The world is experiencing a shift in economic and political power from industrialized countries in Europe, North America and Japan to emerging economies. These countries will be home to 85% of the world’s estimated 9 billion inhabitants in 2050, most of which will live in cities.

Yet poverty and inequity in many countries remain critical challenges for sustainable development and global stability. Poverty comes in many forms: about a third of the world’s population lives on less than US$ 2 a day and many suffer from malnutrition and have no access to health services, sanitation, electricity, safe drinking water, shelter or transportation.

Meeting the basic needs of a growing and increasingly urbanized population in developing countries – as well as the aspirations of their middle classes – will increase the demand for energy and natural resources exponentially, thereby further exacerbating the pressure on the world’s ecosystems.

Solving the seemingly conflicting imperatives of improving the living standards of the world’s inhabitants while preserving the environment will require a transition to a more inclusive, low-carbon and resource-efficient economy.

Alongside governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector is a key partner in this transition. As an engine of economic growth and employment as well as a source of technology and innovation, business has a critical role to play in providing solutions toward a more sustainable and equitable world.

A low-carbon world requires solutions from business

As the major source of capital and innovation, only business can develop and deploy the technologies needed to move toward a low-carbon economy. Yet, to meet the challenge, companies need governments to develop framework conditions that align with their long-range investment cycles.

Government support of a broad and efficient mix of policies and programs targeted at the mitigation and adaptation of GHG emissions will reduce investment uncertainty and help companies deliver.

Energy and Climate's close collaboration with other WBCSD projects (Ecosystems, Water, Development - local and regional) is key to its understanding the close linkages of climate change with other economic, environmental and societal issues and to the elaboration of business solutions to address in a comprehensive way the challenges ahead.

The WBCSD is informing the debate through policy and practice

Business aims to inform the p negotiating parties that will govern the energy and climate agreements. The WBCSD Energy and Climate work is set up to capture this ambition, focusing on two key areas

1. Business solutions
   Moving toward a low-carbon economy requires tools that can help companies deliver solutions as well as measure and report the impacts of their activities.
   
   • The GHG Protocol, jointly developed with the World Resources Institute, is one such tool for companies to account and report greenhouse gas emissions. Two new standards for product life cycle and corporate supply chain (Scope 3) GHG emissions are currently under development, involving over 1,000 participants from business, government, NGOs and academia;
      
   • Exchange of best practices and specific studies are also a way for WBCSD members to progress efffciently in their company specific approaches
      
2. Policy negotiations
   A key thrust of the WBCSD's work is to advance the international climate policy debate through an active involvement into multilateral processes, particularly the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but also other organizations such the OECD, the International Energy Agency or the World Bank.
   
   In 2010, efforts have focused on defining how the business voice can be more effective across international climate discussions and preparing for the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun (COP 16)
   
   • The WBCSD developed a study for the European Commission with recommendations to enhance private sector engagement in international climate negotiations. Based on the findings, subsequent recommendations were delivered to the UNFCCC;
      
   • Together with the Mexican government and the International Chamber of Commerce, the WBCSD launched a series of dialogues on financing, carbon markets and technology diffusion, topics of key interest to business, financing appearing today as one of the main factors factor which could support a coordinated international effort;
      
   • The Council is coordinating the business input in negotiations around technology.