i) Climate Change

i. Climate Change

“We live in a finite world with problems and it’s starting to be clear that we’re reaching the end of those resources, they’re not infinite as was initially thought.” – Monika Marcovici, Strategist at the Social Purpose Institute

Climate change emerges as the number one challenge facing the globe in the opinions of the Survey Participants. Joel Solomon, Founding Partner of Renewal Funds remarks, “We’re beyond our current capacity as a species to think about and manage the whole in an effective way.”

Climate change is named by 62% of the Survey Participants. On top of being the most frequently identified global challenge, Survey Participants often make a point to explicitly rank it the most significant challenge. Michael Sabia, former CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and current Deputy Minister of Finance for the Government of Canada (Michael Sabia was interviewed as the CEO of the CDPQ), sums up this sentiment by pointing out that there is “only one problem that is existential”.

Both the Business Leaders and Accelerators groups identified climate change most often as a pressing global challenge.

Figure 5: Breakdown of how frequently Survey Participants named different challenges when asked “What is the most pressing challenge facing the globe?”