A Decade After the SDGs, Green Growth Goes Global Through Coalitions and Markets

Ten years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the green growth agenda is expanding beyond sweeping global accords to a model driven by markets, technology and cross-border coalitions. The SDGs began as a milestone of global unity, but today’s political divides have accelerated a shift toward practical, market-driven action that still aims to improve lives in harmony with the planet. The progress is real, even as the pace and modality of change are uneven across regions, sectors and policy environments.

Without decarbonization commitments, the UN climate framework warned, global warming could exceed 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. By contrast, current trajectories are on track for less than half that increase, a signal that policy alignment, finance and innovation can still bend the curve when markets are mobilized and collaboration expands across borders. The shift reflects a broader trend: the most meaningful climate progress may come from networks of buyers, investors, cities and regions rather than from any single treaty.

At COP29, negotiators advanced the architecture of climate finance and cooperation by agreeing to Article 6 and signaling a renewed emphasis on financing for developing countries — including an explicit commitment to tripling funding flows. While multilateral negotiations continue to navigate complexity and competing priorities, the outcome underscored that large-scale decarbonization now depends as much on markets and private capital as on intergovernmental accords. Governments are increasingly working with business, finance and civil society to mobilize resources, share risk and accelerate implementation on the ground.

Across the private sector, sustainability has moved from a compliance concern to a core strategic driver. Firms embed decarbonization, resilience and biodiversity goals into decision-making, risk management and long-term planning because those factors align with investor expectations, customer demand and competitive advantage. A notable example is the First Mover’s Coalition, a global alliance of major buyers using their purchasing power to decarbonize heavy-emitting industrial sectors. A related initiative, the First Mover’s Coalition for Food, targets faster adoption of sustainable production methods and technologies for agricultural commodities. The relevance of such coalitions is especially pronounced for COP30 host Brazil, where roughly 66% of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to land-use change, highlighting the need to align finance and policy with land stewardship.

Industrial clusters—localized clean-energy value chains that bring together multiple industries—are emerging as practical ecosystems for scaling up clean energy and low-emission solutions. At the same time, environmental regulation has intensified, placing a premium on measurement, transparency and shared standards. In September, two major bodies behind carbon accounting tools—the GHG Protocol and the ISO 1406x family—joined forces to create a more unified toolset and common language for calculating and reporting emissions. The collaboration signals a possible step toward broader standardization that can reduce compliance costs, improve comparability and help markets price climate risk more accurately.

Technology has long powered climate solutions, but the coming decade is expected to hinge on convergence. Advances in artificial intelligence, including agentic AI capable of autonomous decision-making within complex systems, could enable city-scale orchestration of logistics, mobility, energy use and public health improvements while cutting pollution and costs. The year’s top technologies reflect a broad spectrum of applications, from osmotic power systems to autonomous biochemical sensing, illustrating how digital capabilities are entwined with energy, water, food, mobility and manufacturing. Yet technology alone won’t suffice; sustained progress requires investment in greener infrastructure, nature-based solutions and the protection and restoration of ecosystems that underpin resilience and adaptation.

Private finance for nature is growing, with totals exceeding $102 billion in 2024. Notable deals include DP World’s US$100 million blue bond, the Middle East and North Africa region’s first corporate blue bond, which channels capital into blue-economy priorities such as sustainable shipping, greener port infrastructure, pollution reduction and the protection of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Although the field is still young and faces risk-management and market-demand hurdles, these investments underscore a broader revaluation of nature’s value and its opportunities for investors seeking both returns and impact.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report underscores the stakes: environmental threats such as extreme weather, biodiversity loss, resource shortages and pollution are among the gravest risks over the next decade. That assessment helps explain the surge in coalition-building, finance innovations and technology-driven solutions that aim to accelerate decarbonization and nature-positive growth rather than wait for a single international moment of unity.

The next decade is unlikely to hinge on a landmark treaty alone. Instead, the climate and nature agenda will be written by coalitions, innovators and businesses that choose to lead. They will pursue four parallel shifts: a stronger role for the private sector through public-private collaboration; more flexible, multi-stakeholder dialogues that build trust and accelerate action in regional and bilateral contexts; deeper linkages between the green transition and digital technologies; and the emergence of nature as a strategic financial asset. Policy action remains vital, but capital, technology and collaboration are increasingly organized around networks that can move faster and with greater scale than traditional diplomacy. Taken together, these trends suggest a future in which action on climate and nature becomes not only a matter of survival but a prudent and proactive business strategy.