The Whole Truth
In 2006 when Taylor Francis was 14 years old, he saw Al
Gore’s climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Inspired, he wrote to Gore’s organization and soon joined its Climate Reality campaign, spending his high school years traveling the world and giving his own version of Gore’s slideshow presentation. Today, he’s still leveraging data to try to mitigate climate change, as the cofounder of Watershed, a startup whose software helps companies such as Airbnb, Doordash, and Sweetgreen assess their impact on the environment and develop aggressive net-zero carbon plans. “I’m not having a lot of bleeding-heart conversations,” Francis says. “Carbon disclosure and reduction is part of corporate governance now.”
The first seven firms on our 2022 list of the world’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (page 28), including Watershed at No. 6, are devoted to some aspect of ameliorating the climate crisis. Our No. 1 company, Stripe (page 30), is known for being one of the most important players in financial technology. But what’s remarkable this year is the growth of Stripe Climate, which makes it easy for customers to set aside a portion of revenue from their internet payments to help create a market for daring carbon-removal technologies. Tens of thousands of Stripe customers are already doing so, and that number is growing. We hope all of the climate-related companies we showcase spur you to bake climate reduction into the essence of what you do.
Each of our top 50 honorees demonstrates a distinct way that businesses are rising to meet this moment—and look beyond it. Flexport, along with Indonesia’s Shipper, for example, is digitizing the global supply chain to make it more efficient. Meanwhile, companies as varied as Hybe, Dapper Labs, and Chipotle are creating new experiences to connect with fans both virtually and in real life. In our cover feature on Canva CEO Melanie Perkins (page 40), senior writer Mark Wilson explores how her influential design software company allows anyone to create just about any kind of visual content. He also looks at her bold plan to give away her riches. You’ll hear from many of the leaders of these companies at the second annual MIC Summit, which will take place virtually April 26–27.
This year’s MIC edition is a testament to the vision and leadership of Stephanie Mehta, who has been Fast Company’s editor-inchief since 2018. Stephanie is leaving the EIC role, but she’s not going far: She’s now CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures, parent company of Fast Company and Inc. We are grateful to Stephanie for her guidance and know she will continue to inspire us.