No matter where we work every job is a climate job now

when it comes to the climate crisis

what corporations do over the next few

years

is existential and we can’t leave it to

a small group of people to determine

our global fate no matter what we do for

a living

every job is a climate job now and all

of us

every employee citizen human being

can build power to change the course of

history

in our places of work the economy and

our broader world

so far the response of most companies to

the climate crisis

has been defined by constraints who gets

to work on it

what skills and expertise are valued

what does success look like and who has

a say

and most companies set needlessly

restrictive climate goals

which set out only to reduce the amount

of harm they’re causing

instead of also focusing on how they

need to use their leverage

to help build the thriving equitable

world we need

but we all know that our response

isn’t anywhere close to adequate

we see it all around us in wildfires

floods we feel it in our bones

in this the most all-encompassing

challenge

we have ever faced it’s the unstoppable

uncontainable force of nature itself

that we must emulate in how we rise up

to address this challenge

have you ever watched flood waters come

gushing over a levee

or noticed how tree roots will literally

break apart

concrete in the sidewalk in its pursuit

of life

to meet the magnitude of this moment

will require that we

unleash a power only rivaled by nature

itself

opening the floodgates to bring in every

solution

every solver workers from every part of

the workforce

bringing technical expertise but also

fresh approaches

diverse backgrounds creativity emotional

content

and more accountability the people

currently tasked with leading climate

response within companies

are often small teams that are under

resourced

they’ve been doing heroes work but they

can’t do it alone

and they don’t have to so many people

want to contribute and i’ve got good

news

we know what needs to be done and there

are

infinite ways to engage i work for an

organization called project

drawdown our team has scoured humanity’s

wisdom

for solutions to draw down heat trapping

climate changing emissions in our

atmosphere

not solutions that exist in a laboratory

or an incubator somewhere

but the 80 practices and technologies

that materially affect the concentration

of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

solutions that are already being

implemented in the world today

solutions that by and large already

existed in order to address

another social problem solutions that

will make us healthier

more resilient address inequity improve

our cities

maybe even make us happier all while

they address the climate crisis

for example we know how we can reduce

the sources of emissions

how well we can shift to renewable

energy

like solar and wind to green buildings

that are more efficient

to alternative transportation efficient

and electric

to agricultural practices that are

regenerative for the soil

by addressing food waste and our diets

eating more plants and less meat

we can also support and enhance the

sinks of carbon dioxide found in nature

when we protect and restore ecosystems

at land

and at sea and finally we can educate

women and girls globally which not only

addresses climate change

but achieves broader societal

transformation

rooted in gender equity and human

well-being

so this mosaic of solutions gives us a

vision for what an equitable sustainable

world

can and should look like but these

climate solutions

don’t scale themselves in many cases

it’s exactly those corporations most

responsible

for the emissions that cause climate

change that have

the scale resources and obligation

to turn the tide and if those companies

want to exist

in the era of climate change then turn

the tide

they must and that’s where you come in

in our organization’s latest publication

we identify

a number of accelerators that create the

conditions for climate solutions to

scale in the world

one of them is build power

building power is a precondition for

creating change

in the past too much power has been

deployed against climate action

and too little has been assembled to

advance solutions

but do you know who holds real power

inside companies

employees employees have tremendous

power

in building communities like this one

sharing knowledge and best practices

across disciplines and holding their

companies

to the standard that this challenge

demands

and i’m not talking about employees

implementing recycling programs or

installing compost bins though both are

good starts

i’m talking about workers across the

business from warehouse workers to

coders delivery people to designers

changing the nature of business itself

so the business

exists as a means to implement climate

solutions

quickly safely and equitably

so let me ask you do you work at a

company that exists

at least in part to address the climate

crisis

not are they committing to reducing

their emissions over time

but are they actually contributing

productively to the thriving

equitable sustainable world we need to

build

my opinion is that for the cur our

current economic model to survive

the world needs millions of us to be

able to answer that question

in the affirmative but my sense is that

right now

most of us can’t so how can we

each of us and as a community with power

be a part of changing the nature of

business

what would it look like to make climate

central to the business model of

every company on earth how many new

skill sets and capacities might that

bring to the table

how many new jobs how much passion

the climate crisis is an incredible

opportunity to put

all human minds hearts and hands to work

a pursuit worthy of expending the sum

total of

all human energy so

the place you work right now how can

that entity

actually play a role in helping build

the world we need

let yourself imagine is it possible

if not or if it’s too hard to see the

company you work for

getting from here to there then maybe

that company

or that sector is not fit for the future

we need

but if it is possible and exciting to

you

then that is what you should use your

power and your skills

and your community and this road map of

climate solutions

to build so far society has evolved

somewhat haphazardly

we didn’t have a grand strategy for what

the world should be

we didn’t dream together and then set

out to proactively build the world we

wanted to live in

but today we have an incredible

opportunity in front of us

an urgent demand that we radically

transform society

to address the climate crisis a tidal

wave of people who want to contribute

and a mosaic of accessible and ready to

implement solutions

that provide the roadmap to get us there

we have been trying to put parameters

and constraints around something that is

uncontainable

the climate crisis doesn’t fit into our

neatly defined boxes

as much as we wish it would it spills

into every aspect of life so responding

to it with the same level of

expansiveness

is the only way forward we know how to

get there

but in order to do it we need everyone

thank you