“We see the effects of climate change — not only in our surroundings, but in our potential revenues. We don’t sell as many boots if the temperatures don’t plummet in November. We’re determined to protect our winters, and that starts with the way we run our business,” wrote Betsy Blaisdell of Timberland. “…To be sure, we know there is only so much one company can do.”
Timberland, a BICEP member and Climate Declaration signatory, encouraged lawmakers to embrace the economic opportunity of passing energy efficiency legislation and addressing climate change.
]]>Jordan’s editorial came just as the bipartisan energy efficiency legislation, sponsored by Congressman Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH), sped through the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on its way to a vote as soon as next week.
“At Jones Lang LaSalle, we understand that addressing climate change is not only a serious challenge but also a major economic opportunity. That’s why we have joined with 39 other companies — including big global brands such as General Motors, Nike, Intel and Starbucks — in signing a Climate Declaration calling on President Obama and Congress to act boldly in combating climate change. Strong policies can help us tackle this threat and capture economic benefits here at home,” Jordan wrote.
]]>In a packed room at the state Capital, the Kansas House Energy and Environment Committee voted to shelve a bill that would have reduced the 20 percent standard for renewable energy and push back the timeline for companies to hit key targets.
In Arizona, a proposal to reduce the 15 percent renewables by 2025 requirement on Arizona’s investor-owned utilities was withdrawn after successful rallies and petitions in support of the state’s Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST).
There are dozens of other legislative attacks in states across the country that are seeking to weaken or repeal these policies. But these recent victories demonstrate how voters, investors and businesses can join together to back policies that support a more sustainable economy.
]]>A recent Denver Post article profiles what seven top Fortune 500 companies said in their annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission about climate change when considering business risks.
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“In recent annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a number of publically traded companies – including Walmart, PepsiCo, and UPS – have grapples with how changing weather patterns affect their business.” |
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While some fossil-fuel businesses, such as ExxonMobile or ConocoPhillips, were simply concerned with increased greenhouse gas regulations, many more corporations raised concerns over extreme weather events affecting operations, supply chains, food and water shortages, and even geo-political concerns over increased civil unrest due to changes in climate. Hewlett-Packard acknowledges that finding solutions to disruptions due to climate change could spur innovation and provide new business opportunities.
Companies are not only recognizing that climate change impacts bottom-lines, they are beginning to include those impacts in their reports to investors, shareholders and consumers. The next step is for companies to join with BICEP to make the case in Washington that we need clear, consistent policies that will help drive the transition to a low-carbon economy and protect the long-term viability of their businesses.
]]>The article notes that many of the big utility executives that supported Obama’s climate initiatives in his first term have moved on for a variety of reasons, leaving a vacuum. “There is a need to identify some new names,” John Rowe, the retired CEO of Chicago-based Exelon said.
What the article omits, however, is that the impacts of climate policy extend well beyond just large utilities. Many industries are affected, from food and beverage, to retail, to the built sector, to the outdoor industry, to tech companies. These companies are seeing the effects of climate on their bottom lines, and many of them support action on climate policy.
Responding to the article, Anne Kelly, Director of BICEP, noted that Ceres and BICEP are working with dozens of companies that support innovative climate and energy policies, and the statistics show that they are moving in the right direction within their own operations:
"A recent report by Ceres, Calvert Investments, and WWF shows that 60 percent of the combined Fortune 100 and Global 100 have set a renewable energy goal, a greenhouse gas reduction goal or both. The world's largest companies recognize that climate change is both an economic risk and an opportunity. Should the President take bold action on climate policy, he will find support within the business community, beginning with BICEP."
]]>In his second Inaugural Address, President Obama set the stage for a renewed course of action on energy and climate change. The path going forward won't be easy, but the President's statement affirms that climate change remains a front and center priority of this Administration.
The companies of BICEP stand with the President in his call to respond to the threat of climate change. Through these key strategies, the President can insure his climate change legacy:
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Clean Air Act gives the President the authority and responsibility to set new carbon rules for power plants. These job-generating standards will create new economic opportunities, new clean energy jobs and help us to meet the carbon pollution targets wisely set by the Administration back in 2009.
Promote Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency should not be “the fifth fuel” – but the first. Reducing our need for energy is the smartest way to reduce pollution while saving money. Energy efficiency has bi-partisan support in Congress. Building a smart grid and advancing new technologies that help businesses and consumers monitor their energy will set a new bar for energy efficiency.
Link Extreme Weather & Climate Disruption
Connect the dots between carbon pollution and extreme weather, and lead the public discussion of what we need to do as a nation to both prepare for the changes in climate that are no longer avoidable and avoid those changes that are preventable by investing in our nation’s infrastructure and building more resilient cities and communities.
Reject Dirty Fuels
Climate science tells us that 80 percent of existing fossil fuel reserves need to be kept in the ground in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change. This means that we, as a nation, need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, and invest more in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
Malia and Sasha are not the only ones who will one day thank the President for taking this courageous course of action. Smart businesses that have long understood the need for the transition to a clean energy economy will be the first to applaud his efforts. The leading businesses of BICEP will go a step further, using their muscle to lead the charge.
]]>Curtis writes in her recent CA Community blog post:
| BICEP offers a new arena for business involvement in advancing climate and energy policies to counter the far-reaching risks and challenges posed by global climate change. Combining the voices and expertise of leading businesses, like eBay, Gap, Jones Lang Lasalle, Nike, Starbucks, Symantec and many more, that have already embraced and seen the business benefits of corporate sustainability adds an important dimension to the discussion. When it is not just one political party or the other, but instead leading corporations (who have real experience and expertise in making sustainability work as a business driver) helping to lead the charge, the opportunity to create positive change in our system is expanded. |
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The story is often told that corporations want to maintain a business-as-usual approach when it comes to policy, but with companies like CA Technologies BICEP helps to amplify the voices of businesses that are pushing aggressively for innovation and new approaches for sustainability.
]]>InsideClimate News recently wrote the story on how the business voice advocating for clean energy is changing the debate in Washington. “The corporate lobbying effort has been a boon for the renewable energy industry. Having big business backing the wind tax credit has brought more credence—and heft—to the fight by taking it out of the realm of non-profits and wind companies.” Businesses are realizing that they not only have a stake in the clean energy debate, but they have a powerful voice.
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Dozens of seemingly unrelated corporations, including Sprint, Starbucks, Levi Strauss and New Belgium Brewing, lobbied to save the wind tax credit. It's hard to gauge how much effect they had on lawmakers' last-minute decision to give the tax credit a one-year reprieve by putting it in the fiscal cliff tax package. But their involvement shows that the business community has identified a need for renewables and could become an important lobbying force in promoting clean energy. "This signals a change in the coalition structure," said Clyde Wilcox, a professor in the government department at Georgetown University. "In the past, it would be green energy companies or environmental groups that have either a business interest or a public interest in these issues. But people look up when a new series of players lines up." Some companies, like Sprint, lobbied for the wind tax credit on their own. Others joined Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), which was founded in 2008 by the green investment group Ceres to push for energy legislation. Its 23 members include clothing retailers (Gap and Eileen Fisher), tech companies (eBay and CA Technologies) and the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team. As more large corporations set internal goals to reduce their carbon footprints, they have a vested interest in keeping renewable energies cheap and available. Some are also looking to the future and are concerned that climate change could affect their bottom lines. |
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As Ceres President Mindy Lubber told reporters yesterday,
"The extension of the Production Tax Credit is important not just for wind power producers, but also for the growing number of American companies using renewable energy to power their businesses. All across the country, companies are looking to wind and solar energy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, which are prone to dramatic price fluctuations. Extending the PTC makes renewable power even more attractive and helps companies invest in the future of energy."
This important victory is due in part to the leadership of the companies and investors that work with Ceres to help build a sustainable economy. Throughout 2012, Ceres mobilized leaders from our Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy coalition and our $11 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk to speak out in support of renewable energy policies like the PTC.
Thank you for helping to make a clean energy economy a priority in 2012. We'll do everything we can to ensure that it remains so in 2013 and beyond.
]]>It’s always great when BICEP leaders get the praise they deserve. Shauna Sadowski, Director of Sustainability at Annie’s Homegrown, a BICEP member, was highlighted on GreenBiz.com for leading the company using environmental and social principles.
Shauna works on reducing Annie’s carbon emissions and actively engaging in policy leadership on climate change.
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Annie’s has been around since 1989 and has grown into a company with a very loyal following. It is company led by environmental and social principles, which takes an active role in the organic movement, develops strategic partnerships, while cultivating the future leadership in the sustainable agriculture movement through its scholarship program. Annie’s is also a relatively small company so Shauna is tasked with leading the charge for the overall development of its sustainability strategy. The main focus is on the supply chain with the aim of shortening it and creating great connectivity. She states, “We have found that 40 percent of our carbon emission impacts take place in farm production and at the raw materials level so we are working with farmers and manufacturers and continuing to educate what these issues are about and how they are responding to them as well as ways we can use our resources.” In her role, Shauna is also actively engaged in policy leadership particularly as pertains to climate change and GMOs and serves on the Board of Sustainable Food Trade Association. Annie’s has been really smart with its partnerships. A couple examples in the climate change arena include Climate Counts and BICEP. Annie’s was recognized by Climate Counts just this fall for its commitment to sustainability and climate leadership. Annie’s is also a member of BICEP, a project of Ceres, whose goal is to work directly with key allies in the business community and with relevant members of Congress to pass meaningful energy and climate change legislation. |
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Jenn Vervier, Director of Sustainability and Strategic Projects at New Belgium, recently published this op-ed in the Denver Post urging Congress to extend the wind Production Tax Credit. Here’s an excerpt:
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Drive north from New Belgium Brewing’s headquarters in Fort Collins, and you’ll run into Ponnequin Wind Farm, where 44 turbines churn out power for the Colorado grid. Drive south, and you’ll find a factory owned by Vestas, the company that built many of those very same turbines. The evidence is all around us: Colorado is a wind power leader. The state generates about 17 percent of its electricity from wind, and more than 5,000 Coloradans are employed in the wind power sector. At New Belgium Brewing, we believe that good business should also be good for the environment. That’s why we include renewable power in our energy portfolio, and we support our neighbors working in the wind power industry. We want to see wind power prosper, but if you have been following recent headlines, you’ll know that it hasn’t been easy. The wind industry has shed thousands of jobs, including at least 500 in Colorado. Manufacturers like Vestas are closing down plants and research facilities, and they’re citing policy uncertainty as the culprit. This is bad news for Colorado’s workforce and businesses like ours that want to buy more clean energy. The good news is that if Congress acts quickly, it can avoid further layoffs. All it takes is extending the Production Tax Credit. |
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It’s great to see companies that are vocal on supporting the renewable energy that runs their businesses.
]]>With the 2012 election behind us, Auden Schendler, Vice President of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company (a BICEP member), wrote in The Atlantic about three ways that President Obama could address climate change in his second term. Schendler says that it’s not enough to fix the problem after there’s been a crisis. With climate, the crisis just gets worse unless we focus on prevention and lowering our greenhouse gas emissions.
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It has become abundantly clear that adaptation, the climate solution recommended by Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon, is a joke and a myth. "Adaptation" looks like lower Manhattan under four feet of water. The upside of that harsh truth is that government officials like Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, Obama, and maybe even Chris Christie, are beginning to realize what conservative Yale economist William Nordhaus has been saying for years: It's going to cost more not to deal with climate change than to fix it. With that in mind, and knowing that Obama does see climate as a huge problem, it's possible he could pursue actual legislation to reel in carbon emissions. |
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We hope the President will follow Schendler’s advice.
Continue reading the article here.
Auden Schendler is Vice President of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company and author of the book Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution. Previously a sustainability researcher at Rocky Mountain Institute, Auden currently serves on the board of Protect Our Winters. He was named a global warming innovator by TIME magazine in 2006.
]]>Aspen Snowmass featured Jerome Kersey, former professional basketball player for the Portland Trailblazers, on the front cover of their 2012 Sustainability Report. Why? Here’s what they said:
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Most businesses trying to be sustainable focus on greening their operations and products. But that’s not nearly enough to stop climate change, and therefore doesn’t achieve true sustainability. If climate change doesn’t get fixed, business can’t be sustainable. That’s why corporations must become climate activists, pushing for big scale solutions. That’s also why we’ve got the Portland Trail Blazers’ Jerome Kersey on our cover. While only 13 percent of Americans say they follow science, 61 percent identify themselves as sports fans. The Trail Blazers, along with Aspen Skiing Company, are partners in BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy), an alliance of corporations pushing for progressive climate legislation. The Trail Blazers have used their unique, public- facing platform to advocate for positive change, leveraging their position within our communities and beyond. That’s what differentiates the Portland Trail Blazers and gives them a unique advantage as a member of BICEP, www.ceres.org/bicep. |
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We love this kind of teamwork and are excited to see the role that sports can play in pushing for climate solutions.
]]>| "We are pleased that our extensive water conservation initiatives have again been recognized by the highest government authority," said Dan Bridleman, senior vice president of sustainability, technology and strategic sourcing for KB Home, who was presented the award at last week's WaterSmart Innovations Conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. "KB Home remains committed to water efficiency and our other sustainability-related initiatives that increase the value of the homes we build. We intend to continue to lead the way in this area as we believe it is the right thing to do as a homebuilder for our customers and the planet." The EPA's WaterSense program offers a national label for water-efficient new homes that helps Americans identify homes that save water, energy and money on utility bills. According to the EPA, WaterSense labeled homes use 20 percent less water when compared to typical new homes. For a family of four, that translates to a savings of 50,000 gallons of water per year, and about $600 in annual utility bills. "WaterSense is proud to partner with these champions of water efficiency who share our mission to protect the future of our nation's water supply," said Nancy Stoner, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for Water. "The 2012 WaterSense Partners of the Year were exceptional in their efforts to support innovative approaches to help people and companies save water and money on utility bills nationwide." |
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Congratulations to KB Home for being a leader in the industry.
]]>This month’s National Geographic’s cover story Extreme Weather found that losses from such events helped push the cost of weather disasters in 2011 to an estimated $150 billion worldwide, a roughly 25 percent jump from the previous year.
Companies that rely on electricity, infrastructure, transportation, water, food, cloth, etc., essentially all U.S. businesses, are at risk. The effects of extreme weather are felt in global food prices driving up the cost of food, blackouts sweeping India, and a U.S. electric grid that is buckling with increased electricity use at the same time that power plants are shutting down because they rely on water to cool the plant. The economic losses from extreme weather linked to climate change will impact every sector of the economy.
In her recent Forbes blog, Ceres President Mindy Lubber noted how extreme weather is costing insurance companies a bundle. She urged insurance companies to begin to incorporate the increasing intensity of weather patterns into the business plan, as “wild weather” becomes the new normal.
The U.S. insurance industry continues to be “surprised” by extreme weather losses. But the truth is that weather extremes are no longer surprising… And in the face of a changing climate, such events can be expected to increase in number and severity. It’s time for insurance companies to recognize this new normal, and incorporate it into their business planning—for the sake of their shareholders, their industry’s survival, and the stability of the U.S. economy.
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