Marie’s insider.co.uk feature 23rd May 2025.

When the UN climate change summit arrived in the UK nearly four years ago, it was seen as a genuine opportunity to help deliver the transformative change needed to secure not just a more sustainable future for the global economy, but one in which the journey to net zero would be fair and inclusive.

In a world still largely consumed by the Covid-19 pandemic and its social and economic aftershocks, global leaders gathering in Glasgow were keen to promote the concept of a just transition for all, whether for communities in the west, or for those in the developing world, where the effects of climate change are often most felt – but where those impacted are least able to cope.

Thus, the concept of climate justice was central to COP26. And amid the rhetoric, one initiative in particular was conceived as a vehicle to help deliver it. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero was created to bring together many of the world’s leading financial institutions to help deliver on climate objectives.

Launched by former Bank of England governor and now Canadian premier Mark Carney, the group’s stated mission was to accelerate the drive towards a decarbonised global economy, as part of the UN’s Race to Zero campaign.

Four years on, however, the high hopes created by the creation of the group have largely dissipated.

The gathering, and more specifically its key sub-group the Net Zero Banking Alliance, has more recently seen many high-profile members – including half a dozen major US banks – quit, citing overly-stringent requirements.

The influence of the new US administration is cited by many as the central reason for the fracturing of the group. And while it is certainly the case that the policies pursued by the current White House have led to a fundamental tilt away from the sustainability agenda by many organisations, that is far from the whole story.

That is because, even before the arrival of the Trump administration, the steps required of signatories had become significantly more onerous than the terms which were initially signed up to in Glasgow.

This speaks to a wider and deeper issue about how we collectively look to achieve the fastest sensible and practical transition of our economies.

I believe that the UK’s net zero targets should be pushed back. That includes the overarching UK-wide target date of 2050, and the separate, more stretching goal in Scotland, where the Holyrood administration has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2045.

Advocating a more realistic pace on the path to achieving a decarbonised economy is not a surrender to climate denial, as some might claim, but rather a prudent and necessary step to not only ensure our targets are rooted in reality, but that crucially we also deliver a fair and just transition in fact, as well as rhetoric.

There is nothing just about a race to reach an arbitrary target date, but which leaves too many people behind.

As a businessperson and investor who has overseen complex regeneration projects over many years, and who is also engaged in creating jobs and opportunities within the green economy, I am aware of how difficult it can be to balance the need for sustainability whilst also ensuring that the transition is truly just.

We cannot allow the move to a greener future to leave swathes of our society effectively abandoned, as happened previously with the decline of traditional heavy industries.

Where, for example, there are existing skills, infrastructure and resources, every effort should be made to have them repurposed. A prime example is the current situation at the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland, which faces imminent closure, with workers left with nothing to take its place.

That simply cannot be right. Indeed, Grangemouth is a case which calls for the type of investment the global financial alliance created in Glasgow was set up to deliver.

When it comes to the pace of the decarbonisation march, there are some encouraging signs that common sense is starting to be applied to the issue. Across the UK, the debate on net zero and associated targets has more recently begun to acquire a more realistic tone.

Again, such moves should not be seen as defeatist.

Instead, they should be regarded as part of the hard-headed realism that needs to become firmly embedded in the net zero agenda, an approach that is needed for both our climate and our economy.

Link to insider.co.uk article: https://www.insider.co.uk/news/its-not-defeatist-push-back-35276566