🌡️The Planet Is Heating Faster Than Expected, Study Finds

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In this week’s edition:
1. Last week’s top climate news - The Planet Is Heating Faster Than Expected, Study Finds
2. TrimTab Nudge - Stress-Test Your Business for a 3°C World
3. And other news, including - Google, JPMorgan, Others Launch $100 Million Initiative to Tackle Superpollutants; China’s new five-year decarbonisation plan ‘not Paris-aligned’; and Bill Gates’ TerraPower Gets Green Light to Build First U.S. Advanced Nuclear Reactor.

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And now, here’s what you need to know for w/c 9th of March 2025 in 5 minutes.

TOP STORY
🌡️The Planet Is Heating Faster Than Expected, Study Finds

🔎  What’s going on?
A major new study finds that global warming has almost doubled in speed over the past decade, after scientists removed “noise” from natural phenomena such as El Niño, volcanoes, and solar cycles. Instead of rising at just under 0.2°C per decade between 1970 and 2015, the planet is now heating at roughly 0.35–0.36°C per decade, the fastest rate in the instrumental record going back to 1880.

The past ten years have also been the hottest decade ever recorded, reinforcing a clear signal: the climate system is warming faster than previously understood.

🌡️What does this mean?
In practical terms, the world may be using up its remaining carbon budget for limiting warming to 1.5°C more quickly than many models projected just a few years ago. If the current pace continues, scientists say the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold could be reached earlier than expected — potentially before 2030 on a long-term basis.

The acceleration is still primarily driven by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, though recent reductions in sulphur pollution, which previously reflected sunlight and slightly cooled the planet, may also be revealing more of the underlying warming.

For governments and businesses alike, the message is becoming clearer: climate risk may arrive sooner than anticipated.

Global climate policy, from the Paris Agreement to corporate net-zero strategies, is built around limiting warming to 1.5–2°C. If warming accelerates, the timeline for mitigation and adaptation could become significantly compressed.

❓ Why should I care?
For business leaders, this is more than a scientific update.

Faster warming increases the likelihood of more frequent and severe extreme weather events, from floods and droughts to heatwaves that strain infrastructure and energy systems. Each additional tenth of a degree sharply raises the probability of disruptions that affect real economies — crop failures, supply-chain interruptions, insurance losses, and damage to critical infrastructure.

Many companies are already preparing for the transition to a low-carbon economy. But the physical impacts of climate change are increasingly becoming a core operational risk.

The past few years, already among the hottest on record, suggest that some resilience plans were built for a slower, more gradual climate shift than the one now unfolding.

Understanding the pace of climate change is therefore essential for risk management, long-term investment decisions, and corporate resilience.

🚦 Where do we need to be?
Scientists broadly agree that stabilising the climate ultimately depends on rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, alongside stronger investment in climate adaptation.

That means accelerating the deployment of clean energy, electrification, energy efficiency, and nature-based solutions, while strengthening infrastructure to cope with more extreme conditions.

Encouragingly, many of these shifts are already underway. Renewable energy is expanding rapidly in many regions, companies are setting science-based targets, and governments are introducing policies to accelerate the low-carbon transition.

But the latest findings suggest that speed now matters as much as direction. If warming is occurring faster than previously expected, the window for avoiding the most severe impacts may be narrowing.

For businesses and policymakers alike, the challenge is increasingly about scaling solutions quickly enough to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate system.

👤 What can I do about it?
For organisations, the first step is to recognise that climate change is no longer only a long-term sustainability issue — it is a near-term strategic risk.

Business leaders can start by:
- Assessing physical climate risks across operations and supply chains
- Aligning corporate climate strategies with science-based targets
- Investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies
- Strengthening climate resilience and adaptation planning

Companies that move early can often uncover cost savings, operational efficiencies, and new market opportunities in the transition. The organisations that integrate climate risk into strategy today are likely to be better prepared for the economic and environmental realities of tomorrow.

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TRIMTAB NUDGE™
Small actions. Massive impact.
In systems thinking, a TrimTab is a small adjustment that redirects a much larger system, like the miniature rudder that turns a ship’s main rudder. Inspired by this idea, a TrimTab Nudge is a small, strategic action business leaders can take today to help shift complex systems — from climate to culture — in the right direction.
Each week, we’ll share one powerful, high-leverage nudge you can act on with minimal effort but maximum impact. These nudges can be an idea, an action, or an innovation that creates ripple effects across systems, influencing how businesses, policies, or investments shape our planet.

🌍 TrimTab Nudge: Stress-Test Your Business for a 3°C World

🧭 What it is:
Run a simple internal climate scenario stress test: ask what your business would look like in a world that is 3°C warmer. Identify which parts of your operations, supply chains, assets, or workforce would face the greatest disruption — from heatwaves and flooding to water scarcity and crop failures.

💡 Why it matters:
Most corporate climate strategies are designed around 1.5–2°C scenarios aligned with global climate goals. But if warming accelerates faster than expected, physical risks could arrive sooner and more intensely than many companies anticipate. Stress-testing for a higher-warming scenario helps businesses identify vulnerabilities early and build resilience into strategy.

🌊 Systemic ripple effect:
When companies begin stress-testing climate risks, it doesn’t just change internal planning. It influences capital allocation, supplier engagement, infrastructure design, and insurance markets. Over time, this pushes entire sectors to become more resilient and better prepared for climate volatility.

📈 Example:
Major financial institutions and infrastructure companies are already running climate scenario analyses aligned with frameworks like TCFD and ISSB. These exercises help organisations understand how extreme weather, energy price volatility, or supply disruptions could affect long-term performance.

✅ Take action today:
Ask your sustainability or risk team to run a simple exercise: “If the world warms by 3°C, what breaks first in our business?”

Use the answers to prioritise the top three climate risks to your operations or supply chain — and start building resilience into your strategy today.

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🎯 THINGS TO KNOW

Corporate Responsibility & Leadership
> Google, JPMorgan, Others Launch $100 Million Initiative to Tackle Superpollutants
> L’Oréal Signs Deal to Turn Captured CO2 into Packaging Materials
> Why Unilever is prioritising trade association engagement to reach its lofty climate goals

Biodiversity & Nature-Based Solutions
> PepsiCo and Nat Geo fund innovative regenerative agriculture pilots
>Mercedes F1 team, Lego and Coach expand carbon removal portfolios
> Governments must protect nature or pay a higher price for borrowing, study finds 

Sustainability Innovations
> Moeve to Build $1.2 Billion Green Hydrogen Plant in Spain
> Bill Gates’ TerraPower Gets Green Light to Build First U.S. Advanced Nuclear Reactor
> Testing the waters: can pumping chemicals into the ocean help stop global heating?

Climate & Nature Finance
> London Stock Exchange Group Launches New Sustainability Ratings and Analytics Solutions Suite
> RIFT Raises $132 Million to Decarbonize Industrial Heat with “Iron Fuel”
> Shellworks Raises $15 Million to Scale Plant-Based Biodegradable Plastic Packaging Alternative

Policy & Regulation
> EU tables long-awaited Industrial Accelerator Act to promote local, low-carbon goods
>China’s new five-year decarbonisation plan ‘not Paris-aligned’
> Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds
> Energy bills forecast to rise 10% from July as Middle East war drives up prices
> How Trump’s EPA rollbacks give US states new tools in climate suits
> This iceberg was once the biggest in the world. Now it has just weeks left
> From heatwaves to rising seas: Singapore lays out climate adaptation plan
>Middle East conflict could spur palm oil demand from biodiesel sector

Standards & Reporting
>Korea Plans Mandatory Sustainability Reporting Beginning in 2028