Climate change has been a long and highly connected conversation about leaning into the world of ten years of now. Nigel Topping, at the time of this podcast, was the CEO of We Mean Business coalition. Now he is an Advisory board member at Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment.
Nigels working goals are to bring business and government leaders together to lean into the topic of #Climatechange The five hot areas from this discussion with Nigel that are worth listening to are:
Nigel Topping, Chief Executive Officer, We Mean Business at the COP23 Fiji conference in Bonn, ... [+]
· The idea of zero-emissions have been around a while with companies like Nestle and Unilever, While companies like Walmart are now looking to knock out enough energy from their supply chains that you could power a whole country. The transformation has begun, but it still lacks a “shock people into action,” moment. We are at the end of the internal combustion engine by 2030 and 2040.
· The shift in food habits, health care, better quality product experiences with renewable energy makes it easier for people to see a much more optimistic opportunity through the eyes of the future and not just a focus on the negative possibilities of the future but on the better experiences.
· One of the paradoxes is we should not be critiquing our past (coal, farming, high octane SUV’s) because we asked to have them make. We need to help these groups transition first as we need to honestly reflect on these changes and support these groups first and not abandon them.
· We need to think about operating economically around environmental limitations, or science-based targets and standards. It will happen naturally. These are planetary boundaries. The question is, can we re-engineer our processes to accommodate for this at a company and government levels. New technologies like EV actually allows companies to break through hundreds of years of legacy brand and technologies.
steel industry with two mwtal workers, engineers, seen through giant gear shafts
· The steel and cement industries sit at the heart of the debate because there is such a high energy cost. Imagine having steel and concrete industries having a zero-carbon emissions process because they only use renewable energy. These industries could have a very accelerated shift with one small change. Just look at the electric London cabs that feel better for passengers and drivers. · Part of the energy for these changes is around re-imagining our personal roles in business. For example, can we answer the classic Millennial interview question in an interview about what the company is doing for the environment?
Building a coalition for action sits at the core as Nigel gets to see the boards of major companies truly understand the need for reimagining capitalism and our roles in making it happen.
