5 ways to get the climate back on track, according to experts at Davos
"The world releases 175 million tonnes of greenhouse gases daily into the atmosphere," according to former US Vice-President Al Gore.
The accumulated amount now traps as much extra heat as would be released by 750,000 first-generation atomic bombs exploding every day on the Earth.
"That's insane for us to allow that to continue," Gore explained in his introductory presentation to a session at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2025.
Human-induced climate change has fuelled disasters which have inflicted over $3.6 trillion in damage since 2000, according to a Forum report.
Businesses that fail to adapt to these physical climate risks could lose up to 7% of annual earnings by 2035.
Leaders are waking up to the scale of this problem. Out of the world's plethora of interconnected issues, respondents of the Forum's 2025 Global Risks Perception Survey ranked environmental concerns as the top four long-term risks.
Tackling these environmental issues was the focus of an expert panel session – State of Climate and Nature – in Davos.
On the panel were Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Investment Management; Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director, World Economic Forum; Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser, Bangladesh Government; Katherine Gao Haichun, Co-Chair, Trina Solar; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Andrew Forrest, Executive Chairman and Founder, Fortescue; and Salil S. Parekh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Limited.
Here are some solutions and ideas put forward during the session.
1. Harnessing AI and data
"You can only manage what you measure", Gore pointed out.
"That's the reason why we formed Climate Trace, which now measures exactly where all of the global warming pollution is coming from."
The platform "receives data constantly from 300 satellites and 30,000 ground-truthing data sources," covering "the specific source sites for 660 million global warming pollution sites in the world".
Machine learning algorithms then analyze the current patterns, what they might evolve to and how solutions can be developed.
There are many other applications for AI, however, as Haichun highlighted: "We need to use more AI in order to balance out fluctuating energy supply and demand in the grid".
2. Improving energy system infrastructure
The energy transition isn't just about installing "as many solar panels or as many wind turbines as possible. It's a transition of the entire system," according to Haichun.
We know that in every revolution, the foundation must be a revolution in the infrastructure. So infrastructure is really the key for implementing more renewable energies.
”Investing in the producers of renewable energy alone only scratches the surface of the solution, Haichun added: "We need a more intelligent grid. We need a more decentralized grid. We need a more steady grid in order for all that renewable energy to be consumed. We need more energy storage to make renewable energy more stable and more reliable."
3. Setting hard, short-term deadlines
Last year's COPs and other climate meetings have shown the world that many countries are currently not on track to meet their climate targets.
Forrest shared how his company approaches meeting deadlines: "When you've indicated to a workforce, in our case, 25,000 people, that you're going to stop burning fossil fuel by the end of this decade, the workforce gets very interested".
"When they ask you, how are you going to do that? You say you're going to resolve it. You work out how to do it. You work out how to pull all the carbon out of our trains, out of our trucks. You work out how to pull it out of our fixed plant."
Adding a shorter timeline on each target is very important, Forrest added: "It's not 2050. Who's going to be around in 2050 making decisions here? We say it's going to be in your career. So we put in 2030. And then of course the leaders are saying, what happens if we don't? We'll say, that's simple. At the end of 2028, a full year or two before the deadline, we're going to come through the operation centres, ask to see the energy flow part of the control panels and if any of it's connected to fossil fuel, we switch off that operational plant. Literally, send that plant and the workforce black".
This instils greater confidence and agility in the workforce:
Instead of being met with despair and unionism that was met with triumph and challenge. We're saying to our workforce: you can do this.
”4. Inspiration is more powerful than leadership
Haichun shared her motivation for her career in the green energy industry: "I was inspired by former Vice-President Gore when I was 13 years old, and when I was 15 years old, I started working at a nonprofit organization in China focusing on education about climate change for the younger generation".
"And I am inspired each year that I come to Davos and hear so many people talking about energy transition and see them devoting themselves to the energy transition, then I feel more powerful than ever and go back to my own work."
Being "commanded to do something" often results in lower motivation, Haichun argues, but "when people really are touched, they truly devote themselves to whatever they believe in".
Inspiration is the key to the green transformation.
”5. 'Net-zero' is an excuse to emit
"That word 'net' gives you an out-clause to do nothing," Forrest declared.
Forrest's organization, the mining giant Fortescue, has committed to eliminating fossil fuels from its operations by 2030 without using voluntary carbon offsets.
"We're not relying on carbon offsets or carbon credits ... 95% [of carbon credits] are going to be found to not give the carbon benefits they were purchased for."
We're not relying on any of that. We're just stopping burning fossil fuels. Addressing the elephant in the room.
”Carbon credits have faced scrutiny for a number of years now and COP29 established a global architecture for carbon markets, but many people remain unconvinced.
Despite all of the challenges the world faces, Gore expressed optimism in his closing comment as he quoted the late economist Rudi Dornbusch: "Things take longer to happen than you think they will, but then they happen faster than you thought they could".
You can watch the full session below.
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