New business models have to be designed to sustain local action against the impact of climate change.
Poorer countries and groups of population have hardly contributed to climate change, yet they continue to be disproportionately affected by its negative impacts – because they are both more exposed and more vulnerable. Climate change will continue to worsen the world’s inequalities, making it even more challenging to eradicate poverty, unless we are able to identify and remove key obstacles to effective mitigation and adaptation.
The deforestation of the Amazon is an example of a prominent cause of climate change that is approaching a tipping point – where self-reinforcing mechanisms will lead to catastrophic drought, forest fires and forest loss in the nearby future – while its drivers are essentially not addressed.
Despite positive developments such as the EU’s new taxation rules and the financial sector’s growing interest for green investments, financial incentives are still lacking to actually change business-as-usual production and consumption patterns.
At Future Horizons, we use our knowledge of the context and our networks in Latin America and Eastern Africa to promote new business models than lift people out of poverty whilst ensuring that green investments and grants reach their intended targets.