Jim Boyle, SR Inc’s CEO & Chairman interviewed Sean Kinghorn in the spring of 2017 on Paul Hawken’s personal influence on Sean as well as the multiple Drawdown solutions being incorporated at Intuit as Sean leads their internal and external sustainability efforts for global operations. Sean’s leadership serves as a compelling case for how corporate executives can leverage Drawdown’s solutions to advance this movement and to benefit their organization as all solutions modeled are already in place, well understood, analyzed based on peer-reviewed science, and expanding around the world.
How did you first become aware of Drawdown and what intrigued you about it?
I first learned about Drawdown through SR Inc, specifically when Paul Hawken spoke at Intuit’s HQ during SR Inc’s 2015 Q4 Executive Symposium. What intrigued me was the concept of solutions Paul and his team established. Paul has been a hero of mine dating back to college. Back then, everyone was talking about global warming but no one had ever ran the numbers to come up with a list of solutions at scale. Drawdown does just that, which is what made a lot of sense to me, especially as solutions Intuit can institute.
How have you followed Paul over the years?
After college at UC San Diego in the mid 90’s, I read The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism, which was part of the spark that pushed me into this type of work. While studying environmental studies, there were no talk about the industry, business or the economy. We only studied topics like deforestation in the Amazon, so Paul’s work attracted my attention. I followed Paul since college but connected and collaborated with him through SR Inc.
As you moved into corporate sustainability, what resonated with you?
After reading the Project Drawdown book several times, I was very motivated. People bury their heads in the sand when they learn the doom and gloom scenarios but understanding the negative impacts – especially if you don’t do anything – are important. Paul came forward with innovative and scalable solutions to actually reverse global warming. 80 out of the 100 solutions proposed are already out there, so it’s really about how you integrate Drawdown into an action plan for every company, community and individual.
Before you learned about Drawdown, did you think it was possible to reverse global warming?
No, I didn’t. A relevant question Paul always asks is, “Do we really want to live in a world that’s two degrees warmer?” Before Drawdown, no one was talking about trying to reverse global warming since no one really did the math. All you ever heard is that it’s nearly impossible for all countries to come together but Drawdown finally calculates the possibilities. I found it really interesting that so many solutions involve land use which opens up a whole new area of opportunities for companies and communities who didn’t feel like they could be part of the solution.
What specific solutions did you learn from Drawdown that you thought were applicable to Intuit’s strategy and how are you integrating them?
Intuit’s new mission statement – Powering Prosperity Around the World – is the foundation for how I approach sustainability. How can our sustainability program have the biggest positive environmental, social and economic impact globally? Project Drawdown has had several impacts on our corporate sustainability strategy. We have shifted in how we look at carbon offset projects. Three increased investments in Intuit’s shift that were influenced by Drawdown are:
Additionally, we recently launched a Sustainability Employee Engagement Platform provided by WeSpire. Intuit’s WeSpire campaigns are focused on the cumulative impact of actions based on employees’ personal life choices, several of them modeled from Drawdown’s solutions. Examples include inspiring employees to ride bikes or electric bikes, eating less meat, and exploring vegetarian options. For each campaign topic, employees have the opportunity to click to learn more information on Drawdown’s ranking and calculation.
We’re also working on several proposals that explore Intuit’s customer sustainability solutions, including renewable energy which is tied to Drawdown.
How else has Drawdown influenced your work at Intuit?
Intuit is creating partnerships with organizations to magnify Drawdown. At the 2017 Sustainable Brands Summit in Detroit, we presented our REDD+ project & Lyft partnership which is directly tied to Drawdown. The partnership outlines that for every Intuit employee who uses Lyft for business, Lyft donates 1% to the REDD+ project. To calculate the accuracy of the carbon footprint savings for the rides, I connected with Matt Ellis, Founder & CEO of Measurabl, to utilize Measurabl’s technology to pull together critical data including the vehicle make, model, distance traveled and number of passengers. We then measured that against the REDD+ project and concluded the project equated to about 85 metric tons of net positive impact. It’s an interesting way to create partnerships and have it tied back to Drawdown.
Are you talking to senior management about Drawdown?
I bought 20+ copies and distributed Drawdown to our sustainability committee and different leaders within the company including our CEO. Since Paul is such an eloquent speaker, I’m planning for Paul to speak at our Mountain View campus in the fall with senior leaders, green team members and all employees who are interested. This event will further support Drawdown’s impact at Intuit.
For more information on Project Drawdown visit Drawdown’s official website.
Please contact Brittany Doherty with questions re Sustainability Roundtable, Inc’s partnership.
