World leaders have reached an agreement for seeking an effective method to limit global warming to no more than 2°C. However, the world economy and human activity have been emitting more than the global carbon budget required to limit global warming to this level. To get back on track, carbon intensity would need to be reduced at a rate of 3.5% a year to 2020, four times faster than achieved since 2000. The ambition is there, but the targets seem very challenging.

Companies in the energy, utilities and mining industries are on the front-line of climate change challenges. They need to navigate rapidly changing regulation and reporting regimes, markets and technologies that are still in evolution, fluctuating carbon prices and all the other risks that come from a transition to a low carbon economy and a warming planet. But this road also brings new opportunities and new markets for companies in these sectors.

In many respects, market and technological environment for companies to plan their climate change responses is uncertain. In other respects, there are clear signals, not least with regard to the overall direction of travel towards cleaner energy and the imperatives of many national policy requirements.

Brazil, Russia, India and China, known in shorthand as the BRIC countries, are among the largest countries in the world and play an increasing important role in the global economy. They have diverse political, social, macro-and microeconomic environment, and are on the right path to achieve global economic dominance in numerous areas including the global energy.

The unprecedented growth rate of the Chinese energy sector, as efforts to keep pace with the huge demands required for both industrial production and private consumption during the last decade, has a great influence on the global economy. The primary energy production of China is dominated by coal, which represents nearly 70precent of total primary energy supply. Though China possesses 14percent of the world’s proved reserves, industrial needs are responsible for more than 55percent of total consumption, which makes China the seventh biggest exporter and sixth biggest importer of coal. Parallel with this, China has become the largest emitter of CO2 since 2006.

Electricity consumption in China has been grown by 12.5percent annually in the last decade. Similar high growth is expected to continue, total consumption reaching approximately 6,400 TWh by 2020.

SZ&W group can assist in the areas of strategy, risk, regulation and reporting to optimize operations and deliver leading practice. Our goal is to help companies deliver on their climate change ambitions in a way that brings maximum value and competitive advantage. We work with many of the world's leading energy companies to achieve value and high performance. Our clients get reliable, cost-effective, quality advice based on proven methodologies, efficient tools and stable architectures.