Foundation News

This post was written by Sierra Club Foundation Director Bill Weihl for ClimateVoice, a nonprofit that works to mobilize the voice of the workforce to urge companies to go “all in” on climate, in both business practices and policy advocacy. Reposted with permission.

I’ve been passionate about climate change for over 20 years - and focused on it professionally since 2005.  I joined the Board of Directors of Sierra Club Foundation in May of 2015 because I saw the Club and the Foundation as leaders in the fight against climate change, and I wanted to help in any way I could.  At the time, I was leading climate and sustainability work at Facebook (a job I held for over 6 years, from 2012 until 2018); before that, I ran clean energy and climate work at Google (from 2006 through 2011).  I was doing everything I could in my personal life and at work - and wanted to help the Foundation and the Club broaden their impact even further by bringing my experience in the corporate world to address this enormous challenge.

My observation from inside two leading companies is that while many companies are doing a lot of good work on climate, they are not doing everything we need them to do.  Most are not “all in.” It is true that many are now buying clean energy, investing in energy efficiency, buying clean vehicles, shifting to all-electric buildings, encouraging their suppliers to reduce emissions, and promoting the use of their products to help their customers decarbonize.  This represents real leadership, and should be encouraged and applauded.

But it’s not nearly enough to avert climate catastrophe.

The clock is ticking, and global emissions are still increasing, when they need to be decreasing rapidly.  (The IPCC says we need to cut emissions in half by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050 to have a decent chance of keeping warming below 1.5°C.)  Why? Because voluntary action by companies and individuals, while necessary to show the path toward decarbonization, and even accelerate it, is not enough by itself.  We need public policy to provide the market rules that will guide the entire economy onto a rapid decarbonization pathway.  

The Sierra Club and Foundation, and many other organizations, are mobilizing millions of people to create change - and real change is happening.  But it’s still too slow. One reason, in my view, is that we are missing an important ally in the fight against climate change. Hundreds of companies are leading on climate - but when it comes to the battles over climate policies in legislatures, courts, and regulatory bodies, they are mostly silent.  The fossil fuel companies, on the other hand, are filling this void - they are using every ounce of influence they have (and they have gigatons of it) to weaken, delay, and kill useful climate policy. The deafening silence of most other companies on clean energy and climate legislation enables the fossil fuel companies to dominate the policy conversations, and to win far too often.  We need pro-climate companies to step up as much stronger allies on climate - to continue to act in their operations (and even expand those actions), and to step up as strong and consistent advocates for public policy. Their involvement could be a game changer on climate action across the entire economy.

This is why I started ClimateVoice in February of 2020, with a team of over 20 volunteers.  Our mission is to activate companies to go “all in” on climate. We want them to step up and evaluate every decision they make, and every action they take, through the lens of whether that decision or action is consistent with a zero-carbon future.  Today, leading companies are committing to 100% clean energy, or to be carbon neutral, in their own operations. But very few companies evaluate their public policy advocacy activities, or their trade association memberships, or their investments, through this lens.  

ClimateVoice aims to change that by mobilizing the workforce.  We are reaching out to both current and future employees with the message that companies need to play a key role in driving systemic climate solutions.  We are urging them to pledge to raise their voices together to tell companies how important this is, and to let companies know that this will affect where they choose to work.  

The current health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic makes this work harder, but perhaps even more urgent.  The next major hurricane or wildfire will hit regions that are already strained by the pandemic - that are short on money, that have overwhelmed hospitals, and where many people are out of work.  We need to “bend the curve” on climate to create a cleaner, safer, and more prosperous future where we can all thrive. Climate and sustainability need to be part of the rebuilding of our economy, including our national infrastructure. That requires all of us to go “all in” on climate - and especially those with enormous power and influence, like major corporations.