New business coalition launches to boost government climate plans ahead of UN deadline

Some of the world’s largest companies, financial institutions, and cities have formed a coalition calling for governments to further their climate goals ahead of a February 2025 deadline to deliver emission reduction plans to the United Nations. 

The coalition, called Mission 2025, is convened by Groundswell, a collaboration between nonprofits Global Optimism, Systems Change Lab, and the Bezos Earth Fund.  It is spearheaded by Global Optimism’s Christiana Figueres, who oversaw the Paris Agreement in 2015, resulting in the world’s first global agreement to cut climate-damaging emissions. 

Companies backing the initiative include Unilever, IKEA, and British energy company Octopus EV. Others are represented through groups including the We Mean Business Coalition. More than two-thirds of annual revenues across the world’s largest companies, totaling US$31 trillion, was now aligned with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions, the coalition said in a statement on Monday. 

“The launch of Mission 2025 today is a clear rebuttal to everyone claiming that moving faster on tackling the climate crisis is too difficult, too unpopular or too expensive,” said Figueres. 

The Paris Agreement's overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, the nearly 200 country signatories have a deadline to put forward updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that putline a country’s policies towards meeting the global goal of reducing emissions.

A United Nations-backed survey this month on views on climate change across 77 countries showed that 80% of respondents want their government to take stronger action. However, many governments have scaled back their climate commitments, especially this year, when elections are set to be held in key economies across the bloc, North America, and Asia. 

The coalition said that “rapidly falling costs of clean technologies and proven feasibility of other solutions mean that countries can collectively almost triple ambition – and bring the world on a 2°C pathway – merely by factoring in the commitments made and progress achieved since previous plans were submitted in 2021.” 

“As a business we have a key role to play in creating a net-zero society that is just and fair for all. For businesses and society to move quickly we need ambitious targets by governments – backed by clear plans and ensuring a just transition for all,” said Karen Pflug, chief sustainability officer of IKEA franchisee holding company Ingka Group. “With only five years left to reach the Paris Agreement, we need Governments to drive ambitious action in their climate plans and enable businesses to accelerate action.”

To help governments act on more ambitious climate goals, the Mission 2025 coalition would provide data needed to justify policy changes – with a focus on the 20 largest economies responsible for the bulk of emissions.