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Paul Hodgson: Corporations and investors may make Trump’s withdrawal from Paris agreement irrelevant
Investors will have to encourage companies to stay the course in new political environment
“The pressure just got greater on you and you’re not going to get any help from the government, but I know what you can do. We are becoming mainstream but we will still have to work harder. I know this group can do it.”
Those are the concluding words of Mel Miller, Chief Economist of First Affirmative Financial Network, at the firm’s SRI conference in Denver a few days ago.
He was talking about President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to renege on COP21. As RI has already reported, the reaction of the SRI community to Trump’s election was swift and strong.
We know that SRI investors are going to hold the feet of US corporations to the solar panel, but neither of the two largest asset managers would comment on the impact of the election on climate change and whether the baton for saving the planet may have passed to corporations. Domini, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), Trillium, Walden and Zevin Asset Management and Pax World are all among 360+ signatories of a new letter at lowcarbonusa.org to Trump calling for continued participation in the Paris agreement and continued commitment to promises made there.
I never thought I would say this, but maybe we do need to look to US corporations themselves to save COP21. After all, many of the 78 CEOs to sign the World Economic Forum open letter urging governments and world leaders to take action on climate change were US CEOs. All the CEOs who took out the full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal at the time of the Paris summit were US. And all the 154 companies pledged to the American Business Act on Climate Pledge were US companies. And they pledged to:
• Reduce emissions by as much as 50%
• Reduce water usage by as much as 80%
• Achieve zero waste-to-landfill,
• Purchase 100% renewable energy, and
• Pursue zero net deforestation in supply chains.
Unfortunately, most of those companies, when contacted by e-mail and telephone, did not reply or, like IBM, would not comment. Or, like Dell, made an anodyne comment that did not address the issue at all: “With the election over, we look forward to a smooth transition and to working closely with the new administration on priority IT issues like security, trade and cloud computing. We stand ready and uniquely qualified to help its many agencies manage their digital transformations.”
In contrast, Johnson Controls’ CEO Alex Molinaroli (one of the WEF signatories) said: “Global action to make our building and transportation infrastructure more resilient is critical for our global economy. Johnson Controls, along with our public and private sector partners, is engaged at COP22 to help accelerate adoption of technologies to help improve resource efficiency and resilience so that people can lead safer, more productive lives and our economy can continue to grow.” General Mills said it stood behind the commitments it made on the Climate Pledge. As did Facebook. But Pepsico, Microsoft, Google, McDonalds and Walt Disney, among others, simply did not respond. On the other hand, Nike is a signatory to the new lowcarbonusa.org letter to Trump.
The sportswear firm said it has set science-based sustainability targets as part of its global commitment to the Paris Agreement. It said: “Nike plans to honor our commitment as a signatory of the American Business Act on Climate Change Pledge, including reaching 100% renewable energy in all Nike owned or operated facilities around the world by 2025.”
The election has been such a controversial one that it is perhaps understandable that many corporations did not want to comment. But we must hope that the lack of response does not mean they are looking at ways to withdraw from their commitments.
The ICCR’s commitment letter came too late for inclusion in the original RI report, but CEO Josh Zinner’s comments are pertinent: “We welcome the positive leadership of the many corporations that have made significant inroads towards a more shared prosperity and a healthier planet. In the coming years, our role will be to encourage these companies to stay the course and resist regressive policies, while exhorting many more to follow their lead.” Amen.
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