Crossing the Climate Divide: Corporate Leaders Commit to Climate Action

By CSRwire Contributing Writer Bill Baue of Sea Change Media

In a Sunday Washington Post op-ed, climate crusader Bill McKibben told a tale of two presidents: Barack Obama, who the week before conceded with other world leaders that a new, legally-binding climate treaty won't emerge from COP15 in Copenhagen; and Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, who held a cabinet meeting underwater to demonstrate the need for climate action. The difference between these two leaders defines the "climate divide." That's what separates those willing to act boldly to divert us from climate chaos, and everyone else - ranging from those actively working against climate action, to those like Obama who fall short of their potential to lead.

The climate divide is making itself known in the corporate community. On one side is, for example, the US Chamber of Commerce, whose opposition to climate legislation has led to the "noisy" exodus of Apple, Mohawk Paper, PG&E, Exelon, and PNM Resources, according to a New York Times profile last week. On the other side are companies showing their commitment to climate action by joining organizations such as US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) and Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), a project of the environmental-investor coalition Ceres.

While the Chamber is experiencing attrition, BICEP added three new members - Ben & Jerry's, Eileen Fisher, and Stonyfield Farm - which exemplify corporate climate leadership. For example, Stonyfield not only invests in energy efficiency, carbon offsets, and renewable energy for its operations, but the company also founded Climate Counts, a research non-profit that rates corporate climate practices such as emissions reductions and support for climate legislation.

Climate Counts, which stimulates competition between companies to improve their efforts to reduce their climate impacts, released its third annual scorecard last week. For the second year in a row, Nike topped the rankings, scoring 83 (out of 100) this year. The overall scores saw significant improvement this year, with 81 of the companies increasing by 22 percent. And a number of scores jumped big-time, such as eBay (up 48 points), US Airways (up 43 points), Apple (up 41 points), and Levi Strauss (up 36.)

Jeff Swartz, CEO of BICEP-member Timberland, noted the irony that corporations are showing more leadership on climate action than government leaders in a series of tweets on the morning of the concession announcement from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit: "'Leaders' say an agreement at COP can't be made. Fact is, they choose not to do the hard work, make the hard choices. Leaders in name only," he tweeted. "Scores of 4profit competitive biz reduce CO2s, demand govts do their part. We get photos of 'leaders' in matching shirts from Asia. Ycch," Swartz added a few minutes later.

The crucial question is: will more companies (and political leaders) cross the climate divide by committing to climate catastrophe avoidance? Only time (a resource in short supply) will tell.

Disclosure: Bill Baue is currently editing reports for Ceres.