McKinsey’s COP Insights

As a reality gap emerges between net-zero goals and the actions needed to achieve them, what happens in the energy and materials sectors will determine the pace of low-carbon technology rollout.

As the energy transition continues apace, the global materials supply is adapting. Our Global Materials Perspective 2024 presents a data-driven view of the road ahead.

The energy transition is a physical transformation in its early stages. What challenges lie ahead?

Better carbon management can be a competitive advantage. Here’s how CFOs across industries and markets can move beyond “check the box” compliance and enable strategy-driven, carbon-based decision making.

The growth of electric vehicles presents both opportunities and challenges for Europe’s economy. How can the automotive industry thrive in an increasingly electric world?

Optimists, pessimists—who’s right? New research breaks down the physical realities slowing our progress toward net zero: what’s simpler, what’s tough, and what’s vital to transforming our energy system successfully.

With the markets for sustainable materials subject to recent headwinds, what will be the impact on green premia? A new survey paints a cautiously optimistic picture.

The global stocktake is an assessment of progress made toward mitigating global warming since the Paris Agreement in 2015. The results from the first-ever global stocktake were discussed at COP28.

Solutions for adapting healthcare to meet the threats posed by climate change remain immature. Enabling innovation and scaling solutions is a critical priority to protect vulnerable populations around the world.

COP refers to the United Nations’ annual conference on climate change. Its 29th meeting, COP29, is scheduled to begin November 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Most emissions captured in the average retailer’s Scope 3 metric are generated via product value chains. These value chains can be decarbonized—but only with targeted multistakeholder actions.

Nature-related risks are impacting Africa’s natural ecosystems and economy. An enabling environment could accelerate action from Africa’s private financial sector to manage risks and opportunities.

The single most effective way for companies to scale climate technology is to aim for cost parity with carbon-intensive alternatives.

This framework seeks to provide an initial approach at quantifying the socioeconomic impacts of climate action. A roundtable with more than 40 climate leaders at COP28 underscored the need for this lens.

Nature-related commitments by Fortune Global 500 companies are rising, but progress is incremental and from a very low base.

To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, it will be vital to mobilize sufficient capital to drive decarbonization in developing countries.

Climate change and infectious-health risks are threatening health systems across the globe. High-impact investments that address these risks concurrently could also help build resilient health systems.

CO₂ removal (CDR) capacity is far from the gigaton scale needed to round out businesses’ net-zero efforts by 2050. We explore a mature CDR market’s potential and possible first-mover advantages.

A successful net-zero transition will require achieving not one objective but four. We offer a guide to getting it right.

Increasing resilience to climate change requires a more systematic response than ever before. Governments and public entities play a central role in defining, enabling, and executing it.

This interactive tracker aims to measure the progress and preparedness of ten key sectors on the path to achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050. It may be viewed as a contribution to the first global stocktake of progress against the Paris Agreement.

Net zero is an ideal state where the amount of greenhouse gases released into the Earth’s atmosphere is equal to the amount removed. Emission removal and reduction through decarbonization efforts are needed to reach net zero.