Empowering People to Deliver Climate Action

Unlocking people power is the missing link between net-zero ambition and meaningful climate action.

We’re increasingly witnessing the devastating human and economic costs of the climate crisis. The UN reported over 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters in 2024 alone. Towards the end of the year, floods in Valencia left around 4,500 businesses damaged or destroyed, with initial costs estimated at €31.4 billion. 2025 began with wildfires in LA reaching upwards of $250 billion in damages. The financial toll of these disasters will only increase and further strain national economies, disrupt local businesses and communities, and destroy livelihoods. A report published by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter earlier this year warned that global GDP could halve in a generation without immediate climate action.

Why, then, are we not seeing leaders take more decisive action to tackle the climate crisis and safeguard economic stability? It’s certainly not for a lack of public appetite. Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, the world’s largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change representing 87% of the world’s population, showed that people want governments and businesses to take more decisive action. 80% want more climate action from their country. At the same time, 61% think big businesses are not doing enough to address climate change. A recent survey by Deloitte had a similar finding; nearly two-thirds of respondents globally reported that they do not think their employers are doing enough to address climate change and sustainability.

It’s not that businesses aren’t wise to the need to act on climate and engage with net zero. Almost two-thirds of the annual revenues of the world’s largest 2,000 companies are covered by a net-zero target. Edie’s Sustainable Business Tracker found that 75% of responding companies plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier. However, these ambitions are not being followed up with sufficient action. What’s the barrier? In the same survey, 42% of business leaders said staff engagement is the biggest hurdle to implementing their sustainability strategies.

So, if both businesses and the people they employ back climate action, why is more progress not being made? People are not realising their agency within their roles to support business ambitions, often due to a lack of knowledge and skills. This intention-action gap is a skills gap. The global demand for ‘green skills’ is now 40% higher than in 2015, and just 13% of the global workforce possesses the required green skills. This isn’t just about highly specialised workers or technical skills. Every person has a role to play in the net-zero transition, and recent research suggests ‘soft skills,’ including fostering teamwork, empowering individuals, and providing clear, motivating direction for managing organisational change are more sought after than technical skills for navigating the green transition.

The global demand for ‘green skills’ is now 40% higher than in 2015, and just 13% of the global workforce possesses the required green skills.

Empowering people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to act is essential. Carbon Literacy ® is a day’s worth of climate training which provides people with the tools to create a bespoke personal action plan, devising the most relevant actions they can take within their role to best support the organisational net-zero or sustainability strategy, as well as their personal and professional goals. An engagement programme like Carbon Literacy not only helps people build new skills but also awareness, understanding, and confidence as to how their existing skills can be applied to support the net-zero transition.

Carbon Literacy ® is a day’s worth of climate training which provides people with the tools to create a bespoke personal action plan

For Copart UK, a global leader in vehicle remarketing and recycling, Carbon Literacy has been an undisputed success in shifting awareness and changing behaviours across the business. 80% of staff said they had minimal or no knowledge of climate change issues before the training. After the training, 96% felt confident to make suggestions to reduce Copart’s carbon footprint. As a result, changes have been implemented across the business to develop buildings and infrastructure that is green, efficient, and sustainable long term, including LED lighting, paperless offices, green energy, and water recycling. The changes also have substantial financial benefits, saving the business over £22,000 (over €26,000) annually.

Empowering everyone to deliver climate action where they are is the key to progressing the net-zero transition at the speed necessary to mitigate the otherwise catastrophic costs of the climate crisis. The good news is that harnessing people power is a solution that, by its very definition, is well within our capabilities.