Climate solutions
We use Project Drawdown to help us understand the role our companies can play in climate solutions.
Porfolio ExplorerWhy we use Project Drawdown
Founded in 2014, Project Drawdown® is a non-profit organisation that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown” — the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Project Drawdown’s deeply researched collection of c.90 climate change solutions, which if scaled up, can deliver the Paris Agreement’s 1.5oC temperature goal. The full set of solutions along with the research that backs them are publically available on www.drawdown.org
Drawdown’s solutions offer both breadth and depth of decarbonisation enabling investments. This unique view helps us to understand the role our companies can play in the decarbonisation of the economy. When grouping these c.90 solutions, we have identified eight areas that according to Project Drawdown can deliver more than 1,500 gigatons of emissions abatement.1 In investment terms, the abatement potential for these technologies can be thought as “total addressable markets", with some offering significant growth potential for companies (tailwinds), while on the flipside pointing to significant declines in some existing industries and practices (headwinds).
Project 'Drawdown' - the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.
We believe that the opportunities for positive climate change investment must be looked at in conjunction with other sustainable development challenges. These eight areas and the underlying solutions show the cross-cutting nature of the abatement challenge and consequent opportunities.
Drawdown solutions contribution to 1.5oC1
For example, research we recently commissioned on smallholder farmers found that there are more than 500 million smallholder farmers globally producing up to 80% of some key commodities like palm oil, coffee and cocoa.2 These farmers are also responsible for a significant amount of agriculture related deforestation. Of Project Drawdown’s c.90 solutions, 22 are directly relevant to smallholder farmers, offering more than 540 gigatons of abatement potential or 34% of the total.2 In this context, poverty alleviation, human rights and secure tenure of land for smallholder farmers are critical for delivering climate change solutions.
