thank you hi everyone I'd like to start this talk by making a confession I know juicy right I know I'm probably supposed to save The Dramatics for the end but I promise as I make this confession I'll let you in on how this talk will end okay My Confession is I'm probably the last person you want to be trapped in a Rideshare with yeah and in fact if we've been to the same party or in the same line to buy a cup of coffee or trapped together in a lift line during rush hour traffic I probably owe you an apology because anytime I had a captive audience I'd had a tendency to rant about how corporations are the biggest contributors to The Climate crisis and how someone should stop them sometimes this would go on for 15 20 minutes but to try to add humor to these one-sided conversations I would usually wrap up my monologue by saying thank you for coming to my TED Talk I never actually thought I'd make it up here so now you know how it has to end but to begin Let's do an informal poll raise your hand if you recycle great raise your hand if you use paper straws not a fan uh raise your hand if you bring your own bags with you to the grocery store wonderful how about if you shop secondhand perfect raise your hand if you ride your bike for transportation great how about if you went vegetarian or vegan for climate related reasons got a couple of you raise your hand if you're considering not having children because of the climate crisis wow those are actions that you all are taking that affect your daily life and your future as individuals we're told that it's our responsibility and given a slew of strategies to combat the climate crisis for a long time I believed that an individual had power to affect climate change in the summer of 2008 I got a job as a canvasser for Greenpeace that's right I was one of those Earnest if maybe a little Annoying folks standing on the street corner in San Francisco asking you to save some trees if you please the goal being to raise money to fund the international nonprofit that uses non-violent creative action to pave the way for a Greener more peaceful world and to confront the systems that threaten our environment Greenpeace is an amazing impactful organization and they've taken massive climate action but as I learned more about the climate crisis I realized where most of this damage originated companies corporations and companies are some of the strongest structures in today's society they're a form of business organization that acts as a separate legal entity from its owners for the purpose of today's talk I will be using the terms corporations and companies interchangeably corporations are the single biggest contributors to The Climate crisis just think about water contamination related to the BP oil spill dasani's contributions right a subsidiary of nestle to International Water shortages how two companies vistra and Duke Energy made up almost seven percent of the United States total carbon emissions in a single year 2019. research shows that two-thirds of the world's carbon emissions originated from just 90 companies carbon emissions pollution have an interrelated relationship with the environment and global warming as more pollution and Emissions are released it Alters the energy balance between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere which is what's leading to the rapid warming of our planet emission can be created in so many ways it can be created from transporting goods or by using energy and factories and shops the carbon footprint from growing crops or cutting down trees also counts one corporate model is at the center of all of this destruction to our environment communities and Families shareholder capitalism is at the center of this shareholder capitalism means that companies are structured in a way that gives them the fiduciary duty to put making profits first above their social and environmental impacts often not considering these at all calling them externalities or outside of their businesses considerations but there is another way what if companies could rethink their priorities and become more socially and environmentally conscious stakeholder capitalism allows companies to reprioritize making their priorities people and the planet alongside with profits with stakeholder capitalism corporations can become our champions in fighting the climate crisis stakeholder capitalism allows businesses to reprioritize and consider their externalities and it changes the role that companies will play in destroying or saving our planet now this can be done in a variety of ways but a goal of carbon neutrality is a great place to start Google pledges to be carbon neutral by 2030. Ikea pledges to be climate positive by 2030. groundbreaking ideas like the B Corp movement and environmental social governance or ESG measures are reshaping the landscape and changing the role that corporations would play in our impending climate crisis it makes good business sense with the rise of the values driven buyer over 60 percent of people said that they make purchasing decisions based on their moral or ethical values people will want to see and hear what you stand for as a company as they are increasingly looking to do business with companies that align with their values values that care about the ethical treatment of employees and sustainable business practices there are some corporations that are leading the charge here Patagonia Unilever even Larry Fink the billionaire CEO of BlackRock penned a letter this year touting the importance of stakeholder capitalism to other CEOs he said in today's globally interconnected world a company must create value for and be valued by a full range of stakeholders in order to drive long-term value for its shareholders so if it makes sense for the business and inspires brand loyalty for from customers why not invest the time and resources it takes to become a climate conscious company all it takes is a winning strategy and I happen to bring one today with a handy mnemonic device with some restructuring corporations can truly guard us against further climate destruction you guessed it guard is a framework g-u-a-r-d to help Investors Business Leaders and employees reposition their businesses to mitigate risk G stands for governance create a corporate governance structure that accounts for a wide wide range of stakeholders often called stakeholder governance or benefit governance this new governance structure should outline your board's accountability and oversight for climate-related risks the next three letters Ard are where you as a business leader or an employee can come in this is where you'll take action to create positive climate impacts A is for assessment there are a variety of ways to assess your social and environmental impact as a business consider using B Labs impact assessment as the gold standard because it is a free comprehensive tool to measure manage and improve your company's impact for suppliers customers workers and the environment R stands for reduction this is the one we all know there are a variety of ways to reduce your impact once you've identified what your areas of opportunity are I recommend setting short medium and long term targets to reduce carbon emissions there's a myriad of ways to do this as well but it could be anything from creating Greener practices within your supply chain to converting your delivery Fleet over to electric vehicles or to conducting business out of Leed certified buildings a great Benchmark to align your company's goal with is the Paris agreements goal of net zero emissions by 2050. but but sooner is always better d stands for disclosure disclosing how you're improving your impact will be industry specific I recommend creating corporate disclosures in line with the task force for financial related a climate-related financial disclosures or tcfd and producing a yearly impact report this allows investors and customers to see the depths of your business's plan with regard to a wide range of climate scenarios and impacts together we can all guard the planet against climate change but to do so we'll take organized intentional effort at every level if you're watching this it's very likely that you invest in lead are employed by or make purchases from corporations here's what I'm asking you today advocate for True environmental business practices not just green washing hold your and other companies accountable vote for sustainable business practices with your dollars purchase from certified B corporations benefit corporations or any other organization that is making climate impact a top-line priority corporations have long been villains in the story of the climate crisis together we can hold them accountable help them reposition and have them be heroes to save the planet thank you for coming to my tedx talk [Applause]