Q&A: The UN's Simon Sharpe on the Breakthrough Agenda

As concerns around climate change intensify, collaboration is more essential than ever.

Simon Sharpe, Managing Director of S-Curve Economics and Director of Economics for the UN Climate Champions Team, is at the forefront of this mission.

With a background in climate policy and diplomacy for the UK government and as the author of Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change, Sharpe brings a wealth of expertise to advancing international cooperation in sustainability.

At the heart of his work is the Breakthrough Agenda, launched at COP26 in 2021 by countries representing three-quarters of global GDP.

This initiative seeks to make clean technologies and sustainable solutions more accessible and affordable through practical collaboration in key greenhouse gas-emitting sectors.

The progress reported at COP29 highlights the rapid global adoption of clean technologies like solar, wind power and electric vehicles, but also underscores the urgent need for intensified international efforts to meet emissions reduction targets.

As COP30 approaches in Brazil, the stakes are higher than ever.

With leadership from key economies and businesses leveraging their unique strengths, Sharpe emphasises the potential for transformative change through strengthened global partnerships.

In this Q&A, we ask Simon all about the Breakthrough Agenda, his thoughts on COP29 and the outlook for COP30 in the year ahead.

Could you introduce yourself and your role?

I’m Simon Sharpe, Managing Director of research organisation S-Curve Economics and author of Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics and Diplomacy of Climate Change. 

I’m also Director of Economics for the Climate Champions Team, which supports the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions on Climate Change.

I used to work on climate policy and diplomacy for the UK government. 

What is the origin story of the Breakthrough Agenda?

For three decades, climate change diplomacy has been mainly focused on countries’ long-term emissions targets. This has helped us get to the point where almost all countries in the world are aiming for net zero emissions by around mid-century.

The main challenge now is how to get there – how to achieve rapid structural change in the global economy in the coming years and decades. 

Practical cooperation between countries, to make this structural economic change faster, easier and cheaper, must move from being a side-event to being the central focus of climate change diplomacy.

That’s why countries representing three quarters of global GDP launched the Breakthrough Agenda at COP26 in 2021. 

They launched this process to continually review and strengthen international cooperation in each of the greenhouse gas-emitting sectors of the economy, to make clean technologies and sustainable solutions more affordable, accessible and attractive than fossil fuels as soon as possible.

Where did things stand as of COP29?

Clean technologies including solar, wind power, batteries and electric vehicles are spreading globally far faster than almost anyone predicted.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global demand for coal, gas and oil will shift from growth to contraction within the next six years. 

But we do not appear to be close to the halving of global emissions by 2030 that would be needed to be roughly in line with limiting climate change to 1.5°C.

Governments are promoting the spread of clean technologies for many reasons — cheaper energy, energy security, cleaner air, job creation and growth and limiting the risks of climate change. 

This means there are many opportunities for governments to find areas of mutual interest and work together to accelerate the transition. 

What is the outlook ahead of COP30?

Across all of the emitting sectors, there are initiatives where countries are working together to research and develop clean technologies, harmonise standards, share policy best practice and support investment in the transition. 

But as the IEA and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions have assessed, in the annual Breakthrough Agenda Reports, countries are still far from fully exploiting the potential for practical collaboration. 

A gearshift is needed. Now that the US looks less likely to provide leadership, cooperation between the largest economies, particularly the EU and China, will be essential.

Brazil can also play an important role if it uses its COP30 presidency not just to highlight the good work that its government is doing domestically, but also to convene groups of countries for intensive talks on specific, practical problems of the transition.

How could world leaders be doing more to aid the Breakthrough Agenda's success?

World leaders could help by spearheading efforts to address some of the problems where international cooperation could make the biggest difference to the pace of emissions reduction. 

Emmanuel Macron and Mia Mottley’s leadership in bringing countries together to discuss financial reforms that could make it easier for developing countries to invest in clean energy infrastructure and climate resilience is a good example. 

Problems that would benefit from leader-level attention include how to end the deforestation caused by internationally-traded agricultural commodities and how to ensure global markets enable a transition to near-zero emission steel production. 

What is the role of business in the Breakthrough Agenda?

I believe businesses should worry less about their carbon footprint and more about their point of leverage.

That is: what your organisation can do, better than most can do, to bring about system change. 

Innovating and improving zero emission technologies and solutions, and using buying power to expand the markets for such solutions, are two of the most important forms of leverage that businesses usually have. 

In the Breakthrough Agenda, another important thing for businesses to do is to tell governments not only what policies would help bring about system change in their sectors, but also what forms of international cooperation are most needed. 

The businesses working together to promote harmonised international standards for sustainable batteries are a good example of this.

In this way, businesses can help diplomacy be more effective, and the diplomacy will in turn help the businesses move forward faster. 

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