THE SUSTAINABILITY INTERVIEW

Building policy impact across borders Driving real climate action often comes down to unglamorous but essential policy and regulatory work. In South Korea, for example, Climate Group’ s evidence-based approach identified the inability for companies to source renewable electricity as a key regulatory barrier.

“ We pinpoint very specific policies or regulations and then use the demand of our network to change those,” Helen explains.

In China, Climate Group worked to align the country’ s green energy certificates with the RE100 technical criteria, an international standard for sourcing renewables, making it possible for multinationals to buy certified clean energy.

Helen notes:“ These are quite big things – now companies can buy certificates in China, which matters for their electricity transition.”

Climate Group is also the secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, the biggest network of subnational governments that have committed to net zero by 2050 in the world. Together, they build climate capacity and share knowledge. The‘ Future Fund’ project, for instance, enables officials from regions like India, with populations larger than many European countries, to gain expertise fast through international exchanges.“ Our aim is to help these governments get there quicker so not everyone is starting from scratch,” Helen says.

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