Towards Net Zero, Nature Positive, and Inclusive Growth

Net zero remains an important global aspiration — both to limit the physical and economic costs of climate change and to support a more resilient long-term growth model. The case for action is clear: the costs of inaction are already visible and measurable, with climate-related extreme weather events causing more than US$2 trillion in global economic losses over the 10-year period from 2014 to 2023².

At the same time, the pathway to net zero is becoming more uncertain. The energy transition is unfolding against a sharper energy trilemma: balancing sustainability, affordability, and availability. While this tension is not new, concerns around energy availability and affordability have become more pronounced in today’s context — driven by rising electricity demand, including from digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as energy security risks and supply disruptions. As these pressures intensify, decarbonisation can at times appear to be a less immediate priority. This is contributing to a more uneven transition, particularly for hard-to-abate sectors and long-life infrastructure, where technology readiness, cost, and social considerations associated with a just transition remain critical.

Against this backdrop, we remain focused on progressing across three dimensions: 

Global biodiversity loss is increasingly impacting economic value and long-term operational continuity — disrupting water, food and health systems, supply chains, and physical risk buffers. Rising global policy and disclosure momentum around nature-related risk management signals a structural shift: nature-related considerations will increasingly shape how companies identify risks, build resilience, and create value over time.

We are advancing our Nature Roadmap to deepen our understanding of dependencies and impacts across our portfolio — strengthening due diligence in nature-sensitive sectors, and engaging portfolio companies on nature risk management and opportunity creation.

Resilient growth must be inclusive. Inequalities, skills gaps, workforce disruption, and trust erosion translate directly into business risks through labour constraints, greater regulatory pressure, and weakened social licence to operate.

These pressures are likely to intensify. Significant job disruption is anticipated by 2030, driven by technological change, geoeconomic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts, and the green transition³. 

Workforce exposure to generative AI will vary significantly across occupations and sectors, reinforcing the need for workforce transformation to be human-centred and human-led, grounded in reskilling and upskilling, so that AI benefits both our portfolio companies and the ecosystems in which they operate.

We aspire to help tackle these issues through our Social Roadmap across our ecosystem. We have set clear baseline expectations for social practices and embedded them in due diligence and engagement. Across our portfolio and non-profit ecosystem, we support targeted initiatives to strengthen workforce skills and drive inclusive workplace practices.