"Urgent need to end coal underlined by alarming reports ahead of Climate Week New York", 22 September 2019

The latest version of PwC’s annual Low Carbon Economy Index, released earlier this month, shows the cost of a decade of foot-dragging on climate action. Back in 2009, a 2C pathway could have been achieved with an annual reduction in carbon emissions (or carbon intensity) of 3-4% per year. A decade on and the necessary decarbonisation rate now stands at 7.5%... Chief responsibility lies with the engines of ever-upward economic growth: namely, industrial production, international commerce, and global trade...[E]ven if every business sector were to cut its emissions radically from today, the effects of climate change are already being felt... [C]ompanies need to face that reality and start adapting their strategies and operations accordingly. That’s the message from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), at least. In a short report, the business-backed coalition calls on companies to “build resilience by developing enhanced adaptive capacity to the impacts of climate change”... The high-level commission, which is led by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, predicts that climate change could – if unchecked – depress growth in global agriculture yields up to 30% and leave more than 5 billion people without sufficient water by 2050, among other disastrous impacts.