This week, CNN’s Becky Anderson spoke with Badr Jafar, the CEO of Crescent Enterprises and the COP28 Special Representative for Business and Philanthropy about releasing the capital promised to fight against climate change.
He explained his belief that unleashing the power and dynamism in the business community, as well as philanthropic capital, will be key to winning the climate fight.
Key quotes from Jafar:
On the potential in the business and philanthropic communities:
"I believe now more than ever that business and philanthropy has the greatest potential to help us move from those pledges and announcements to actually implementation. For far too long, business has been on the periphery of the COP process. Yes, it is a political process, but we need to embrace the dynamism, the capital, and the action networks of business and philanthropy if we’re going to stand a chance in achieving our net zero and nature positive goals.
So the COP presidency hosted, for the first time ever, the inaugural COP28 Business and Philanthropy Forum… We managed to engage 1342 CEOs from over 100 companies across the world… 43% of those in attendance were from the great nations across the global south. So again, embracing inclusivity, not just across regions, but also across sectors. It is that true spirit of inclusivity that is required. Without that, we stand no chance in achieving our climate goals."
On how to unlock money for climate finance:
"We’re not going to do that if we still adopt the siloed approach. All capital players need to come together. Now governments have a critical role to play, and it’s very important that governments do step up to their previous pledges and keep doubling down on those pledges. But the business capital has a tremendously important role to play in combination with what I like to call catalytic capital, which is philanthropic capital. And it’s only combined that we can create and generate that multiplier effect to get where we need to get to."
On his key takeaways:
"This process that has been adopted for the past 27 years now needs to embrace the full potential of the private sector. I think we can no longer go back to the days where business is seen as a periphery player, or something that happens on the sidelines. It needs to be a fully integrated and inclusive process."
On what has been achieved at COP:
"The finish line here is not the end of the 12 days of conference. It’s our 2030 targets. But it’s not about what we have been able to achieve, it’s about what we need to keep achieving in the coming days in the coming weeks. Keeping in mind that the UAE presidency is not a 12-day presidency, it’s a one year presidency, and you can be sure the UAE is going to be pushing day and night to make sure that we push together, inclusively, to deliver on what we need to and making sure that we are no longer separating the climate agenda from the human development agenda."