Disrupting corporate boards, "Climate, Catastrophe and Faith" & BOSS policy launch
The newsletter for people "woke" on carbon and climate.
(source: Oprah)
Happy Father’s Day!
Issue No. 80
Welcome to the latest issue of Carbon Creed - a curated newsletter for people “woke” on carbon and climate.
U.S. corporate board culture will face a climate reckoning.
Change is in the air and U.S. corporate boards are the target.
We have all witnessed how the work-from-home shock of Covid-19 is forcing companies to reckon with company culture. Well, the same reckoning is coming to how corporate boards address climate change. The pandemic could have set climate back on the agenda, but instead, 2020 set records for clean energy deployment, electric vehicle sales, corporate net-zero commitments, and sustainable finance.
Yet, there exists a great irony. U.S corporate boards are in many ways quite far from being able to engage in a sustainable way with the impact their businesses have on the climate—and the impact the climate has on their businesses.
As of April 2018, 5% of the nearly 1,200 board members of Fortune 100 companies had experience with workplace diversity, and 2.6% had experience with accounting oversight. Barely 1% had any experience with energy or conservation. Three-tenths of a percent of the Fortune 100’s board members had experience with ESG investing; 0.2% had experience with climate.
Clearly, if companies are going to make climate a sustainable priority, they’ll need to be bold about it. Changing to meet new imperatives—whether driven by the pandemic, technology or climate—starts with changing leadership.
If addressing climate change is an imperative, then so too is incorporating it into the highest levels of global business. That means the boardroom. Boards should be ready not just for a whole new way to work, but a whole new cohort to join them at the table.
We’ll keep you posted on the latest carbon policy and market insights as they happen.
If you have an opinion on any topic covered in this newsletter, please feel free to send me an email at mcleodwl@carboncreed.com.
Thank you for your viewpoint and the value of your time.
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NOW, LET’S GO DEEP!
QUOTES
Climate quotes and sayings that will inspire you
(source: Owl Guru)
“Conservation is a cause that has no end. There is no point at which we will say our work is finished.” ~ Rachel Carson, Author & Activist
‘I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses. We must never forget that it is our duty to protect this environment.”
~ Nelson Mandela, fmr. South African President
“Environmental policy must strike a balance between the earth's best interests and our citizen's pressing needs.” ~ Jim Clyburn, U.S. Congressman
BOOKS
(source: Amazon)
Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith
How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Upheaval
Written by Philip Jenkins
Long before the current era of man-made climate change, the world has suffered repeated, severe climate-driven shocks. These shocks have resulted in famine, disease, violence, social upheaval, and mass migration. But these shocks were also religious events. Dramatic shifts in climate have often been understood in religious terms by the people who experienced them. They were described in the language of apocalypse, millennium, and Judgment. Often, too, the eras in which these shocks occurred have been marked by far-reaching changes in the nature of religion and spirituality. Those changes have varied widely--from growing religious fervor and commitment; to the stirring of mystical and apocalyptic expectations; to waves of religious scapegoating and persecution; or the spawning of new religious movements and revivals. In many cases, such responses have had lasting impacts, fundamentally reshaping particular religious traditions.
In Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith historian Philip Jenkins draws out the complex relationship between religion and climate change. He asserts that the religious movements and ideas that emerge from climate shocks often last for many decades, and even become a familiar part of the religious landscape, even though their origins in particular moments of crisis may be increasingly consigned to remote memory. By stirring conflicts and provoking persecutions that defined themselves in religious terms, changes in climate have redrawn the world's religious maps, and created the global concentrations of believers as we know them today.
This bold new argument will change the way we think about the history of religion, regardless of tradition. And it will demonstrate how our growing climate crisis will likely have a comparable religious impact across the “civilized” world.
Creed Comments: In Climate, Catastrophe and Faith, Philip Jenkins grabs you by the collar and won’t let go. Consider the following example:
“In Vardo, on the coast of northern Norway, there is a monument to 91 individuals who were accused of witchcraft and burned to death between 1598 and 1692. Church and government officials in Europe scapegoated imagined malefactors for any number of reasons. When crops failed, plague devastated communities, livestock died or unusually bad weather struck, presumed malignant individuals were blamed. In Vardo in 1617 a terrible storm sank a fleet of ships and killed 40 men. Authorities tortured accused witches and extracted confessions. Kirsti Sorensdatter, a Dane married to a wealthy merchant, was burned to death in late April 1621. This represents just one of the many ways that extreme shifts in climate and ferocious weather have produced religious violence and social turmoil.”
This book is insightful and gripping, and I can’t think of any reason NOT to add it to your summer reading list. I know it’s on mine.
INSIGHTS - POLICY
BOSS Policy Brief is launched on Juneteenth
I want to share a new federal policy brief launched by the group Black Owners of Solar Services (BOSS). I serve on the founding board of directors for BOSS and am so pleased by the work and vision of this young organization.
BOSS is the largest community of African American professionals working in the solar photovoltaic (PV) space. It is comprised of entrepreneurs, financiers, veterans, attorneys, engineers, contractors, developers and other peer partners. BOSS possess deep knowledge, experience and strategic access to the multi-trillion dollar, emerging solar and clean energy technology marketplace that is fast reshaping sustainability, infrastructure resilience and livelihoods in our country and across the globe. It has established roots and relationships in all communities, and particularly those disproportionately impacted by climate change —in the United States and abroad. BOSS’ collective efforts are making communities more resilient, sustainable and economically powerful.
To access the full policy brief go here. Check it out.
RESOURCES
The Keeling Curve a daily record of global atmospheric CO2 concentration.
Congressional Policy Tracker a summary of current federal energy legislation.
Click Clean your favorite apps and tech company clean power rankings.
Advancing Inclusion Through Clean Energy Jobs a report by the Brookings Institute.
Understanding ESG a series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars for business and investors, presented by Baker McKenzie.
Temperature Check, a weekly podcast about climate, race, and culture hosted by Andrew Simon.
Matter of Fact, a weekly newsmagazine that focuses on socioeconomic and climate issues in America, hosted by veteran journalist Soledad O'Brien.
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