A sustainable economy can only be created if it works for everyone

Tackling climate change requires a rethink across business and government to succeed

Stephen Prendiville

The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the challenge that faces government and businesses as they seek to rebuild livelihoods and shattered global economies. The economic recovery from the pandemic must not come at the expense of our sustainability goals. Now is the time to strengthen our resolve, to build back better and braver, with resilience, agility, adaptability and sustainability as core tenets for progress.

In the five years since 2015 we've made little progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The pain of the pandemic did not make much difference, bringing about just a 5.9pc emissions reduction in 2020. We completely missed our 2020 target of 20pc emission reductions and have left ourselves with a steep mountain to climb as an economy.