A moment during one of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s circuit of Climate Week NYC appearances captured the mood of many sustainability and climate professionals who chose to fill New York hotels and streets last week: Frustration with inaction.
Newsom, who spoke during the event’s opening ceremony Sept. 17, described the sorrow of visiting entire towns, including Paradise, California, that have been virtually wiped off the map by wildfires. He also described a conversation with his teenage daughter who told him she is filled with "dread and stress" about the eco-crisis unfolding around the world. "Her lack of optimism was incalculable," he said.
His comments came two days after the state filed a sweeping lawsuit against major fossil fuel companies, including San Ramon, California-based Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute, demanding they fund damage caused by extreme weather events and wildfires exacerbated by climate change.
Enough is enough, Newsom suggested, as he talked about the lawsuit and a first-in-the-nation disclosure bill that will require both public and private companies to report on emissions. "It’s the great implementation now," he said, referring to the work countries and companies need to do to meet their many net-zero pledges and sustainability commitments against which little progress has been made so far. "I am not inspired any more by anything you’re signing."
A similar disillusionment was expressed by other long-time champions of climate action during the proceedings. "The world is at a crossroads, and we need a course correction," said Jennifer Morgan, a former Greenpeace executive director who is now special envoy for international climate action with the Foreign Office of Germany, during her remarks at the opening ceremony. "We need to switch from steps to leaps," she said, calling for a commitment to a global phaseout of fossil fuels as an agenda item for the upcoming COP28.
Many sustainability leaders called for bolder action in gatherings and meetings throughout the week. PepsiCo Executive Vice President and CSO Jim Andrew said the proliferation of ESG reporting standards can be a distraction. "Every dollar we spend disclosing is a dollar we can’t spend doing," he said, and emphasized the need for more sustainability professionals to prioritize embedding short-term goals into everyday business metrics.
Alexandra Palt, chief corporate responsibility officer of L'Oréal and CEO of the L'Oréal Foundation, said: "I’m very much in favor of obligatory [emissions and climate risk] reporting, but it has to be a tool not an aim itself." She added: "People hide behind the data."
While many sustainability professions are anxious about lack of progress, they are confident of the vital role they can play in C-suites. "Sustainability is the business imperative of our time, and it can be a catalyst for growth," said Eunice Heath, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for materials company CRH.
Here are the three themes that were top-of-mind for private and public-sector climate leaders, as they met last week in New York to discuss the rapidly warming planet.
The Sustainable Development Goals are central to broader strategy
It’s been seven years since businesses started integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their ESG strategies, and there are seven more years before the deadline to meet them. At this midpoint, however, only 15 percent of the goals for things such as "no poverty," "zero hunger" and "climate action" are on track, according to research published Sept. 15 by the U.N. Global Compact and Accenture. More than one-third have "gone into reverse," the organizations reported.
What’s the sticking point? Aside from funding gaps, sustainability professionals lack clarity on how to report progress and a lack of government incentives to justify deeper adoption, the survey found. Nevertheless, 94 percent of the 2,800 business leaders see the SDGs as a unifying vision across industries, the data show.
"We are not giving up," said Cargill CSO Pilar Cruz, when asked about the agricultural commodity company’s ongoing commitments, which center on core elements of the company’s business strategy, such as zero hunger, life below water and life on land.
There are demonstrable overlaps between climate goals such as cultivating healthier soil and social issues such as decent work and access to clean water and sanitation, she said.
Yes, science-based targets still matter
The SDGs are an important driver of social impact, but science-based targets are a necessary framework for the journey to net zero.
Guidance from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), particularly regarding how to set goals for reducing Scope 3 emissions and the role of carbon removals in a net-zero plan, has been evolving; Many companies are in the process of revalidating their targets, if they have not already done so.
This work is proving more difficult than anticipated. In mid-August, much ado was made of Amazon’s public step-back earlier that month. The company cited its inability to submit "in a meaningful and accurate way" based on the organization’s submission requirements. It’s still engaged with SBTi on a potential solution, Amazon said.
Behind the scenes, corporate sustainability leaders reaffirmed their commitment to science-based targets for c
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