Blog from Bill · February 21, 2024
If we are to make that “transition” from fossil fuels the world endorsed at COP28, powerful companies need to do more than advertise their latest innovative solutions. They need to speak up for climate policy progress that alone can address this mounting crisis at the speed and scale we need. Companies should raise their voice in marketing campaigns, with the media, and in city halls, statehouses, Washington, D.C., Brussels, Seoul – wherever they operate. They should be advocating for binding policy – laws and regulations – not just voluntary agreements.
That’s where sustainability professionals can make a real difference. They are the world’s leading experts on corporate sustainability. Together, their voices carry real weight. Their collective chorus can make it easier for companies to do what we need them to do. That was my message on the main stage at the GreenBiz 24 conference last week – and 400+ sustainability professionals responded by signing the LEAD statement, a simple and strong message to companies to step up on climate policy. (And more are signing every day.)
These sustainability professionals are signing the LEAD statement because they know it’s time to say publicly, as a community of expert practitioners, what so many of us have been saying privately: It’s time for companies to LEAD on climate policy. The climate crisis has reached a tipping point, and we must speak up to help companies step up.
I’ve been in the sustainability field, at Google and Facebook (Meta), working my heart out to lower emissions in operations, supply chains, and products. I think sustainability professionals should be very proud of the progress in these areas. But we also have to be honest about something else. Companies won’t achieve their net zero goals without public policy to speed the way and spread the progress. That’s just plain math. In the end, it’s all about speed and scale – moving faster, and to a far greater extent – not just to decarbonize company by company, but across the entire economy.
There is so much important climate policy advocacy work ahead of us. We need to protect the historic climate bill (the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA), support regulatory work at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies, avoid catastrophic rulings in court cases – and enact new state and local policies to accelerate progress on the grid, transportation, and buildings. And then we need to continue to drive progress next year and beyond.
Take the $369 billion IRA investment enacted in 2022 that is accelerating the clean energy transitionin the U.S. This is not just a huge investment of public money – it is transformative because it unlocks much greater amounts of private capital. And that 2022 law is a start, not the end point – we all know lawmakers should be doing even more. But right now fossil fuel interests are lobbying like crazy to pump the brakes on climate progress.
We have made amazing progress over the last two decades: on wind, solar, EVs, other technologies, corporate action on climate, and even on policy. We spend a lot of time celebrating that progress – and it is worth celebrating – it gives us hope we can address the climate crisis in time to avert the worst consequences.
At the same time, the devastating climate data tells us we are not on track. No country. No company. We need to move faster to avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change. Global emissions are still rising. Maybe not as fast as they were. But they need to start falling – and soon!
Society won’t achieve a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon economy without binding policy. And the ovation that I got – and more importantly, the hundreds of signatures on the LEAD statement so far – tell me that sustainability professionals get it. They are ready to raise their voices (and if you’re a sustainability professional, please sign on and share!)
What happens now is up to all of us. We can help accelerate the systemic change needed to achieve a just transition. Let’s tell the world what’s needed, and then let’s go make it happen!
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Bill Weihl is the Founder and Co-Executive Director of ClimateVoice.
🎥 Watch my full keynote from GreenBiz24: https://youtu.be/41TPfI3wEAY