Our 2025 Climate and Nature Predications: Here’s what we’re watching for in what promises to be a big year for climate and nature
By: Gary Zed, Founder & CEO, Canada’s Forest Trust Corporation
As January has shown us, 2025 promises to be an eventful year – politically, financially, socially, environmentally. I know they say it is a blessing to live in interesting times, but is anyone else wishing that one of these years could be boring?
In 2024, we tracked the key trends and innovations that shaped the climate scene. Now at the beginning of the year, we are looking at our crystal ball (and digging into our expertise) to make our climate predictions for 2025. We forecast there will be tough setbacks as well as some major progress.
Here’s what we’re watching for in the year ahead:
1️⃣ Extreme weather will create more climate impacts in Canada - and more people calling for serious action
Floods and wildfires will continue to disrupt daily life, and will cause harm for many Canadians. People will see their homes, communities, and even safety threatened by climate change, and this will push more Canadians to call for serious climate action from their governments and businesses.
2️⃣ There will be zero tolerance for greenwashing
Regulators and consumers alike are clamping down on greenwashing. They want to see authenticity, and make sure that environmental promises are based in fact and lead to meaningful impact. With companies having taken a closer look at their public promises in the last year, we’ll hopefully see better behaviour on greenwashing – and we’ll know that company commitments mean what they say.
3️⃣ Provinces, territories, states, and cities will drive climate action
As federal governments in Canada and the United States see transition, climate and nature progress will charge ahead at the regional level. Cities will continue to pass progressive bylaws and work towards greener cities with less pollution. With President Trump in the White House, states will take matters into their own hands. In Canada, with an eye on federal politics and an election in 2025 that may be (another) climate election, provinces and territories will continue with their energy transition plans and nature agreements. .
4️⃣ Companies will continue to ramp up investments in climate action – with corporate responsibility sometimes coming from surprising places
Businesses know that their consumers are demanding environmental responsibility. With targets and ESG plans in place, companies will continue to invest in their climate and nature goals. As extreme weather continues to dominate headlines, it becomes clearer every day that climate change has huge implications on supply chains, stability, employee well-being, and the bottom line. At the same time, companies are watching the trend of big banks backing out of climate commitments. Many companies will stay committed to their climate goals and will even double down. The approaches and mechanisms through which they take action will look different across sectors and businesses. Ecological responsibility will come from beyond the usual suspects: for example, through initiatives like our Climate Protection+, we will see dealers and the auto industry stepping up for the planet.
5️⃣ Nature will continue to be front and centre
No longer taking a backseat to climate action, safeguarding nature and biodiversity will be a main part of the environmental conversation. Companies are increasingly seeing the business benefits of investing in a safe and stable planet, from the benefits to their supply chains to improving their reputation with their customers. Plus, their employees care about nature and are looking to their employers to focus on going green. Research will continue to show that proper reforestation is key to mitigating climate change, with many social, economic, and ecological benefits – when done right. People will increasingly make the connection between climate and nature, and see how solutions need to address both.
6️⃣ International action will continue against a backdrop of disruption
As individual regions and nations face their own environmental, political, and economic challenges, international cooperation will be an important driver of imperfect progress. In February, countries will resume critical biodiversity conversations in Rome, Italy, after negotiations stalled in Cali in 2024. Later in the year, the UN’s annual climate conference COP will take place in Brazil, no doubt with a sense of urgency and high stakes.
7️⃣ Youth driving trends and decisions
Gen Z will continue driving important trends and purchasing decisions, and Gen Alpha – the largest generation in the history of the world – is heading into their teens and starting to make their mark. For Gen Z, climate change is a heavy emotional burden. Likewise, Gen Alpha is worried about climate change, and rightly predicts that they will experience climate change differently, and more directly, than previous generations. These young people will be shaped by this worry, and will bring these experiences to the decisions they make as consumers and, increasingly over the coming years, decision-makers in companies. At Canada’s Forest Trust Corporation, because we care deeply about youth impact, we have an exciting announcement in February 2025 that will shape our business in the year to come and beyond.
What’s certain is that people of all generations and many walks of life care deeply about climate and nature, and will want to see more meaningful action. Increasingly, people will care deeply about climate action in a personal way as they witness increasing impacts, and this will be an important consideration alongside worries about the economy, housing, and political stability. We’re rooting for this to be a year that is a major turning point for accelerated action.
