About The Cooler Earth 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stress-test. Its unprecedented socio-economic impacts exposed the vulnerability and frailties of human civilisation. It has signaled to both people and businesses that if unprepared, social, economic and environmental risks can lead us to devastation. Indifference and inaction today to mitigate such risks will compromise our future.

The world is gearing-up. Globally, 34 countries, covering 1,925 jurisdictions, and over 826 million citizens, have declared the Climate Emergency. Nearly every nation on Earth (197) has made commitments to combat climate change under the Paris Agreement. The commitments to net zero targets have doubled over the last one year.

People are also interested to know how organisations are treating their most critical input to business – their human capital especially in the midst of the current health crisis. In short, a new reign of stakeholder capitalism has begun, pushing businesses and people closer to their greater purpose. 

It is high time. We need to Align, Act, and Accelerate our plans to future-proof our people, businesses, and ecosystems. It is time to lay a stronger foundation today to build a sustainable tomorrow.

The Cooler Earth 2021 will continue to ‘dialogue for action’, with a special focus on the paradigm shift required for a dramatic reset:

• How are businesses and governments accelerating efforts to integrate sustainability principles for a resilient future? 
• What concrete steps are financial institutions taking to steer the industry and be part of sustainable solutions? 
• How are leaders catalysing collective commitments and definitive action towards shaping a responsible future for future generation of both businesses and people?

In fulfilling CIMB’s purpose of Advancing Customers and Society, we continue our mission to mobilise industry experts, leaders, financiers, investors, policy- and decision-makers to change the paradigm of business and finance.

We also recognise the growing significance of youth involvement in realising the sustainability agenda. Hence this year, we are dedicating a full day for the youth, curated fully by the young talents from CIMB Group's The Complete Banker Programme, as a platform that would encourage and enable youth engagement for global action. 

The Cooler Earth motif has adapted its colours from Climate Stripes, a visualisation of rising temperature from cool (blue) to warm (red), reflecting how it threatens ecosystems, including our social and economic fabric. In our motif, the red stripes, reflecting the current scenario, slowly transform back to blue, which is and should be the collective responsibility and mission of humankind and every effort such as this summit.