Climate change will be the defining test of our time. It could also be the opportunity of a lifetime. Across every sector, businesses are already finding new ways to innovate, invest and transform industries. With the right global policy support, businesses can continue to leverage their entrepreneurialism, innovation and capital to scale up even greater solutions to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement, while supporting economic growth, energy security and industrial competitiveness.
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Climate-related supply chain disruptions and energy shocks have exposed just how expensive overdependence on fragile, short-sighted systems really is.
Climate. Energy security. Economic growth. Industrial competitiveness. These are not separate conversations. They are deeply intertwined.
And standing still is not the safe option. It’s the costly one.
No one understands this better than business.
Around the world, companies are already seizing the climate opportunity – driving innovation, creating jobs and investing in the industries of tomorrow.
And there is potential to do more. Business has the innovation, capital and drive to help deliver the US$1.3 trillion climate finance goal agreed at COP29.
But this will not happen through goodwill alone. Climate action must be economically sound, investable and create prosperity – and that requires governments to pave the path through strong policy and regulatory signals and clear economic incentives.
The economics are clear
Investing in the transition costs significantly less than paying for the damage.
| Cost of inaction (2025-2100) | Investment needed (2025-2050) |
|---|---|
| -15% of global GDP per year | 10% of global GDP per year |
| US$ 17 trillion per year | US$ 11 trillion per year |
| US$ 2,000 per year per person | US$ 1,300 per year per person |
As the official voice of business at the United Nations Climate Change Conference and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), ICC reaffirms its commitment to the Paris Agreement goals and to working with all parties, from government to academia, to ensure businesses can seize the climate opportunity and help to deliver the action, innovation and investment needed to support implementation.
Representing over 45 million businesses in over 170 countries we are mobilising thousands of businesses and chambers of commerce who understand that climate action isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.
ICC Global Environment and Energy Commission
Sandra Hanni, Head – Climate
Sophie Talarico, Manager – Climate
Emma Serge – Policy Advisor
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Unlocking investment at scale requires governments to send clear and sustained policy signals, reducing barriers and creating incentives that give business the clarity and confidence to act.
Now is the moment for global leaders to help ensure the climate transition is a business opportunity not a business barrier. To unlock a new era of low-carbon technologies, climate resilience, innovation and investment that will deliver a more stable, secure and equitable future.
These are the policy actions that our members and the business community are calling for.
Provide clarity, certainty and transparency through NDCs to align public and private investments with climate mitigation and adaptation objectives
As the principal policy frameworks setting out governments’ climate priorities, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) are critical to provide the certainty, predictability and confidence businesses need to make long-term investment decisions.
While many governments have now submitted updated NDCs, there remains significant scope to strengthen them by providing greater clarity on implementation pathways, policy and regulatory frameworks and investment opportunities. Close collaboration with the private sector will be essential in this effort.
To support implementation, NDCs should also promote coherence across climate, energy, industrial, financial and trade policies and provide greater clarity on planned legislation, regulation, use of mitigation policies (such as carbon pricing), financial incentives, investment frameworks and project pipelines. Governments should also demonstrate how they intend to couple climate legislation with employment and social planning to ensure a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent green jobs.
Initiatives to develop global roadmaps, including the Brazilian roadmap on transitioning away from fossil fuels, can provide useful direction. But the real acceleration of the energy transition will depend on how these commitments are translated into national implementation through NDCs, strong enabling policies and regulatory frameworks and incentives that enable business to accelerate investments in the scale-up of renewable energy and green technology and energy efficiency.
Introduce targeted adjustments in key financial regulations and leverage Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) as catalysts of private investment to quadruple international climate finance going to emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).
Finance is the single greatest enabler of climate action, yet high capital costs and perceived investment risks continue to constrain investment where it is needed most. Emerging and developing economies receive just 14% of international climate finance yet need an additional US$450 to US$550 billion a year to stay on a net-zero path.
Under the current macroprudential frameworks, such as Basel III, banks are disincentivised from financing climate projects in emerging and developing markets. Targeted adjustments – such as better recognition of development bank guarantees and other risk mitigation tools – could quadruple the bank capital available for climate projects in emerging markets without compromising global financial stability.
Alongside these reforms, greater use of guarantees and blended finance by MDBs as well as stronger domestic enabling environments and investment frameworks, will be essential to unlock private investment at the scale needed.
Expanded carbon pricing and high integrity carbon markets should also be leveraged as complementary tools to mobilise finance and raise mitigation and adaptation ambition. Harmonised carbon accounting methodologies and standards can further help scale demand for and investments in low-carbon products and activities.
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Remove barriers preventing the scaling of private sector adaptation investment from closing the global adaptation funding gap.
Climate-related events are intensifying, making adaptation critical for resilience. Yet, global efforts remain fragmented and underfunded – especially in developing countries, where vulnerability is highest and financial capacity is lowest.
Businesses are already on the front lines of climate impacts, facing operational disruptions, supply-chain vulnerabilities and productivity losses. Yet private investment remains constrained because the commercial case for adaptation is often unclear and investment opportunities are limited.
Scaling private capital for adaptation requires targeted reforms in three areas: data collection (ensuring access to high-quality, open climate risk data, enabling better risk assessments and adaptation planning); governance (supporting better engagement of business in domestic climate/adaptation planning); and finance (creating financial incentives for adaptation and spaces/sandboxes for testing promising solutions, i.e. insurance-linked instruments, blended finance tools for adaption).
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End the patchwork of global climate-trade policies and ensure measures support, rather than undermine, equitable trade in sustainable goods and services.
Climate and trade policies are becoming increasingly interconnected and misaligned. Trade-related climate measures, particularly carbon border levies (also known as CBAMs or BCAs), risk disproportionately disadvantaging developing countries and creating barriers to market access.
Trade-related environmental measures should enhance, not restrict, markets for sustainable goods and services. The current patchwork of conflicting global rules needs to end. Climate and trade ministers must come together and create new principles to ensure trade and climate policies are better aligned and mutually reinforcing
As momentum builds for collective climate and environmental action, understanding how companies can collaborate responsibly for sustainability purposes is moving to the centre of policy debates. This guide provides direction for businesses seeking to align sustainability cooperation with competition compliance.
To meet global climate goals, business ambition must be matched by credible frameworks for action. This ICC-commissioned Oxera report sets out 14 recommendations to strengthen the integrity and effectiveness of voluntary carbon markets and mobilise private finance for climate action. When grounded in transparency, integrity and strong standards, voluntary carbon markets can enable businesses to invest credibly and confidently in a net-zero future.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are vital to global climate action, yet access to green finance remains a major barrier to scaling their impact. This ICC–Sage report shows how digital and AI tools can help bridge this gap by simplifying reporting and boosting access to funding. It calls for five urgent actions – from streamlining reporting standards to expanding sustainability-linked finance – to accelerate SME climate action and make COP30 a turning point for green finance.
As the frequency and severity of climate-related events escalate, there is a growing consensus that mitigation alone is insufficient. Adaptation must play a central role in securing resilience. To support this shift, the new ICC-commissioned Oxera report assesses how the private sector’s role in climate adaptation can be strengthened and scaled. The report is intended to inform ICC’s advocacy as the official UNFCCC Focal Point for Business and Industry in the lead-up to COP30 in Belém.
Targeted clarifications and reforms to the Basel Framework could unlock significant volumes of private investment in high-impact, climate-aligned projects in emerging markets and developing economies, while ensuring the continued soundness of the global financial system.
Since 2021, ICC has drawn on the experience of its global members to develop core principles and guidance for the effective design of carbon pricing instruments. In this third report, building on our past work, ICC provides guidance to governments and policymakers to address carbon leakage, promote linkage for greater international cooperation and make carbon pricing systems more efficient.
The stakes are once again high at the UN climate change conference COP29 happening in a year of record-breaking temperatures. Our eyes set on this year’s renewed focus on financing climate action, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) highlights key elements for establishing an ambitious, actionable and comprehensive New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance.
A new report, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce, estimates that climate-related extreme weather events have cost the global economy more than $2 trillion over the past decade.
The International Chamber of Commerce issues a statement in response to the Friends of the Cali Fund joint government statement on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s multilateral benefit sharing mechanism and its Cali Fund.
On behalf of the global business community, ICC delivered the closing statement at the pivotal preparatory meeting for COP31, urging governments to unite around a global path toward practical implementation that delivers meaningful progress on mitigation, finance, and adaptation commitments.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), on behalf of the UNFCCC Business and Industry constituency, delivers the opening statement at the 64th Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) in Bonn, bringing together parties and observers ahead of COP31.
ICC announced that Standard Chartered has adopted the full suite of the ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade Finance (PSTF), marking a significant step toward greater consistency, transparency and scalability in sustainable trade finance.
The International Chamber of Commerce and Carbon Measures today announced the second and final group of experts appointed to the Technical Expert Panel (TEP) on Carbon Accounting. With these appointments, the panel is now fully constituted, bringing together 21 distinguished leaders and experts to define the principles, scope and real-world applications of a carbon emissions accounting system that will produce product-level emissions data that can be used to underpin trade and regulation.
ICC and Carbon Measures today announced the first cohort of experts selected to serve on the Technical Expert Panel on Carbon Accounting, which will define the principles, scope and real-world applications of a carbon emissions accounting system. Panellists include senior global leaders from business, academia, and civil society.
Meralco’s Long-term Sustainability Strategy charts a just and affordable path to a coal-free future by 2050. Through major investments in renewables, next-generation technologies and 30 key sustainability initiatives through 2030, Meralco is cutting emissions, strengthening communities, and expanding access to essential services. The strategy shows that sustainability and business prosperity can – and must – advance together.
ICC announced today the formal ratification of the Principles for Social Trade Finance (PSoTF) and the Principles for Sustainability-Linked Supply Chain Finance (PSL-SCF), following a public consultation launched at the United Nation’s 4th Financing for Development Conference in Seville in July. Together with the existing Principles for Green Trade Finance (PGTF), these newly ratified standards […]
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