Hacina Py, Chief Sustainability Officer, Societe Generale Group, explained why sustainable investing is important in the context of climate change, as new technologies emerge and need to be supported economically.

"We have one decade", she said. "2020-2030 and this is the decade when we really need to start reducing emissions and we need to invest concretely in new technologies so that we are ready by 2030 to engage in the second part of the reduction of the CO2 emissions."

The first step will be done and is currently being done, according to her, through decarbonization solutions and implementing the solutions and technologies that are preventing us from wasting energy and resources. To help the companies and entrepreneurs who lead the transition to a clean economy, Societe Generale Group made one billion euros available through private equity. This, as per the Group's Chief Sustainability Officer, enabled experts to support and collaborate with teams specialized in the development of new technologies and innovations that present a financial risk, but also potentially a great environmental impact for the future.

Green investments help prevent climate change disasters

"We need to see statistics over the past ten years and this is the way we engage and control our risk, but today the future and even the present is very different and it's not just a natural follow-up of what we experienced over the past decade", she added.

Due to our past economic activity, we lost 70% of the planet's biodiversity in the last 50 years and we see the effects now more than ever before. The fact that we use the equivalent of 1.7 planets Earth in one year shows the state of our current economic habits and it's the reason why Global Overshoot Day happens around summer.

To avoid an economic disaster, Societe Generale Group now implements a different strategy. Investments are therefore not "cashflow generating, they are avoiding big costs. Another way of thinking is that it's not the business opportunity of transition that we're looking at, it's more like physical risks understanding", Hacina mentioned.

Promoting practical change at Climate Change Summit 2024

Of course, there were other interesting and important discussions at Climate Change Summit 2024 that you can check out on YouTube for the Blue Stage, as well as for the Green Stage.

While you're at it, you might want to check some of our interviews with speakers that were on stage at the event. For example, Tom Meijeraan is the co-founder of Arctic Reflections, a startup that aims to regenerate the icesheet in the Arctic Sea in order to slow down global warming.

If you want to find out more about how hotels can become more sustainable and how soap, a simple hygiene product can save the life of millions, check out our interview with Pauline Grumel, founder at Unisoap, an NGO that recycles used soap and gives it to vulnerable communities for free.

And if you would like to find out how a startup involves big companies in the change directly, check our discussion with Oliver Bolton, CEO at Earthly, a 4X founder on a mission to protect and regenerate over 1% of our planet by 2030.