Employees can use their power to urge their companies to support new climate policy — but will they listen?
Bill Weihl is a veteran in the corporate sustainability business. The former MIT professor, who went on to spearhead climate-positive initiatives at Facebook and Google, is now addressing a ballroom full of people who have followed suit, spending their days and weeks agitating for carbon reductions in their respective companies. The audience is quiet and focused.
But Weihl has moved on in several important ways. He left the private sector to found the nonprofit ClimateVoice in 2020. Not long after, he was diagnosed with ALS, a debilitating and progressive disease. He requires a wheelchair and he can no longer speak. But that has not kept him from communicating. AI has been used to clone his voice — with incredible fidelity — and deliver his speech as he faces the audience. His message is to go beyond internal sustainability measures, beyond business as usual, and use their influence to support public policy that addresses climate change.
What follows are excerpts from his keynote speech at the recent Greenbiz24 conference in Phoenix:
I want to tell some truths today that we all know in this line of work but rarely say out loud… We all know that our companies have voices — powerful ones. They use them to influence public opinion and public policy and to burnish their reputations. But if we are to make that transition from fossil fuels that the world endorsed at COP28, companies need to do more than pipe up about their latest innovative work, important as that is. They need to speak up for policy progress — loudly, again and again — in public, in marketing campaigns, in conferences like this, with the media, and in city halls, state houses, Washington D.C., Brussels, Seoul, wherever they operate.
Binding policies and regulations, not just voluntary agreements
Some of you may think we’re done with policy. We passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act). What else do we need?
We need to:
- Protect the IRA
- Support regulatory work at the EPA, the SEC, and other agencies
- Avoid catastrophic rulings in court cases
- Enact new state and local policies to accelerate progress on the grid, on transportation and on buildings
And then we need to drive progress next year and beyond.
(Companies) need to speak up for policy progress — loudly, again and again — in public, in marketing campaigns, in conferences like this, with the media and in city halls, state houses, Washington D.C., Brussels, Seoul, wherever they operate.
Companies must support climate regulation
I’ve been in your shoes, working my heart out to lower emissions in operations, supply chains and products. You should all be proud of the progress you’re making. But we also have to be honest about something else: Companies won’t make 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 at far greater scale, not just to decarbonize company by company, but to do it across the entire economy.
Speaking of speed and scale, check out this number ($369 billion). This historic number is the federal amount enacted in 2022 that is accelerating the clean energy transition in 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 endpoint. We all know lawmakers should be doing even more. But right now, fossil fuel interests are lobbying like crazy to pump the breaks. We have made amazing progress in the last two decades on wind, solar, EVs, and other technologies, on corporate action on climate and even on policy. We spend a lot of time celebrating that progress. It is worth celebrating and gives us hope that we can address the climate crisis at the speed and scale required.
We are not on track
At the same time, we know we are not on track. Our carbon budget is literally going up in smoke, and we are still not talking anywhere near enough about what matters most. You won’t hit your own net-zero goals without policy. Society won’t achieve a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon economy without binding policy.
Rally for LEAD
At this point, Weihl’s speech moves to recruiting the audience to sign on to a commitment to support climate policy — a rare call for regulation and policy from business.
I have joined with other former and current sustainability pros to develop a simple, strong statement. It calls on all companies to raise their voices on climate policy. We call it the LEAD statement.
The acronym LEAD, projected overhead behind Weihl, is spelled out:
Leave obstructing trade associations
Elevate climate policy as a company priority
Advocate publicly for effective binding climate policies
Demonstrate real commitment to the collective action needed to achieve the just and equitable transition from fossil fuels agreed on at COP28.
The LEAD statement says:
“As sustainability professionals dedicating our careers to combating climate change we believe that all companies must leverage their power and influence to accelerate climate policy progress. We believe it is time for companies to back climate policy action at the speed and scale required to meet our global goals and avert the worst outcomes. We are united in our concern, our commitment and our confidence in the power of corporate leadership. Specifically, it’s time for all companies to leave obstructing trade associations, elevate climate policy as a company priority, advocate publicly for effective binding climate policies and demonstrate real commitment to the collective action needed to achieve the just and equitable transition from fossil fuels agreed on at COP28. Together we and our companies can meet this moment.”
I invite you to speak up, join with others, and use your voices as a community of sustainability professionals. What happens now is up to all of us.
We were inspired to write this and publish it because of our private conversations with many of you over the last few years, which indicate, much like your applause, that most of you agree with the statement. After finalizing the statement, we decided to pressure test it, so we reached out to a few dozen people to get their reaction, and almost all said, “Hell, yes.”
To sign the statement, go to: WeLeadOnClimatePolicy.org
This is an absolutely critical moment for climate. We all know it. We all feel the heat and the urgency. I invite you to speak up, join with others, and use your voices as a community of sustainability professionals. What happens now is up to all of us. We can help accelerate the systemic change needed to achieve a just transition.
If you know me and care about me, do it for me. More importantly, do it to ensure that the work we are doing matters and moves the needle. Even when my voice is silenced, this community will speak up and be heard. Thank you…
Featured photo: Bill Weihl, founder and co-executive director of Climate Voice, Jennifer Allyn, ClimateVoice’s director of campaigns and programs, and signers of the organization’s LEAD Statement at GreenBiz ’24. Source: Burgundy Visuals for GreenBiz
