'The low-carbon transition is a strategic economic opportunity,' say climate CEOs ahead of COP31
Deep dive
The Alliance of Climate CEOs and Leaders say we must move faster towards a green transition, ahead of COP31 Image: World Economic Forum
- The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders has released an open letter ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), calling the low-carbon transition a strategic economic opportunity.
- The alliance represents over 100 companies and organizations and $4 trillion in revenues and, collectively, members reduced their Scope 1-2 emissions by approximately a third over five years.
- The 2026 open letter calls on public and private action, with recommendations, to accelerate action and close the delivery gap.
Investing in green markets is strengthening energy security, competitiveness, resilience and long-term growth in a volatile world.
Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference 2026 (COP31), the World Economic Forum’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders has a clear message: the low-carbon transition is a strategic economic opportunity. Realizing it now requires faster delivery, supported by stable, predictable and climate science-aligned policy frameworks that unlock innovation, investment and market growth.
Representing more than 125 companies and organizations, $4 trillion in revenues and over 13 million employees, the alliance is demonstrating that climate action and business performance reinforce one another. From 2019 to 2024, members reduced aggregate Scope 1 and 2 emissions by approximately 34%. However, Scope 3 remains an opportunity.
Green markets are growing despite disruption and uneven policy support
Across sectors, companies are reducing emissions while growing revenues. Between 2020 and 2024, green revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate of 12% – twice that of conventional revenues – while the overall green market, already above $5 trillion in 2024, is projected to reach $7.1 trillion by 2030.
Sustainable solutions are becoming more cost-competitive, scaling rapidly and unlocking growth while building resilience. Solutions once considered emerging are reshaping industries, bolstering energy security and creating commercial opportunities:
- Low-carbon energy is becoming a strategic economic advantage. Renewables and electrification can reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, limit exposure to geopolitical and price shocks and support more affordable and predictable electricity for households and industry.L ow-carbon energy markets are expected to surpass $3.7 trillion in annual value by 2030, with growth reinforced by persistent fossil fuel price volatility and rising demand for cooling, electrification, digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Energy efficiency can reduce costs and strengthen resilience. About 70% of industrial firms surveyed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported returns above 10% on energy-efficiency investments implemented over the past five years. Efficiency gains accelerated to 1.8% in 2025, while two decades of cumulative action are already saving IEA member countries $680 billion a year on energy bills. Global investment is expected to reach almost $800 billion in 2025, up 70% since 2015.
- Adaptation is a major growth market. Rising climate- and environment-related risks are driving demand for resilient infrastructure and water systems, materials, climate analytics, risk-management tools and better climate-risk data to inform investment decisions, with the market projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2030. The economic stakes are significant: climate impacts could reduce global gross domestic product by up to 22% by 2100, while mitigation and adaptation investment could prevent 10 to 15 percentage points of that loss.
- Circularity, zero waste and resource efficiency can create value while strengthening supply security. With the market expected to reach $0.5 trillion by 2030, circular models can reduce material dependence, strengthen supply chains, lower emissions and create new revenue streams.
- Sustainable agriculture and land use are emerging growth opportunities. The market is expected to reach $200 billion by 2030. Regenerative agriculture, sustainable livestock production and land and ecosystem restoration can enhance food and water security, strengthen natural carbon sinks and attract investment as demand for food, water, fibre and biomass rises.
At the same time, many solutions needed to decarbonize the economy, including hard-to-abate sectors, are approaching commercialization but have yet to scale at the pace required. These include low-carbon fuels, green hydrogen, advanced bioenergy, carbon management, AI-enabled optimization tools and circular economy innovations.
Accelerating deployment requires stronger demand signals, supportive policy, manufacturing capacity and public-private finance. As solar, wind and battery storage have shown, cost curves fall and economics improve as deployment expands. The task now is twofold: scale mature solutions faster while creating the market certainty needed for the next generation to attract investment.
Decarbonization and climate resilience have become core elements of competitiveness
Businesses operate in a volatile geopolitical and economic environment. Energy price volatility, supply-chain dependencies, regulatory uncertainty and nature- and climate-related disruptions are increasingly material to business performance. Managing these risks is not only about limiting downside exposure but building long-term resilience.
Investments in decarbonization are also strengthening business resilience. Companies with low-emission operations, access to low-carbon energy and diversified, climate-resilient supply chains are better positioned to reduce risk, absorb shocks, protect margins, maintain access to key markets and safeguard workforce health and productivity.
Companies now have powerful levers to strengthen resilience while optimizing supply chains. Supply chain rebalancing and reshaping, circularity, material and product redesign, process efficiency, low-carbon fuels, alternative materials, nature-based solutions and deeper supplier partnerships can reduce dependencies while creating more adaptive and lower-emission operations.
Competitiveness will also depend on people. As technologies and business models scale, workforce reskilling and upskilling through public-private cooperation will be essential to build needed capabilities, sustain productivity, support a just transition and enable workers to benefit from new economic opportunities.
The priority for COP31 is implementation: Closing the delivery gap through public and private action
The opportunity is clear; the constraint is delivery. Business can accelerate but companies cannot overcome systemic barriers by themselves. Governments must create predictable market conditions, enabling infrastructure and financing environments that allow private capital and innovation to scale.
We call on policy-makers to:
- Create stable, investable policy frameworks. Provide regulatory stability, sectoral transition pathways and consistent market signals across the Rio Conventions. Support global alignment of international sustainability standards and passporting arrangements to reduce fragmentation and duplication, while strengthening and updating globally established emissions-accounting methodologies.
- Mobilize capital and de-risk across markets. Expand blended financing, guarantees, green public procurement and other tools that reduce real and perceived investment risks, improve first-mover economics and accelerate breakthrough decarbonization and adaptation solutions. In parallel, scale international climate finance and risk-sharing mechanisms to mobilize private capital in emerging markets and developing economies, supporting the Baku to Belém Roadmap towards at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035. Advance high-integrity carbon markets and Article 6 mechanisms to further unlock private capital.
- Make electrification, energy efficiency and affordable low-carbon energy an economic priority. Set clear national pathways, accelerate investment, use effective carbon-pricing mechanisms and align incentives to expand demand and deployment across clean power, energy efficiency, electrification, low-carbon fuels and carbon, capture and storage. This includes enabling AI and digital infrastructure growth with low-carbon energy while managing energy, water and environmental footprints.
- Accelerate the infrastructure and skills on which deployment depends. Fast-track permitting and invest in modern grids, storage, other critical enabling infrastructure and the skills needed to deploy and operate low-carbon technologies as part of a just transition. Technologies can only scale as quickly as the systems and workforce that support them.
- Build resilient economies and value chains. Develop investable national and cross-sectoral adaptation plans, including nature-based and food-system resilience measures, early-warning systems, resilience standards and risk-informed infrastructure planning, while investing in sustainable infrastructure that protects communities, assets, supply chains and natural resources.
We also call on business leaders to:
- Scale solutions with proven economics. Accelerate investment in electrification, energy and water efficiency, low-carbon procurement and circular operating models that reduce costs, emissions and exposure to volatility while protecting and restoring natural resources.
- Build more resilient and lower-emission supply chains. Work with suppliers to decarbonize inputs, improve efficiency, advance circularity, digitalization and nature-based solutions, assess climate- and nature-related risks and invest in adaptation. Where appropriate, rebalance and diversify supply chains towards low-carbon alternatives to reduce critical dependencies and strengthen operational resilience.
- Maintain ambitious, credible and transparent transition plans. Continue advancing equitable decarbonization pathways despite implementation challenges, while signalling ambition to governments and value-chain partners and working together to address systemic barriers.
- Create stronger demand signals for emerging technologies. Use corporate procurement, advance market commitments and initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition to create lead markets that give suppliers confidence to invest and accelerate deployment in hard-to-abate sectors.
- Use digital tools and AI responsibly to accelerate delivery. Apply analytics, automation and AI to improve efficiency, optimize industrial processes and strengthen climate-risk management, while managing the energy and wider environmental footprint of digital technologies.
The transition to a low-carbon and more resilient economy is not a future aspiration; it is already creating economic opportunity. Countries and companies that create the right conditions for investment, innovation and deployment will be best positioned to strengthen energy security, competitiveness and long-term growth. We stand ready to work with governments, investors and business partners to build on COP30’s progress and turn ambition into delivery.
This letter is endorsed by a majority of alliance members; however, it may not reflect the views of all individual members.
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