If I succeeded in abandoning my role as an environmental villain, trading in my black hat for a green one, there is hope for others.
A usually submerged section of the lake Serre-Poncon is dry in southern France on March 14. A major new United Nations report released Monday provided a sobering reminder that time is running out if humanity wants to avoid passing a dangerous global warming threshold. Daniel Cole/Associated Press, File
But … let me back up a bit.
“Regulating carbon dioxide emissions would severely depress the U.S. economy, limit the use of fossil fuels, and hinder environmental improvements.”
That was a statement I gave to the Associated Press in July 2004 in response to eight states’ lawsuit to force the country’s largest power producers to cut pollution and curb global warming. The five targeted companies’ fossil fuel-burning power plants produced about 10% of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions.
Back then, I was a “clean air” lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers. ExxonMobil was its Environmental Committee chair. Big Oil dominated the business group’s advocacy and, therefore, the organization’s climate public policy positions.
In private, company executives, lobbyists and scientists conceded human influence over the Earth’s climate through burning of fossil fuels. In public, any whiff of carbon limits or regulations spurred doom-and-gloom predictions of economic catastrophe.
Earlier this year, the journal Science reported that ExxonMobil’s own climate research accurately predicted the pace and severity of global warming way back in the 1970s. Despite that, for decades it waged a campaign to discredit climate research and its connection to the burning of fossil fuels.
This week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Monday that human activities are causing irreversible damage to communities and ecosystems; global emissions are rising; and current efforts to cut carbon are insufficient to avert a crisis. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the latest report a “how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb.”
One National Association of Manufacturers colleague became a top oil lobbyist before getting caught up last year in a Greenpeace sting exposing ExxonMobil’s anti-climate-policy strategies. I followed a greener path; I now work with companies in Maine that realize that climate change poses a greater threat to our economy than anything we’ve experienced before, and that they must adapt and transition to thrive in the future.
ClimateWork Maine grew out of conversations with business leaders who agreed that climate action is essential, be it investing in operations, producing clean and sustainable products, or supporting climate policies. Even then, most businesses face financial, human or technological barriers to action. My organization helps companies confront those challenges.
Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act represents the largest-ever investment in fighting climate change by bolstering mitigation and adaptation, increasing energy security and lowering energy costs. Cumulative investment estimates associated with the law are in the trillions of dollars, giving companies a chance to benefit in the climate transition. The White House brought the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Agreement and has embedded climate and equity across federal agencies and personnel.
Resources are going into new technologies, including renewables, hydrogen, carbon capture and energy storage. Momentum is shifting to a clean-car future with major auto dealers phasing away from gasoline and transitioning to electrification. Wind and solar represent more than two-thirds of new electric generating capacity coming online, battery storage capacity is set to quadruple over the next year, and these three technologies may overtake conventional technologies as the leading source of generation by the early 2030s. Plans for a modernized, decarbonized 21st-century electricity grid are in play. Energy efficiency continues to be low-hanging fruit, ripe for immediate cost and energy savings.
Refreshingly, more conservative business organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and yes, even my former employer are more receptive to carbon-reduction programs. Success will depend on the participation and action of real people in their homes and workplaces. By starting small in one small state, we in Maine are building a movement and a model that we believe will fit other states.
Combating climate change is hard work, and it should be everyone’s business.
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