Illustration by Vilmante Juozaityte ‘Bulma’
Despite the business community’s potential to be a powerful ally in the climate fight, it has largely been sidelined by free market ideologies that promote voluntary corporate sustainability over necessary regulation. To truly address climate change, businesses must go beyond individual sustainability efforts and engage in movement-building and political action. This involves mobilizing customers, rethinking NGO partnerships to focus on systemic change, pressuring peers and trade groups, and engaging in public climate lobbying. By leveraging their influence and power, businesses can drive significant progress in the fight against climate change.
For the past 30 years, fossil fuel companies have been effective at pre-empting and undermining resistance to their greenhouse gas-emitting activities. Savvy PR campaigns have confused the public, lobbying and political donations have influenced governments and their regulatory agencies, and, in some cases, an active cover-up has hidden these companies’ own research into the damaging effects of the CO2 emissions associated with their products.
Read More