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
Business Compendium: How the private sector is building Europe's climate ambition
26 February 2016
4 March 2016 – This low carbon Business Compendium demonstrates how the activities of some of the world’s largest companies are contributing to the delivery of a low carbon future. The Compendium compiles examples of the ambitions and achievements that European businesses have made so far in tackling climate change, and aligning their business with a low carbon pathway.
The Paris Climate Agreement requires a coherent, strategic response by financial institutions
9 February 2016
9 February 2016 – A new paper ‘The Paris Climate Agreement: Implications for banks, institutional investors, private equity and insurers’ provides analysis of the most pressing points of the Paris Agreement, and other key developments from the climate summit, and concludes that a coherent, strategic response is required of financial institutions.
Climate change: Implications for superannuation funds in Australia
29 January 2016
January 2016 – New study from our Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership, supported by asset manager Colonial First State Global Asset Management, highlights member interest in superannuation fund climate exposure.
REALCAR project circular economy case study: Collaboration for a closed-loop value chain
25 January 2016
January 2016 – This closed-loop case study explores the lessons learnt from the REALCAR closed loop value chain project between Jaguar Land Rover, Novelis, Innovate UK and partners, in the creation of new materials and production systems to introduce closed-loop aluminium into Jaguar Land Rover cars.
Unhedgeable risk: How climate change sentiment impacts investment
10 November 2015
November 2015 – This report analyses how shifts in market sentiment induced by awareness of future climate risks could impact global financial markets in the short term.
21 August 2015
August 2015 – This report, jointly authored by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainablity Leadership and Ecofys, analyses five cooperative initiatives involving the private sector and identifies their emissions reduction potential. The potential emission reductions from the top five initiatives are significant – at current ambition levels estimated emission reductions could reach 200 MtCO2e.
10 years of Carbon Pricing in Europe – A business perspective
8 July 2015
July 2015 – This report, commissioned by The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group, was produced to mark the ten-year anniversary of the EU Emissions Trading System. It is based on a series of interviews with companies covered by this cornerstone climate policy who have made notable progress to reduce their carbon emissions during its lifetime.
Rewiring the Economy: Ten tasks, ten years
23 June 2015
July 2015, Updated November 2017 – Rewiring the Economy is CISL’s ten-year plan to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy. It is built on ten interconnected tasks, delivered by leaders across business, government and finance. Rewiring shows how these tasks can be tackled co-operatively to build an economy that encourages sustainable business practices, delivering the social and environmental progress demanded by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Financing the Global Low Carbon Transition
21 May 2015
22 May 2015 – Over the next 15 years, approximately $93 trillion will be needed for investment in low carbon infrastructure across the world. Success would mean mobilising more private capital behind public goals, delivering economic growth and putting us on the path to a net-zero emissions global economy. This paper makes a series of recommendations to achieve this goal.
Business as unusual: the required response to the climate challenge
24 March 2015
8 January 2014 – With the release of the fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the world has received another of science’s periodic warnings of the need to change, or face disaster.
