08 Dec 2021
By Alison McRae, Senior Director of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has been representing the interests of business and the city since 1783 and, as cited by US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry at the CBI Scotland dinner during COP26 itself, it was instrumental in the industrial revolution.
In its current form, we took on the role as the Climate Chamber in the build up to and duration of COP26 and continued to support our members and champion Glasgow towards the city’s ambitious climate targets, during what was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our city.
As an anchor player in Team Glasgow, we’ve supported the Sustainable Glasgow Board to oversee the city’s plans for achieving net zero carbon by 2030, while emphasising the importance of a circular economy and ambition to become a circular city by 2045.
An integral element of this is the city’s Greenprint for Investment which sets out how we’ll reach those 2030 targets. It includes the SEC expansion plan and, after doing such a tremendous job of hosting COP26, we hope this ambition is realised. The Glasgow metro and the development of the city’s innovation districts are also part of the city’s plan and will be absolutely key to creating the ecosystems we require to generate many of the solutions emerging from the city to tackle the climate issue.
While as a city we look to our own sustainable targets, knowledge transfer and connecting with other cities is going to be incredibly important if we’re to successfully reach 2030 targets. The global challenge we face is shared and so disseminating wisdom and lessons learned with our international counterparts will be vital to embedding growth and innovation within the economy. During COP26, we garnered our British Chamber of Commerce global networks, engaging with over 85 businesses from 15 countries in our Climate Chamber Mission and also delivered a Signature Series with global thought leaders including Nokia and the UN.
The prospect of opportunity is entirely more motivational and we found the business community very much engaged in a COP focused on action. We believe that cities are key to driving the changes needed, with integrated efforts on net zero, circular economy and a broader move to a just transition. Collaboration is a must if Glasgow is to succeed here, and our businesses are already leading the way.
Fifty of our members engaged with HRH The Prince of Wales during a reception at Kelvingrove to recognise those tirelessly working towards a circular and net zero economy, and we engaged with and supported a whole host of businesses in the Blue and Green Zones and throughout events across the city. Mention has been made by EY of the prospect of a Conference of Business to follow COP26, seizing the moment to scale ongoing business engagement.
With the World Economic Forum and other global actors, we’re also proud to back a collaborative call to action that reinforces the need for a circular economy shift, alongside net zero, to truly realise the innovative solutions needed to tackle the climate challenge, and as Bill McDonough, a leader in sustainable development and design, stated, there must be a tone adjustment to doing more good than doing less bad.
As this pivotal year draws to a close, we consider how to capitalise on the many connections and developments which have been made through COP26. As with the industrial revolution, we are firmly placed to drive forward this step change and will be looking to the various Glasgow declarations on how we take further bold and courageous actions to deliver on these prospects which have Glasgow’s name at their core.
This article was first published in The Herald on Wednesday 8 December 2021
