McKinsey Sustainability

McKinsey at COP29

Beyond why to how
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Our role as a convener during COP29 is a continuation of the firm’s long-term commitment to accelerate sustainable, inclusive growth. Each year, McKinsey convenes global leaders alongside the Conference of the Parties (COP), the UN’s summit to accelerate global action to address climate change. This November 11–22, 2024 at the twenty-ninth COP (COP29) in Azerbaijan, we will host a series of in-person and virtual events featuring business, government, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders. Our discussions will focus on how to implement ambitious climate commitments while leading a wave of innovation and economic growth that safeguards our planet and advances sustainability.

Join us at COP29

Our agenda

Take a look at our scheduled discussions November 11 through November 22 on our COP29 stage
See our agenda

Event themes

  • Aspirations for COP29
  • Tension or harmony: the realities of carbon-free energy by mid century
  • Accelerating future mobility and transport
  • Achieving inclusive closure of the net-zero financing gap
  • Adapting to climate risks and building resilience: practical insights from leading organizations
  • Hyper-scaling green businesses
  • Reflections on COP29

On Demand at COP29

Where are we really? A conversation on McKinsey's 2024 Global Energy Perspective

Aired: November 12, 2024

Despite recent momentum, the energy transition is at an early stage. McKinsey research indicates that net-zero ambitions will not arrive this century if we continue down the current trajectory. A drastic course-correct is needed, but a global one-size-fits-all approach will do more harm than good. Instead, regional solutions must be tailored to local conditions and trajectories. Ambitiously rethinking the path forward on energy transition will require balancing global ambitions with local realities, addressing region-specific bottlenecks, and managing resource constraints. This session will reimagine future energy systems that meet region-specific needs while meeting economic development, affordability, reliability, and competitiveness goals.

Speakers: Rory Clune, Diego Hernandez Diaz

Unlocking COP29

On the ground coverage from Baku
McKinsey at COP29
Blog Post

What to expect at COP29

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Sustainability in Action is our monthly blog series, featuring a curated selection of new and relevant sustainability insights and actionable recommendations for leaders to drive climate action and growth. In this edition, our McKinsey Sustainability experts Vishal Agarwal and Anna Granskog share what business leaders should watch for at COP29.

See more insights

On demand at cop29

Aired: November 12, 2024
Where are we really? A conversation on McKinsey's 2024 Global Energy Perspective
Aired: October 29, 2024
What to expect at COP29

COP29 Delegation

Vishal Agarwal
Senior PartnerSingapore
Leads our sustainability work in Asia with a focus on energy-transition strategy, green business building, and sustainable finance
Hemant Ahlawat
Senior PartnerZurich
Coleads McKinsey Sustainability, helping all industries reach net-zero, and cochairs the McKinsey Health Institute, catalyzing action and investment to progress historically under-resourced areas of health
Anna Granskog
PartnerHelsinki
Extensive experience in the electricity, basic materials, and engineering industry sectors with particular focus on strategy and organizational issues at both the corporate and business unit levels
Sanjay Kalavar
Senior PartnerHouston
As global coleader of McKinsey Sustainability, helps energy investors and operators build businesses, evaluate assets, reduce emissions, improve operations, and manage risks.
Mekala Krishnan
McKinsey Global Institute PartnerBoston
Leads the McKinsey Global Institute’s research on topics related to sustainable and inclusive growth, including climate risk and the net-zero transition, globalization, productivity growth, and gender economics
Cindy Levy
Senior PartnerLondon
Helps global financial firms on multiyear agendas related to strategy, transactions, organization, risk management, culture, and climate transition

Collaborating for exponential results

We work with dynamic industry and cross-sector communities to drive innovation, decarbonization, and results that no one organization can achieve on its own.
scenic video of Davos, Switzerland
World Economic Forum (WEF)
We have partnered with WEF on scaling sustainability solutions across a number of sectors, including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and mobility. In a recent collaboration for the report “Nature and Net Zero,” we explore the role that natural climate solutions can play in helping to address climate change and the destruction of nature.
Artist rendering of what a large-scale DAC facility that uses Carbon Engineering’s DAC technology could look like.
Frontier
Frontier is the over $1 billion advance market commitment (AMC) to purchase permanent carbon removal before 2030, by McKinsey Sustainability in collaboration with fellow founders Alphabet, Meta, Shopify and Stripe.
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World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
As a knowledge partner to WBCSD, we’re collaborating on many fronts, from helping to drive transparency of Scope 3 emissions to assessing strategic resilience through the climate transition.

Our Sustainability Practice

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McKinsey’s Commitment to COP

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