Business leaders from a wide range of sectors worldwide, including energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, agriculture, food and high-tech industries, stated that climate change poses both challenges and opportunities to economic growth, and enterprises should play a pivotal role in global efforts to tackle climate change. Through discussions covering low-carbon economic models, carbon pricing mechanisms, policy guidance and technological innovation, they put forward a set of proposals and solutions for policymakers from national governments, regional authorities and international bodies.

They urged the introduction of a robust and efficient carbon pricing mechanism, alongside concrete measures such as phasing out all forms of fossil fuel subsidies and incentivizing clean energy adoption, to steer investment and consumption toward low-carbon patterns. The global community should also forge alliances between enterprises and governments, establish long-term dialogue frameworks between the public and private sectors at both national and international levels, and fully integrate climate policies into global economic development.

The summit also recommended that policymakers leverage public funds to finance private-sector low-carbon projects, mitigate risks associated with low-carbon investments, and boost such investment flows.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO of Schneider Electric France, remarked that the business community has widely acknowledged the reality of climate change in recent years. Provided that long-term, clear and ambitious policy frameworks are put in place, businesses can deliver growth, create jobs and sustain continuous innovation, thereby fostering a prosperous low-carbon economy.

As the world’s second-largest economy and largest developing country, China has carried out bold innovations and explorations in pursuing low-carbon and green development. Liu Zhenya, Chairman of State Grid Corporation of China, noted in his speech that building a Global Energy Interconnection — anchored by ultra-high voltage power grids, intercontinental and cross-border transmission corridors, and smart grids — which links major energy bases across the Arctic, equatorial regions and all continents to deliver clean energy such as solar and wind power to end users, holds the key to making new energy the world’s dominant energy source in the future and serves the shared interests of all humanity.

Held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from the 20th to the 21st, the Business and Climate Summit was organized as a preparatory event for the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in Paris at the end of the year. Nearly 2,000 corporate executives, investors and policymakers from around the globe attended the summit.