Within the COP29 Green Zone in Baku, Azerbaijan, and broadcasted live online, McKinsey Sustainability hosted hundreds of business leaders and stakeholders for six days of compelling discussions on moving sustainability beyond plans to progress.

Our sessions, ranging from strategic climate finance to innovative climate technologies, shared actionable insights into achieving net-zero targets, scaling what works, and navigating the evolving landscape of climate risks, from leading voices and experts across industries and geographies. 

On COP’s closing day, McKinsey Sustainability and expert guests will share their perspectives on the key milestones achieved at COP29. What were the great debates? What will be the impact of the agreements made? What was not yet achieved? And importantly—what comes next? Join us for this final session wrapping up McKinsey’s programming at COP29.

Speakers: Vishal Agarwal (Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company), Claire O'Neill (Former UK Energy Minister, Board Co- Chair WBCSD)

Visionary entrepreneurs are driving groundbreaking solutions that not only tackle climate change but also create economic value at scale. We'll explore the strategies these entrepreneurs are implementing to scale their solutions beyond 100-fold, drawing parallels to the successful scaling of solar, wind, and battery technologies. During this session we will have a keynote and panel discussion with next-wave innovators as they share the critical strategies, challenges, and successes they’ve encountered on their journey to scale impactful climate solutions.

Speakers: Lisbeth Kaufman (Head of Climate Tech Startups BD, Amazon Web Services), Sam Ramadori (CEO, BrainBox AI), Parag Sharma (Founder and CEO, O2 Power Private Limited)

Stefan Helmeke (Mckinsey, Senior Partner), Mark Patel, (McKinsey, Senior Partner)

Leaders are now considering how to respond to rising climate risks, and business decisions made over the next decade will also need to factor in climate resilience. This session will bring together a set of leaders from across sectors and geographies to discuss how they are planning for a changing climate.

Speakers: Jose Luis Blasco (CSO of Acciona, CEO of Acciona Carbon Technologies), Jörg Eigendorf (Chief Sustainability Officer, Deutsche Bank), Jay Koh (Managing Director & Co-Founder, The Lightsmith Group)

Mekala Krishnan (McKinsey, Partner) , Alexis Trittipo (McKinsey, Partner)

The transformation of the global economy needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 would be universal and significant. Despite significant investment, financers are grappling with where to focus their attention as some recent investments have not moved the needle as expected. A path forward will require capital-intensive climate tech to derisk the business case and financers to get creative, from taking advantage of public incentives to using robust risk management to invest earlier in project lifecycles. This session will cover how investors across the capital stack can set up profitable propositions and identify impactful investment opportunities.

Speakers: H.E. Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi (Chief Executive Officer, ALTÉRRA climate investment fund), Charlie Gailliot (Partner & Global Co-Head of Climate, KKR), Siddharth Malik (Chief Executive Officer, Vulcan Green Energy), Ted Persson (Partner, EQT Ventures), Vikram Raju (Head of Climate Investments, Morgan Stanley)

Adam Kendall (McKinsey, Partner), Daniel Stephens (McKinsey, Senior Partner)

Mobility development is at a critical juncture. While e-mobility, digital innovation, micro-mobility, and regulatory incentives have driven rapid EV adoption, recent macroeconomic headwinds, reduced investment, and ongoing profitability challenges are causing a slowdown. How will the sector address these issues? What concrete steps can business leaders and policymakers take to accelerate progress in the coming years?

This session will explore these questions and provide actionable insights to navigate and advance the future of mobility. Following an initial short framing presentation—with a double click on EVs—join our panel discussion of leaders in the mobility space to hear their views on how to unlock progress toward decarbonization in the sector.

Speakers: Allyson Anderson Book (Chief Sustainability Officer, Baker Hughes), Nicholas Mazzei (VP for Sustainability Europe, DP World), Robert Tichio (Chief Executive Officer, Fortescue Capital)

Patrick Hertzke (McKinsey, Partner); Philipp Kampshoff (McKinsey, Senior Partner)

Despite recent momentum, the energy transition is at an early stage. McKinsey research indicates that net-zero ambitions will not arrive this century if we continue down the current trajectory. A drastic course-correct is needed, but a global one-size-fits-all approach will do more harm than good. Instead, regional solutions must be tailored to local conditions and trajectories. Ambitiously rethinking the path forward on energy transition will require balancing global ambitions with local realities, addressing region-specific bottlenecks, and managing resource constraints. This session will reimagine future energy systems that meet region-specific needs while meeting economic development, affordability, reliability, and competitiveness goals.

Speakers: Rory Clune (McKinsey, Senior Partner); Diego Hernandez Diaz (McKinsey, Partner)

During a McKinsey Live session, senior partner Vishal Agarwal and partner Anna Granskog previewed the upcoming Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), more commonly known as COP29. Thousands of public- and private-sector leaders, nongovernmental organizations, activists, and others from 200 countries will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 23, 2024, with the goals of delivering rapid and sustained emissions reductions to keep global temperatures below 1.5°C and zero emissions by 2050.

Speakers: Vishal Agarwal (McKinsey, Senior Partner), Anna Granskog (McKinsey, Partner), Lucia Rahilly (McKinsey, Editorial Director)