February 14, 2024
2023 ended with COP28 being at least 28 years late in making it “official”: all the nations of the world agree, they must “transition” from a fossil fuel powered economy. This is a generation delayed acknowledgment of the scientific reality that drove the creation of the field of Corporate Sustainability when corporate responsibility strategists in Europe and the U.S. recognized by the late 1990s that the climate science was clear: business as usual, especially the burning of fossil fuels, was not sustainable1. This elevated corporate “sustainability” efforts beyond an optional part of corporate philanthropy to the level of a strategic imperative appropriately addressed by the Board of Directors.
Most corporate executives did not remotely understand the business implications of what James Hansen, as Director of Atmospheric Science at NASA testified to at a 1988 Senate Hearing that Al Gore Jr. convened. Hansen testified that there was a “99% certainty” that humans were causing dangerous global warming, as reported by the New York Times. Exxon Mobil’s executives were the exception. They were acutely aware of this issue and its importance. Court ordered disclosures have established that Exxon scientists were remarkably prescient in their internal 1982 warnings and modeling that explained to Exxon’s executives that Exxon’s industry was the primary cause of global warming and predicted that CO2 in our atmosphere would climb to 420 PPM by 2020 with concomitant progressive climate breakdown, sea level rise, and extreme weather, according to Forbes. Their science proved spot-on, as we hit 420 PPM in 2020 and Exxon’s scientists recommended raising and hardening their extraction rigs thereby saved Exxon money.
Exxon’s executive nihilists were not alone in their willingness to study science and reflect on its profound implications, including on business. Bob Massie is a friend and mentor of mine with a Doctor of Business from Harvard Business School and is an ordained Episcopal Priest. From 1996 to 2003, he led Ceres, a non-profit based in Boston and a global leader in sustainable capital markets. At Ceres, Bob founded the Investor Network on Climate Risk and co-founded the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which has helped shape the field of corporate sustainability and now emerging mandatory requirements for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. His 2016 article in Institutional Investor “The ESG Evolution,” is lit with his genius and practical hope.
In 1997, as Massie was developing the proto global standard for enterprise sustainability and reporting, John Elkington can be said to have inaugurated the field of corporate sustainability with the publication of his book: “Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom-line for 21st Century Capitalism” and his founding in London of his consultancy SustainAbility. But it remains a field inspired by the work of Paul Hawken’s groundbreaking 1993 “The Ecology of Commerce” and even more so the magisterial critique of unsustainable capitalism, “Natural Capital” which Hawken wrote with Amory and Hunter Lovins. All of this inspired Newton, Massachusetts’s late great Andy Savitz to publish his own implementation focused “The Triple Bottom-line; How The Best Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success” in 2006 which Andy discussed at SR Inc’s first Summit in DC in 2010.
What all these field creating earlier leaders shared was a conviction that climate science indicated sustainability was no longer a conservative objective. Because they knew the best of relevant science indicated capital markets and companies required real change if they were to endure. Although I am confident they each joined me in expecting that more responsible public policy would come more quickly and the obvious, tragic, and scaling manifestations of climate breakdown would come less quickly than it has come.
Paradoxically, the early sustainability leaders who took most seriously the Earth Systems science indicating increasing risks of self-accelerating ecological and, therefore, commercial chaos, were the most willing to embrace the ostensibly benign term “sustainability.” Because they understood conservatives desired to sustain markets, companies, and life but that goal demands ever greater change with each passing year that the demands of sustainability (e.g. the 45% reduction in global GHG the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 C made clear was necessary in 2030, 70 months from now to make is unlikely we will face tipping points to a potential ecological collapse) are not met. And if the demands of sustainability are not met, the transition will only be greater. To an outcome no one wants. As I heard Paul Hawken note to a crowd of more than 20,000 in 2008: “If a history of this time is written, it will be a history of heroes collaborating, creating and overcoming great odds.”
The elegance of that sentence balances its drama. It was enough to send me out of the hall into dazzling sunlight to call my wife, to share with her I had to start a company. Now after COP28 the whole world officially agrees: our sustainability requires a transition to a global economy that has moved beyond fossil fuels. Since fossil fuels are the world’s wealthiest and most politically influential industry, that hardly means we’re home free. Instead, the beginning has ended and the heart of the transition to sustainability can be discussed at every kitchen and every minister’s table the world over. Potentially in time. Because clean energy is healthier, more affordable, more reliable, and more commercially winning before subsidies than fossil fuels, as noted in Lazard’s 16th annual LCOE Report. Now, we will see who has the courage, compassion, collaboration, creativity, and commitment needed.
Footnote 1: It was not until I was invited to attend the Sustainable Innovation Forum at COP26 in Glasgow, that I learned how outstandingly conservative the UNFCC COP process is due to its requirement for unanimity supporting COP conclusions. It does not reflect the aspirations of environmentalists or even climate scientists. Anyone who has sought unanimity regarding a family dinner can appreciate the challenge of getting all the nations of the world to agree on written conclusions. When one reflects on the difficulty of obtaining support for conclusions adverse to the fossil fuel industry from petro-states such as Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, it is no less tragic but it is less surprising it has taken 28 years to “officially” acknowledge the organizing challenge that created the need for the UNFCC COP process itself.
SR Inc Announces 2023 SBER Awards: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Teradyne, & PTC Awarded Top Honors
January 9, 2024. SR Inc celebrates its 2023 Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) award recipients.
– SBER Outstanding Leader of 2023: Thermo Fisher Scientific
– SBER Outstanding Executive of 2023: Debra Pulpi at Teradyne
– SBER Most Improved Corporate Leader of 2023: PTC
2023 SBER Year End Symposium: Mandatory Reporting Revolution & Sustainability Function Design
January 17, 2024. SR Inc held its Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Year-End Executive Symposium on December 5th, 2023 at the Dupont Circle Hotel in D.C. The first portion, moderated by SR Inc CEO Jim Boyle, was focused on Sustainability Strategy Leadership. Participants learned from SR Inc team members and Thermo Fisher’s Global Senior Manager of Supplier Climate Engagement, Kristen Chambers, on the company’s innovative supplier engagement strategy to align resources, build capacity, and track & report in driving towards Scope 3 decarbonization.
2023 SBER Year End Symposium: Mandatory Reporting RevolutionJanuary 17, 2024. The second half of the symposium focused on the culmination of SR Inc’s client service experience and year-long research on decarbonization and delved into SR Inc’s newly developed guidance on mandatory sustainability reporting. This included a discussion with Carrie Christopher, Senior Director of ESG & Sustainability at Splunk; Avintha Moodaly, Associate Director of Environmental Management at Kyndryl; & Dr. Saskia Schwartz, Lead Counsel and Director of ESG Programs at Akamai Technologies. The Year-End Symposium presentation and best-practice Member Advisories from both portions of the event can be found in the SR Inc Digital Library, accessible exclusively to Member-Client executives.
SR Inc Welcomes Kelsey Kelter as Membership Development Associate
As Membership Development Associate, Kelsey is responsible for building SR Inc’s Member-Client base and accelerating the development and adoption of industry-best business practices for enterprise decarbonization. Through the Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER), Kelsey fosters formidable partnerships with executives at world-leading firms and enables their intellectual collaboration and commercial learning in the urgent push towards higher performing and more sustainable enterprises.
Responding to the SBTi’s Call for Evidence
December 20, 2023. Discover how Sustainability Roundtable, Inc (SR Inc), a leader in outsourced sustainability program management and aggregated virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), drew on its deep well of experience in helping companies procure impactful Purchaser Caused EACs to validate the effectiveness of EACs, submitting a response to the Call for Evidence in collaboration with Member-Client Akamai Technologies’ Director of Corporate Sustainability and ESG Officer Mike Mattera.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany: Democratizing Utility-Scale Renewables through Innovative VPPAs
October 23, 2023. Discover how a global science and technology company engaged with SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB) in pioneering a new renewables procurement strategy: buyer aggregated Virtual Power Purchasing Agreements (VPPA 2.0s). Guided by a commitment to sustainability, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany utilized the NZCB’s platform to cause utility scale renewable energy by engaging in aggregated procurements of solar and wind. The company led in offtaking 68MW of NZCB’s contracted 111W in the Azure Sky Wind project in ERCOT, followed by offtaking 40MW of the 100MW Liberty County Solar project in MISO.
Net Zero Consortium for Buyers U.S. VPPA Opportunity Index: 2023 Q4
SR Inc was pleased to guide and represent more than two dozen Member-Clients in aggregated virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) through the Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB) in Q4 2023. While we look forward to announcing one of the largest ever peer buyer organized aggregated VPPAs in the next quarter, the NZCB was pleased to announce in Q4 a large value chain aligned VPPA in Spain with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Eurofins. The NZCB is well on its way to substantially exceeding its goal of causing a gigawatt of new renewable energy capacity before 2025.
Kristin Chambers, Global Sr. Manager, Supplier Climate Engagement, Thermo Fisher Scientific
SR Inc is thrilled to highlight Kristin (KC) Chambers from Thermo Fisher Scientific. She started working at Thermo Fisher back in July 2023 and has brought a wealth of experience and expertise to her role. Her recent presentation at our Year-End Symposium showcased Thermo Fisher’s cutting-edge supplier engagement strategy and supplier playbook. Kristin’s insights helped elevate both Thermo Fisher’s sustainability efforts and our broader Member-Client community.
December 6, 2023. SR Inc is delighted to announce Member-Client Thermo Fisher Scientific has signed a buyer-aggregated VPPA to build the Serbal Solar project located in Spain, alongside its value chain partner Eurofins. This value chain-aligned procurement was supported by SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers and championed by Matthew Yamatin, Thermo Fisher’s Sustainability Program Director, & Francesco Cordasco at Eurofins.
Splunk published its 2023 Global Impact Report
October 21, 2023. Splunk’s report demonstrates its climate stewardship as the company advances a commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at a 1.5°C pathway.
Charter Ratification
Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm ET
Member-Clients meet Virtually
Q1 Executive Symposium
Thursday, March 14th, 2024
2:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET
Member-Clients meet in Boston, Denver, and Virtually
Q2 Executive Symposium
Thursday, June 13th, 2024
3:00 pm – 5:30 pm ET
Member-Clients meet in Boston, San Francisco, and Virtually
Q3 Executive Symposium
Thursday, December 7th, 2023
12:00 pm – 2:30 pm ET
Member-Clients meet in New York and Virtually
SBER 2024 Awards Dinner
Thursday, December 5th, 2024
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm ET
Member-Clients meet in Washington D.C.
The Summit For Sustainable Business VIII
Friday, December 6th, 2024
8:00 am – 3:45 pm ET
Member-Clients meet in Washington D.C.
