The transition to zero is underway. The private sector has a critical role in delivering this transition and there is a growing body of evidence to demonstrate that it makes business sense to act.
Forward looking companies understand this. They are harnessing climate action as driver of innovation, risk management and competitiveness – recognising that setting a course to net zero can provide a powerful guiding light in turbulent times as well as delivering commercial benefits. Yet, there is no blueprint for change and change is not happening fast enough.
The necessary speed and scale of the transition will require unprecedented co-operation and effort from all companies and sectors. It will require transformation towards a new economy that puts people, nature and the climate at the heart of global value creation.
What we do
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) plays a key role working with its partners to accelerate this transition. Through our foresight, education, convening and innovation we help hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals every year to deliver transformational change and impact for a net zero economy.
CISL insights
Programmes and courses for business
CISL’s flagship international programme equips leaders with the knowledge, commitment and inspiration to turn sustainability
trends into strategic business decisions.
Online short course to help business professionals upskill themselves in climate change risk, adaptation measures, and low carbon innovation.
Supporters
Cambridge Zero harnesses the full range of the University’s research and policy expertise, developing solutions that work for our lives, our society and our economy.
Chapter Zero is building a community of non-executive directors and equipping them to lead crucial UK boardroom discussions on the impacts of climate change.
We Mean Business coalition is a global nonprofit coalition working with the world’s most influential businesses to take action on climate change.
Resources and research
Academic journal publishes CISL research on social impacts of transition to low carbon economies
11 April 2019
15 April 2019 – New research from CISL researchers Dr Sanna Markkanen and Dr Annela Anger-Kraavi, which draws on existing literature on the social co-impacts of climate change and implications for inequality, has been published in the academic journal Climate Policy.
Aiming for Zero: Long-term certainty for economic prosperity
6 November 2018
12 September 2018 – The Paris Agreement is a historic landmark for both international diplomacy and action on climate change. The Agreement sets out an ambition, and a framework, to limit climate change and global temperature rise to well below 2°C, with efforts to limit this to 1.5 °C. To be Paris compliant, and to have any hope of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 °C, it is clear from the latest science that global emissions must now fall to net-zero as early as possible in the second half of this century. For developed economies such as the EU’s, whose leadership is essential in this, the achievement of net zero emissions must therefore be by 2050 at the latest.
Aiming for Zero: Business leadership for a net zero economy
29 October 2018
Prompted by the Paris Agreement and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a faster pace, governments across the world are reviewing their initial ambitions, and looking at what is required to deliver on the goal of ‘net zero’ emissions. Achieving this goal requires further discussion, with...
How companies are preparing for a net zero future
29 October 2018
Hear from members of the Corporate Leaders Group about why they are aiming for a net zero future by 2050, how they plan to achieve this, and why they need the government to commit to this ambitious goal.
12 October 2018
16 October 2018 – The 2018 GGP Summit, ‘From Here to 2050: taking the long-term view for innovation and transformation’ brought together over 80 Ministers, policy makers, key thinkers, and business leaders, alongside EU Commission officials and Members of the European Parliament, to take stock and discuss the opportunities, challenges and next steps to building an economy fit for the 21st century.
24 September 2018
26 September 2018 – The Green Growth Platform will host its 2018 Summit on Monday 8 October in Luxembourg ahead of the European Environment Council meeting on 9 October.
11 September 2018
12 September 2018 – Leading CEOs back calls from The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group for ambitious targets to inspire transition to a low-carbon economy.
Aiming for Zero: A growing business movement
10 September 2018
10 September 2018: Business leaders can share their insights and experience to inform policy and regulation; they can also shape public expectations on how sustainable growth can be advanced. This briefing aims to support companies to engage more meaningfully in the net zero debate.
CISL strengthens European presence with two senior appointments in Brussels
30 August 2018
31 August 2018 — As part of a move to enhance its European activities and strengthen its presence in Brussels, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is delighted to announce two important new appointments to its Policy team.
Energy Policy Research Group paper commissioned by CISL is published in influential academic journal
14 August 2018
14 August 2018 – Commissioned by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and first published in April 2017, the working paper on the future of the EU electricity market was published in the leading academic journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
