Climate Champions: Real-Time Leadership in Action

If the President’s announced departure from the Paris climate agreement is disappointing to many, the immediate leadership in response is heartening.

As the news sank in, on Thursday afternoon and evening, Twitter lit up with calls to American mayors, governors, and businesses to take charge. The response was remarkable, and it continues as I write.

A smattering of instant action:

• The governors of California, New York, and Washington state, which comprise 20% of America’s population and GDP, quickly announced a new United States Climate Alliance; statements from other governors followed.
• Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced coordination of a “parallel pledge”: a group of 30 mayors, three governors, 80 university residents and 100+ businesses to participate in the Paris agreement despite official U.S. refusal. “Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up—and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us.” he said. Bloomberg Philanthropies committed $15 million to “make up the approximately $15 million in funding that the U.N.’s Climate Secretariat stands to lose from Washington.”
• The Mayor of Pittsburgh coolly denounced the President’s now infamous wishful attachment to his city:

CEOs had already piled on in advance of the Rose Garden address: calling Trump to advise staying in the Paris deal in the days leading up to the announcement, posting full-page ads and coordinated communications. Signatories comprise a range of commercial sectors – finance, chemicals, energy, apparel, automotive, tech, sneakers, jeans, beer, banks, candy, and family entertainment among them.

Investors representing more than $17 trillion of assets under management urged the G7 to reiterate its support for the Paris accord. All but one country – you guessed it: ours -- did so.

Coincidentally, on the previous day Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, encountered an unprecedented majority of shareholders at his annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. Individuals, pension funds, and the largest shareholder, BlackRock, demanded a carbon accounting about the company’s business risk. For the first time, Woods (whose predecessor, current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly urged Trump to stay in the Paris climate deal) acknowledged that more must be done.

Within minutes of Trump’s announcement, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s Robert Iger tweeted their departures from the White House Strategic & Policy Forum, a business advisory council.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein seized the opportunity to send his first-ever tweet!

When the history of the Paris agreement is written, perhaps Trump’s misguided proclamation will be viewed as nothing more than a spasm of “vacuous political melodrama,” as United Nations climate VIP Christiana Figueras called it. And more: this could be the last straw for Americans who remain on the fence about climate action.

In the face of such obdurate recklessness and irresponsible influence on worldwide display, an unintended consequence for the White House might arise: the burgeoning, unstoppable groundswell of public support for Climate Action. A woke populace demanding expedient adoption of the solutions that can move the world away from carbon pollution.

“The electric jolt of the last 48 hours is accelerating this process that was already underway,” said Robert Orr, an architect of the Paris accord, now a dean at the University of Maryland. “It’s not just the volume of actors that is increasing, it’s that they are starting to coordinate in a much more integral way.”

Leadership from the business world will be viewed as an essential component to this galvanized transition, and we should insist on it. As customers, employee, shareholders, and neighbors, we can be leaders in our own circles of influence.

What, exactly, can we do? Ten suggestions:

1. We can continue to learn the science, tune in to reliable resources, and join training for climate action.

2. We can be mindful of our own energy consumption, choosing clean energy and limiting waste whenever it’s possible.

3. We can speak up and get involved instead of being complacent bystanders.

4. We can help those who are already bearing the brunt of global warming impacts.

5. We can urge management to invest in education and training for a climate-savvy, resilient workforce.

6. We can vote for officials who are all-in, who have a plan to drawdown local and regional carbon footprints.

7. If our city has a climate plan, we can get involved instead of waiting to be asked.

8. We can plug in to the many excellent activist organizations working hard to curb CO2 emissions.

9. We can support the fine collaborative initiatives that link scientists to media, weather broadcasters, doctors, and other trusted sources.

Also, we can view the confident, articulate CEOs as champions in the world’s low-carbon transition. We can make their products our #favoritebrands.

***

Follow Sarah Finnie Robinson on Twitter @SarahFRobinson