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Driving the global economy and delivering a Global Green New Deal is a new way of wealth creation. It is about intelligent and sustainable growth that captures the true value of human and nature-based capital and not just financial and industrial capital. It is about re-balancing, re-focusing and re-directing investments and markets in ways that deal with multiple challenges and deliver multiple benefits.

The government should still stay focused on basic development challenges to tackle issues like literacy and the huge demographic shifts. The government should also not prioritize basic infrastructure needs: roads, electrification etc over green investment.

With the rising cost of energy and energy security becoming issues in the corporate boardroom, we could see increased action from industry to become more energy-efficient through reduction strategies, use of green technologies and greener energy supplies.

Like most movements such as the green and white revolution that governments have led over time, it is smart governance to kick start a Green Deal than hand out stimuli packages, which, at times, may not bring in the desired impact. The impact of a Green Deal will be rich, meet multiple objectives and will contribute in saving our planet.

Firstly, industry has to make green part of its DNA and this has to be a single focus agenda. The need to act is unquestionable. The scale of what needs to be done is massive. Nothing less than re-engineering the economy will do. By 2020 we must be on the trajectory to meet the 2050 targets of 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions, which means 80% in developed economies.

So what can be done now? Renewables will have a part to play—especially wind and increasingly solar. But by 2020 we will have only just started to decarbonise electricity. Transport will still predominantly run on fossil fuels. Carbon capture and storage will have begun to be introduced on power stations. We need to be planning for transformational change, but realistically most of this will take place after 2020.

So, where is the carbon reduction going to be made in the next decade? Efficiency. The number one priority today is energy efficiency. It doesn’t get the media coverage of renewables. It often doesn’t get the air time at climate change meetings, but this is where we must all focus. And unfortunately there is no silver bullet. There is no one technology or action that will deliver what is needed. We need to consider all the options for reducing consumption and costs and then implement them one by one, starting with the most cost effective. Don’t be tempted to race to PV panels (however, great they may look) when you could get a much short return on investment by changing your light bulbs. Energy efficiency will be about a small number of big capital investment and a very large number of behavioural changes. And everything in between.

The task force or commission that is set up towards promoting a Green Deal will obviously have to create firm regulation, make audits compulsory, penalise industry for energy loss and not adhering to energy standards. While all of this will be managed at the end of the day, fast tracking such action is about leadership and about winning hearts and minds.

Clarity and close co-operation are essential if governments and industry are going to deliver the right results. Businesses can play an important role by taking the initiative to develop greener solutions but they can go much further with supportive regulation (tax breaks, incentives and alternative power).
Under the twin pressures of financial performance and commitment to sustainability, corporations are going to seek new ways to link these in a clear cut manner, and this is where IT and telecom companies can add value for their customers. They can do this by reducing the carbon footprint of an organisation’s communications infrastructure, providing the technology to support collaboration among a dispersed workforce, and boosting innovation.

As the demand for high quality and ever-faster global communication grows, IT and telecom providers will continue to improve the environmental performance of their networks through strategic investment. These companies will increasingly use their own success to help their customers by passing on these measurable improvements, helping them in turn to demonstrate how they are improving their environmental performance.