The climate crisis demands a fundamental shift in thinking. As we approach COP30 in Belém this November, a new narrative is emerging that challenges traditional assumptions about climate action and economic growth.
Far from being a burden, climate resilience is proving to be a profitable investment, while emerging technologies are accelerating solutions at an unprecedented pace.
The stark reality: What's at stake
Last year was the hottest year on record - and the first calendar year that the global average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Before the deadline for countries to submit their latest round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in February 2025, the UN Environment Programme said policies and commitments were on track to deliver catastrophic 3°C warming by 2100, triggering irreversible changes to Earth's life support systems.
We have already crossed seven of the nine planetary boundaries, pushing Earth well outside the safe operating space for humanity. It's estimated that by 2050, climate change is likely to cause an additional 14.5 million deaths and a $1.1 trillion burden on healthcare systems.
The economic stakes are equally sobering, as the Forum report The Cost of Inaction: A CEO Guide to Navigating Climate Risk showed. Climate-related disasters have cost $3.6 trillion since 2000, with damages more than doubling from $458 billion in 2000-2004 to over $1 trillion in 2020-2024.
Businesses that fail to adapt face losses of up to 7.3% of annual earnings by 2035, according to the Forum's Business on the Edge: Building Industry Resilience to Climate Hazards report, with unprepared companies risking 5-25% of their 2050 EBITDA from climate impacts alone.
Five critical Earth systems are now at imminent risk of reaching irreversible tipping points: the Greenland ice sheet, West Antarctic ice sheet, warm-water coral reefs, Labrador and Irminger Seas convection and boreal permafrost. These cascading impacts threaten water systems, agriculture, and the foundations of global economic stability.
The mindset revolution: From cost to investment
The most significant transformation in climate action is the recognition that resilience generates exceptional returns rather than draining resources. This represents a fundamental paradigm shift from viewing climate measures as compliance costs to understanding them as strategic investments.
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Research consistently demonstrates that climate adaptation delivers extraordinary returns. Companies report that their current adaptation and resilience investments could yield between $2 and $19 for every dollar invested.
Standard Chartered's analysis across 10 emerging markets found that every dollar spent on climate adaptation this decade generates $12 of economic benefit. The US Chamber of Commerce notes even higher returns: every dollar invested in resilience and preparedness saves $13 in economic impact, damage and cleanup costs.
New analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) of 320 adaptation investments across 12 countries reveals that every $1 invested yields over $10.50 in benefits over 10 years, with average returns of 20-27%. Crucially, adaptation benefits accrue even when climate disasters don't occur, generated through job creation, productivity gains and healthier communities.
The Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders exemplifies this new reality. Between 2019 and 2023, its 130+ member companies reduced aggregate emissions by 12% while delivering 20% revenue growth.
This $4 trillion revenue community, representing 12 million employees across diverse industries, has consistently outperformed major global economies in emissions reductions while maintaining robust profitability.
These results shatter the false choice between climate action and economic performance. Alliance members achieved absolute emissions reductions equivalent to France's annual output while growing revenues faster than global GDP.
Ahead of COP30, the Alliance issued an open letter urging governments and businesses to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, resilient economy.
It calls for 13 action areas to accelerate the transition and drive growth, highlighting the need for policymakers to provide more stable frameworks, shorten permitting processes, scale climate finance, support breakthrough technologies, phase out unabated fossil fuels and invest in nature and resilience.
Business leaders, meanwhile, are urged to set science-based targets, cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions, collaborate across value chains on Scope 3, improve efficiency, drive innovation, create stronger demand signals for low-carbon solutions and invest in adaptation.
Climate action is no longer just a moral imperative – it is a powerful driver of green growth, innovation and resilience.
“We urge governments and business leaders to act decisively and accelerate proven solutions so we can unlock the full potential of the climate economy and secure a more prosperous, sustainable future for all," said Sebastian Buckup, Managing Director, Centre for Nature and Climate, World Economic Forum.
Crucially, investing in climate adaptation and resilience also delivers profound societal benefits by fostering healthier, more thriving communities.
Nature-based solutions alone have the potential to create around 395 million jobs worldwide by 2030, particularly in sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and agroforestry, providing economic security and skill development, especially in lower-income regions.
The Forum's Finance Solutions for Nature report finds nature finance has rapidly gained momentum, yet remains vastly underfinanced compared to the trillions flowing into activities harmful to ecosystems.
Strategic investments in nature not only help mitigate climate impacts through carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration but also foster healthier communities by improving air and water quality, reducing pollution-related health risks. Globally, around 9 million premature deaths annually are attributed to avoidable environmental factors like soil, air and water pollution, which resilient natural ecosystems can mitigate.
The report advocates for a flexible finance toolkit combining familiar, liquid general-purpose finance with credible nature-specific models that deliver positive environmental outcomes.
Strengthening infrastructure and ecosystems enhances community resilience against extreme weather and environmental shocks, reducing disaster risks and safeguarding livelihoods.
By integrating climate, nature, and resilience priorities, communities become healthier, more economically stable, and better prepared for future climate challenges — transforming adaptation spending from a cost into a vital investment in human well-being and long-term societal prosperity.
How emerging technologies accelerate solutions
Technology convergence is creating unprecedented opportunities to address climate challenges at scale - including the breaching of seven planetary boundaries.
The investment opportunity for certain climate adaptation solutions could increase from $2 trillion today to $9 trillion by 2050, GIC and Bain research finds, with demand for resilience and adaptation technologies creating a $1 trillion opportunity for private capital by 2030, according to McKinsey.
The Forum's 10 Emerging Technology Solutions for Planetary Health demonstrates how, in the words of Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, we can "chart a path back towards a safe operating space for humanity".
Developed in collaboration with Frontiers, the report reveals that many critical technologies already exist but remain underutilized, with their potential as practical, scalable solutions hinging on political will, financial investment, and public awareness.
These innovations span clean energy, materials science, biotechnology and Earth observation, each assessed through policy, finance and equity lenses to ensure responsible scaling and inclusive impact. Here are just three:
Precision fermentation stands out as a transformative solution for reimagining food systems. This technology produces animal-free proteins that could fundamentally change food, materials and medicine while dramatically reducing environmental impact. When coupled with renewable energy inputs and sustainable feedstock sourcing, precision fermentation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72-97%, cut water use by 81-99% and lower land use by up to 99% compared to conventional dairy protein production.
Green ammonia production tackles one of agriculture's most carbon-intensive processes. Traditional ammonia synthesis consumes up to 2% of global energy and generates more emissions than any other chemical process. Cleaner production methods using renewable electricity to split hydrogen from water through electrolysis could displace these energy-intensive processes. Projects are already being developed to enable on-site fertilizer production in regions with intermittent power or limited infrastructure, including parts of rural India.
Modular geothermal energy represents a breakthrough in delivering constant renewable power. Smaller, factory-built geothermal systems can provide reliable, clean energy almost anywhere, adding flexible, baseload capacity to the global energy mix. Unlike intermittent solar or wind power, these modular systems deliver steady electricity while requiring minimal land footprint, making them particularly valuable for communities seeking energy independence and grid resilience. In 2023, a pilot project in Nevada, US, produced 3.5 megawatts of round-the-clock electricity, validating the viability of closed-loop geothermal.
The nature-based solution advantage
Nature-based solutions are demonstrating exceptional potential for both climate mitigation and adaptation, offering what experts call a "triple dividend" – avoiding losses from climate impacts while generating economic gains and delivering social and environmental benefits. As the Forum's research shows, nature-based solutions can provide up to 30% of the mitigation needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030.
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Despite their proven effectiveness, nature-based solutions remain critically underfunded, receiving just 1.5% of all public international climate finance for adaptation in developing countries. Yet the economic case is compelling: mangrove forests alone save an estimated $80 billion per year in avoided losses from coastal flooding globally and could help protect up to 18 million people.
The Forum's Adaptation through Water approach recognizes that water underpins climate vulnerabilities across multiple systems and positions nature-based solutions alongside efficiency-improving technologies and AI-driven tools as key investment opportunities for the private sector.
By working with nature rather than against it – from restoring wetlands that protect against storms to conserving forests that stabilize soil and regulate water flow – these solutions deliver resilience at scale while creating co-benefits for nature, economies, communities and health.
New models for scaling impact
The transformation requires innovative collaboration models that bridge traditional funding gaps. Adaptation projects deliver public goods but need new approaches to monetization and incentive creation.
Financial innovation: The global need for adaptation finance far exceeds current flows, finds the WRI, but new mechanisms are emerging. Parametric insurance pays out when specific conditions occur rather than reimbursing losses after events, enabling faster response and recovery. The voluntary carbon market increasingly rewards nature-based solutions that sequester carbon while building resilience.
Partnership approaches: Multi-stakeholder partnerships are proving essential for scaling solutions. These collaborations create outlets for sharing best practices while acting as matchmakers between funders and implementers. The focus on Scope 3 emissions, which represent over 80% of many companies' footprints, requires unprecedented supply chain collaboration.
Scope 3 downstream emissions are the largest and hardest to abate in corporate footprints. This year's winners of the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders' Downstream Solutions Challenge – Schneider Electric, Vestas, DHL and BBVA – pioneered solutions across sustainable design, collaboration, smart logistics and finance. They show that business can deliver systemic climate impact and resilience through innovative, scalable approaches.
Systems thinking. A holistic approach can find ways bridge global strategies and local implementation. The World Economic Forum's Water-BOOST: Enabling Innovation for Future-Ready Cities’ report puts forth a special toolkit with frameworks that help cities map out their complex innovation ecosystems to spot gaps between contributions from cities, planners, funders, and innovators.
The path forward: Integration and acceleration
As leaders prepare for COP30, the evidence is clear: climate action can drive economic prosperity.
Success requires integrating three core themes:
• Innovation demands continued investment in emerging technologies while accelerating deployment of proven solutions.
• Resilience must be reframed as a value driver rather than cost centre, with adaptation investments scaled based on demonstrated returns.
• Growth comes from recognizing that the climate economy is delivering measurable results today, not just promising future benefits.
The transformation is already underway. Companies, communities and countries that embrace this new mindset. Seeing resilience as a profitable investment, emerging technology as an immediate opportunity and collaboration as a competitive advantage, will capture the value while building the planetary resilience our future depends on.
The question is no longer whether climate action pays off, but whether leaders will move fast enough to seize the historic opportunity before us.
Weforum