All of us can contribute to climate change goals
Recently, President Donald Trump announced the United States was pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. That news upset and depressed many of my friends and students. But surprisingly, this step by the president may lead to positive climate action in the United States.
After the president’s withdrawal, the business community will be challenged to take action on its own. Corporations often prefer governmental regulation because it provides business cost equality. Now, however, individual companies will be tested to determine whether their stated concerns about greenhouse gas emissions are real. We will soon discover that many of these commitments are very real, and major differences will emerge.
We have many climate leaders in the business community. It is now routine for corporate websites to display metrics about carbon dioxide emissions. Some companies have reached carbon neutrality, which means that they have — through the use of renewables, efficiency measures and the purchase of carbon dioxide offsets — managed to have a net zero output of carbon dioxide emissions. Others aspire to this goal.
And it is not just businesses that are pursuing carbon neutrality. Nearly 600 U.S. colleges and universities are participants in the College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which requires carbon neutrality. These institutions have agreed to reach this goal at different times, generally within the next 20 years, a goal that many will accelerate.
And then there is the city movement to carbon neutrality. Several U.S. cities are members of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, including Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Colo., New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C. These cities will enjoy a competitive advantage in recruiting companies interested in carbon neutrality.
Additionally, key building construction, landscape architecture and engineering certification programs award points for carbon neutrality, with some, like the Living Building Challenge, requiring carbon neutrality for certification. Carbon neutrality is rapidly becoming the design standard for the future.
At its core, climate change response demands personal commitment. We all contribute to carbon dioxide emissions and, more important, we are part of the solution. And if enough of us commit to understanding and addressing our carbon footprint, we can change the U.S. without the assistance of the federal government.
The key here is understanding our carbon dioxide emission pattern and acting to change it. When we buy food and clothes, we are purchasing products that carry with them a level of emitted carbon dioxide. When we buy a car or appliances, we make a carbon emission decision. And when we fly somewhere, we leave carbon dioxide in our wake. The sum of that activity leaves a so-called carbon footprint.
Each of us should know and understand our carbon footprint, as should every law firm, accounting firm, fast food store, shopping mall and every other business out there. A personal carbon footprint can be calculated using any of a number of carbon footprint calculators that can be found on the internet. And if we know these effects — if we understand these issues — we can change them.
This optimistic view comes, at least in part, from a belief in the power of the market system and from the knowledge that we are a nation of consumers. If we consumers get our act together and spend our money wisely, we can have a significant influence on corporations that depend upon us — their customers — for their very existence. And it does not take a great percentage of us who choose to vote with our money to change corporate thinking and our climate strategy.
For these and many other reasons, carbon neutrality will become a key element of the economy of the future, and we are at an interesting crossroads. The products that damage our climate and contribute to warming and its associated dangerous weather patterns will become obsolete.
Years ago, my business mentor asked me if I knew anyone who was upset about the fate of the manufacturers of the buggies that used to be pulled by horses. In their day, buggy makers were economic powerhouses. But times changed, and they did not. Times are again changing.
Now stop and think for a moment. We are at a critical turning point, and each of us has a chance to make history. So learn about your carbon footprint and do something about it. And send the business community, and the president, a message by how you spend your money.