Transformative Solution Leadership - 12 illustrative transformative low-carbon solutions (Report)

Role: Director and author

Summary
This report presents twelve illustrative transformative low-carbon solutions. Together these solutions have already contributed to hundreds of millions of tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions - a rough estimate for the solutions where data exist indicates that these solutions helped eliminate more than 600 million tonnes of climate pollution in 2009. These solutions have the potential to help eliminate thousands of mil- lions of tonnes over the next decade — a conservative estimate indicates that they could help society avoid a cumulative 10-20 gigatonnes CO2 emissions by 2020.

These numbers are impressive, but the real potential contained in these illustrative solutions is the capacity to contribute to a broader shift in society, a shift to
a focus on companies as solution providers and to a focus on transformative solutions. The principles these solutions illustrate can help unlock innovation and trigger the paradigm shift in society necessary to deliver the kind of reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change, while also helping to eradicate poverty and helping to ensure biodiversity and energy security. There are many other solutions, and there are vast numbers of solution providers out there. As these solution providers often come from di erent sectors, policy makers at the local, national, or inter- national level seldom get a coherent message about the potential for transformative solutions.

This report serves to:

• Demonstrate that transformative low-carbon solutions already exist and that these solutions can play a key role in global CO2 reductions.
• Emphasize that policies are needed to acceleratethe uptake of transformative low-carbon solutions and that a mindset shift is needed, from “how to reduce problems” to “how to support solutions.”
• Illustrate the need to develop a standardized method to calculate and report CO2 savings from transformative solutions.