Ceres 2020 BICEP Awards Honor Corporate Leadership on Climate Advocacy

Each year at the annual Ceres Conference, our policy team honors those individuals and companies who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty in their dedication to the Ceres BICEP Network. This year, as the world grapples with the COVID-19 crisis and we all work to keep our colleagues and our communities safe and healthy, we regret that we were not able to honor our 2020 BICEP award winners in person.  

While this is disappointing on many levels, we are thrilled to be able to celebrate this tremendous group of leaders with the entire online Ceres community. This year’s honorees have demonstrated a superior commitment to advancing climate, clean energy and transportation policies at the state and federal level.

The CEO Award winner for 2020 is Seventh Generation CEO Joey Bergstein. For our first time presenting this award, we are pleased to honor a CEO who has not only taken the helm of a company’s commitment to climate policy advocacy and enthusiastically stayed the course, but also brought others along on the journey and inspired his crew and the wider corporate community beyond measure.

The 2020 Internal Champion award goes to Andrew Green, Senior Manager, Head of Environmental Sustainability Office, Capital One. This award is given to an individual who demonstrates steadfast commitment within their company to championing the vital importance of climate and clean energy policy advocacy. From building internal support with senior leadership to hosting a Ceres’ BICEP event at Capital One’s headquarters in Virginia, Andrew has demonstrated the qualities of a true Ceres BICEP leader. 

The 2020 Most Valuable Player Award goes to the team at Mars, Inc. This MVP award is given to the company that has demonstrated stellar leadership and commitment to move the climate and clean energy policy agenda forward on behalf of company goals,  sector peers and society at large. Whether joining advocacy days, authoring columns in support of bold climate action, helping establish the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance and more—the team at Mars, Inc. is always ready to raise the bar on advocacy.  

The Emerging Leader award winner this year is Akamai Technologies, for its dedication to being an unstoppable rising star for climate and clean energy policy advocacy. As a new member of both the Ceres Company Network and Ceres’ BICEP Network, Akamai has been an enthusiastic advocate for climate and clean energy policy in Massachusetts, Virginia and on Capitol Hill, while also calling on industry peers to join in the fight.  

The 2020 State Policy Champions are: Autodesk, Cleveland Clinic, and Etsy. These awards recognize companies that show unwavering support, thoughtful leadership and effective advocacy on state climate and clean energy policy. These champions have gone above and beyond in advancing ambitious state climate agendas.

This last year, Etsy was a vocal advocate for nation-leading climate legislation in New York and provided CEO support for the Transportation and Climate Initiative. Cleveland Clinic championed clean energy policies in Ohio, and hosted fellow health systems and leading companies at their headquarters to discuss with state lawmakers the importance of clean energy policy in protecting public health. Autodesk raised their voice for state carbon pricing proposals in both the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast as well as for net-zero climate goals, net metering policies and more. 

The Golden State Water Policy Award goes this year to Genentech for demonstrating creativity and commitment to advancing water stewardship and safe drinking water policy in California. A longtime member of Connect the Drops, Genentech has been there when we needed them most, and we’re grateful to the entire team. 

The 2020 Partnership Award winner is Second Nature, for leadership and steadfast collaboration with Ceres on mobilizing the higher-ed sector to advocate for solutions to climate change, and to accelerate our shared vision of a net-zero emissions economy.  

Finally, each year we award the Ceres BICEP Crown to honor individuals who have personally devoted themselves to the value of corporate advocacy and have demonstrated leadership and commitment beyond our wildest expectations. Those who’ve worn the crown over the years are those who consistently show up, stand up, and speak up. They say “Yes” to our collective work with grace and aplomb, set the standard for their respective companies, and are models for the larger corporate community. 

Our dazzling 2020 Winners of the BICEP Crown are Cynthia Curtis, Senior Vice President of Global Sustainability Stakeholder Engagement at JLL and Megan Lorenzen, Sustainability Manager at Salesforce. Cynthia, the leading advocate for longtime Ceres BICEP Network member, JLL, has been pivotal in getting the company to weigh in countless times in states across the country and on Capitol Hill. She has personally appeared before Massachusetts lawmakers to make the case for binding net-zero climate commitments and before members of Congress to support a federal price on carbon. Perhaps most importantly, Cynthia has gone the extra mile for the Ceres BICEP Network in a million big and small ways. Megan has led the way for Salesforce to stand up in support of bold carbon pricing proposals at both the state and federal level—making sure Salesforce lends its voice at advocacy days, in the media, and in recruiting their peers to join the debate. Salesforce is a newer member of the Ceres BICEP Network, and Megan has wasted no time in making sure that the company speaks up early and often with bold, path-breaking policy positions, leading the way for others to follow. 

Thanks to the tireless work of this group of award winners—and that of the entire Ceres BICEP Network—we had some impressive accomplishments this last year:

• Representatives from 75 companies traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with more than 100 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle for LEAD on Carbon Pricing, making the case for a well-designed carbon-pricing program;

• Colorado adopted the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program to get more clean vehicles on the road;

• California lawmakers passed the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act, which will help ensure that more than one million Californians have access to safe and affordable drinking water; and

• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam finalized carbon regulations for the electric power sector and issued an energy plan focused entirely on transitioning to a clean energy economy.

We know that even in the face of other pressing challenges, finding comprehensive climate solutions and advancing sound policies will remain critically important if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We look forward to working with our corporate partners both within and outside of the Ceres BICEP Network in the weeks and months to come to build a more sustainable future. 

For now, please join us in raising a virtual glass to all the 2020 BICEP Awards winners.