably reduce up to 50% of their emissions using existing technologies.
The goal for all of us is to build a sustainable future. As former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres says... “There is no Planet B.”