Companies: It’s “Go Time” for Climate Policy
By Bill Weihl
Companies: It’s “Go Time” for Climate Policy
By Bill Weihl
Climate-positive companies now stand at a momentous crossroads on climate policy. Congress is debating once-in-a-generation climate legislation as part of the Build Back Better Act. This will be a tough few weeks and the legislation needs all the support it can get to make it to the finish line. For climate policy, so long neglected in Washington, it’s finally “go time”.
At the very time when we desperately need forward momentum, too many “climate-positive” companies are cautious or riding the brakes. Based on data compiled by the think tank InfluenceMap, ClimateVoice scored twenty climate-positive major companies on their actions (or inactions) on the Build Back Better Act. The new ClimateVoice Corporate Scorecard finds that 10 companies are “obstructing” (either silent or opposing via their trade associations), 10 are “cautious” (only supportive in part) and zero thus far are “leading” with full-throated backing of the bill.
These climactic weeks on Capitol Hill have brought companies to a turning point that will have dire consequences not just for their business and their customers, but for every community in America. For average people whose loved ones drowned in their cars, saw their homes devoured by flames, or perished in a scorching heat wave, a betrayal of corporate pro-climate commitments in this critical moment would not just look callous and self-interested. It would reflect a breathtaking inability to see the “code red” message from the IPCC this summer: that we simply cannot afford another failure to act.
Big Tech is a prime example of climate actions and rhetoric that don’t always match. Apple and Google, which both support Clean Energy Standards — an endangered part of the Biden climate plan — are now using the Business Roundtable as a front to block corporate tax increases in the plan they don’t like. Microsoft, which has made large investments in carbon reduction, took a significant step in early October, backing the climate provisions in the reconciliation bill -- but still not stopping its trade associations from wreaking havoc.
Most of Big Tech is still stuck in what climatologist Michael Mann calls climate “inactivism,” focusing too much on individual corporate and personal choices and not enough on the public policies that can drive rapid systemic change, while quietly letting their major trade associations spend millions to kill the Build Back Better Act.
We can still turn this around. The key votes and backroom battles lie ahead, so it’s not too late for climate-positive companies to start leading and for Big Tech and others to be the good guys who save the planet. We’re calling on everyone who cares about winning this historic victory to visit Go Time for Climate, see where companies stand, and tweet company leaders to let them know you expect them to meet this crucial moment.
America’s climate-positive companies must and will be held publicly accountable, whichever direction they take in the next few weeks. This is ultimately a choice between long-term abundance and short-term gains, between our planet and its destruction, between tackling a huge problem at scale or nibbling around the edges. No more consequential matter has ever reached the C-suites of corporate America. Let’s make sure they know that.
Hopefully, in a few months, these powerful companies will unite in celebrating a great climate victory — which they helped bring about. The alternative is frankly too scary to contemplate.
🎙Startup Series
This week, Jason sat down with Zach Stein, Co-Founder & CEO of Carbon Collective. Carbon Collective is a sustainable investing platform that provides low-fee, diversified portfolios built for solving climate change.
✨Highlights
Climate Jobs
For more open positions, check out the #climatejobs channel in MCJ Slack.
Community Energy Labs is looking for a Program Manager
Noon Energy, a long-duration energy storage start-up, is hiring for several roles including a Chief of Staff and Ops Manager
Ampd Energy (electrifying construction sites) is looking for a CFO who can “own” discussions with asset financing partners. HK-based
Activate is hiring various roles including Fellowship Managers, Recruitment Managers, Director of Philanthropic Partnerships, and HR manager
Carbonfact (YC S21) is hiring a Head of Science (Paris/partly remote)
Foresight Management is hiring a Senior Project Manager in Building Performance
Climate Events
For more community events, check out the #events channel in Slack or the MCJ Calendar on Luma.
🌁MCJ Bay Area Meet up (Sunday, October 24th at 3 pm PT)
MCJ SF Bay Area gang! We are hosting another monthly SF meetup to connect, ideate, share ideas and get help from like-minded friends. Our next one will be Sunday, October 24th at 3 pm PT at Radhaus (Landmark Building A, 114, San Francisco, CA 94109) RSVP here
🏙MCJ Boston Meet up (Tuesday, October 26th at 6:30 pm ET)
Meet MCJers in Boston! Stay tuned for deets on the location, but for now, mark your calendars! Feel free to DM Amira V with your email address and she’ll add you to the invite.
🎡MCJ London Meet up (Wednesday, October at 27th 5pm - 8pm GT)
Juliette Devillard and Hamish Richardson are happy to have organized a climate networking event next Wednesday at Sustainable Workspaces (Waterloo, London). They’d would love for this event to be a chance for the MCJ members to gather in-person and begin to foster a local London climate community. RSVP here!
🏙MCJ Chicago Meet up (Wednesday, October 27th at 7 pm CT)
Come meet MCJers in the Chicago area! We have a table at Uncommon Ground, Lakeview (3800 N Clark Street) for 7 PM on 27th Oct (Wednesday). The table is in the name of Arooshi Dahiya. RSVP here!
🎙MCJ Podcast Listening Study Group (Wednesday, October 27th at 9 pm ET)
Join the very first MCJ podcast listening study group later this month! We selected a classic first episode to listen to, How to Save a Planet: Is Your Carbon Footprint BS! RSVP here!
This Week in MCJ is a free weekly email curating news, jobs, MCJ episodes, and other noteworthy happenings in the MCJ community.
💭If you have feedback or items you’d like to include, feel free to reach out.
📨If someone forwarded this to you, sign up!