13. In the context of our conversation today, a key role of responsible investment is, of course, to fund innovation – the third of our three forces. Human ingenuity has repeatedly confounded those who declared a problem to be unsolvable. The technologies of clean energy, efficient agriculture, water management and resilient construction are advancing at a pace that would have seemed improbable only a generation ago. In 2025, wind, solar and other renewables overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity. For me, this is a sign of progress; and a cause for optimism.

14. Indeed, I firmly believe that research, discovery, and invention have the potential to navigate us through the climate crisis. But intent and motivation matter. According to our tradition, good innovation, bid‘ah hasanah, is a tool, and a tool takes its worth from the hand that wields it and the purpose to which it is turned. Consider the story of DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane)⁸ – hailed in the mid-twentieth century as the miracle solution to insect-borne disease and crop loss, deployed at extraordinary scale until we discovered it was silently destroying the very ecosystems that sustained the crops it was meant to protect.⁹ Take also the more recent temptation of geoengineering – proposals to dim the sun itself with sulphate particles, to buy time, rather than to change course. Each of these innovations is technically ingenious. They also share the same flaw: they treat the symptoms of a mistreated planet, while leaving the disease of unrestrained appetite and growth for growth’s sake entirely undisturbed.

15. Instead, what we need is targeted innovation, which is guided by and geared towards behavioural change, as well as technical fixes. Innovation must be underpinned, moreover, by thorough knowledge, hailed in our tradition as a sacred gift – as the Qur’an says, "And He taught Adam the names of all things".¹⁰ When innovation is driven by the right purpose, and founded upon deep understanding, we see real change for the better. Scientific proof that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were responsible for the hole in the ozone layer led to global policy change, and as a result, the hole is shrinking. In 2025, the Antarctic ozone hole was the smallest and shortest lived it had been in five years, confirming for scientists that policies aimed at phasing out ozone-depleting chemicals are having a real and positive impact.

16. Another, similar example is the reduction in acid rain across Europe and North America, which began towards the end of the twentieth century. Once scientists were able to prove that the acidity was caused by emissions of gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, a combination of policy change and technical innovation helped reduce the emissions, which in turn helped reduce acid rainfall. As a result, the affected ecosystems – for instance, freshwater lakes – are beginning to recover, though acid rain of course remains a pressing issue across much of Asia.

17. From this last example, in particular, I believe there is much we can learn. Firstly, it is a sobering truth that scientific research into the causes of acid rain was initially curbed, and almost prevented altogether, by business interests that viewed the potential impact on their operations as a threat to profits. Influential voices with ulterior motives, protecting their own financial interests over the interests of the natural world: this remains a risk today. I say once again that we must not, we cannot, allow the pursuit of profit to get in the way of the protection of the planet – not least because, in the end, it is a false distinction. Only in the very short term can profit and the planet be considered opposing goals or values. If we fail to reverse the harm we have done to our planet, we will be worse off in all senses of the phrase. The near miss in the case of acid rain research, therefore, stands as a cautionary tale: a reminder to pursue what we know is right for the planet, even in the face of obstruction.

18. The second lesson I would draw from the successful reduction of acid rain is that, sometimes, the true innovation is for us, as humans, to do less. The temptation, in a crisis, is to throw more and more elaborate solutions into the mix – and these can have a valuable impact. But with acid rain, as with the hole in the ozone layer, what we really needed to do, above all else, was reduce our carbon footprint, put less into the environment, not more. With emissions lowered, the lakes whose ecosystems were wiped out by acid rain are gradually recovering on their own. Indeed, our planet’s own resilience is nothing short of miraculous.

19. The process of climate recovery will take time. The impact of humanity’s mistreatment of the planet did not reveal itself straight away, and the impact of our attempts to undo this damage will take even longer to materialize. We must be patient. We must respect the planet’s own healing process. The positive changes we make today could take decades to manifest: and far from being a reason to delay those changes, this is, absolutely, the best reason we have to act now.

20. The Qur’an describes how, when people are tested – for instance, by a storm at sea – they turn to God with a sincerity that seems unshakeable. We saw this, I think, during the pandemic – a brief, global moment of humility, of reflection, of neighbourliness. And we have watched it evaporate just as quickly. A test that is passed and then forgotten has taught us nothing. The measure of a community’s faith is not what it does in the storm, but what it does once it reaches the shore.

21. When it comes to the climate emergency, we are, absolutely, in the middle of the storm. And I think there is global – though not unanimous – recognition that we need to act decisively, and act fast. But if we make it to the shore this time, it will not do to simply slip back into old habits, old motivations, and forget this lesson. We need to embed a change of purpose, attitude and behaviour for good. We need to unite the forces of capital and innovation in service of the climate, for a lasting impact and a truly resilient future.

22. Before closing, I want to add a word on justice, for it cannot be absent from this conversation. Those who have contributed least to the warming of our planet are very often those who suffer its consequences most acutely. The nations of the developing world, many of them young, populous, and rich in promise, did not create the greater part of this crisis, yet they stand the most exposed to it. True resilience cannot be built for some while it is denied to others. The capital and the innovation of which we speak must reach those who need them most, and not only those with the means to bear the financial cost.

23. To the young, in particular, I would say this. You will inherit the consequences of the choices made in rooms such as this one, and you are right to hold my generation to account for them. But I urge you to meet this inheritance not with despair, which only paralyses, but with resolve, which builds. Our Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wassalam taught that even if the Final Hour itself were upon you, and you held a seedling in your hand, you should plant it even then.¹¹ There is scarcely a wiser counsel from the Prophet for our age. We act, we build, and we plant, because the act itself is right, whatever the outcome may prove to be.

24. My hope for this Roundtable is therefore a practical one. That we leave it resolved to bring the capital we command, the innovation we pursue, and the responsibility we bear into a single and coherent effort. Let us build with the coming generations in mind, and not merely with an eye to the returns of the coming year. And let us remember that the Mother Earth we enjoy is a trust, to be handed on to those who follow us in no worse a condition than we ourselves received it.

25. May Allah grant us wisdom in the stewardship that has been entrusted to us, and make of our efforts a benefit that continues long after we are gone, amin!