The Real Zero Roundtable

14th April 2022

Sustainable, green energy city, urban ecology concept and modern business buildings surface covered in forest with copy space.

Four months on from COP26 and many had hoped that the net-zero transition would have picked up speed. Instead, a disruptive cocktail of war, misinformation and an energy crisis has cast doubt over efforts to embrace a green and just transition. So, in this current climate what needs to happen to the net-zero movement?

At edie’s virtual roundtable, sponsored by Schneider Electric, a group of energy and sustainability professionals from some of the world’s biggest companies argued that net-zero targets needed redefining in a way that laid out a clear and transparent trajectory towards a low-carbon future.

The roundtable took place against a backdrop of devastation facing humanity. The IPCC’s latest report highlights the “atlas of human suffering” that the climate crisis has caused, with more than 3.3 billion people – half of the world’s population – now “highly vulnerable” to impacts. Additionally, the emergence of war in Ukraine is steeped in a long history of fossil fuels, with Ukrainian climate scientist, Svitlana Krakovska stating that “human-induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots – fossil fuels — and our dependence on them”.

Here, edie outlines the current challenges and opportunities facing a “real” net-zero transition.