Corporate Strategy for the Race to Net-Zero

In October 2021, Greg Conary, Head of Government Affairs, M&A, Innovation, and Sustainability at Schneider Electric UKI, shared on a panel at BNEF Summit London with Catherine Hunt Ryan, CFO at Bechtel, Martyn Link, Chief Strategy Officer at Wood Group, and Jacob Sterling, Head of Decarbonization Business Development at Maersk to discuss the opportunities and challenges when implementing a corporate net-zero strategy.

Government and investor pressure on corporations to commit to and deliver reduced emissions is not letting up. Neither is the market expectation to deliver growth and yield. Long-term net-zero commitments are seen as inadequate, with the focus increasingly on the next five years and executive leadership.

What are the primary challenges? Achieving financial returns with clean assets or products? Aligning the business and investors behind a new vision? Is it regulation? And which areas are easier than expected?

The panelists shared practical implications around these questions in a joined mindset of a feasible net-zero future.