Collaborative Approaches to Climate Change

How connected is your business to its sustainability goals? When we think of the supply chain, it’s easy to picture a seamless, interconnected system—a strong link between all teams, departments, and external partners. But in reality, many organizations operate in silos, with teams working in isolation. This separation doesn’t just slow down projects; it can also prevent meaningful progress toward sustainability goals. Senior leaders may tightly control projects, while departments work without knowing each other's strategies, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. Collaboration isn’t just a tool—it’s a mindset that drives progress, allowing us to pool expertise, identify blind spots, and create a shared path forward. When it comes to sustainability, this coordinated approach is essential. Take the We Mean Business Coalition, which has brought together over 1,300 companies committed to climate action. Their SOS 1.5 Initiative goes beyond goal-setting by providing practical roadmaps tailored to specific industries. This collaboration allows businesses to break down complex challenges into actionable steps, accelerating their sustainability journey with meaningful, measurable progress. For businesses just starting this journey, collaboration doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Begin with a small, focused team—your champions of change. These individuals can initiate open conversations, break down traditional hierarchies, and set an example of cross-functional cooperation. Encouraging honest, solution-oriented discussions and creating safe spaces for feedback can transform isolated efforts into a unified strategy. So, Here’s something to consider: What are the barriers to collaboration within your organization? How can breaking down these walls amplify your sustainability efforts? As Helen Keller said, “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” Sustainability challenges are complex, but with genuine collaboration, we can move faster, smarter, and with greater impact.

Even the world’s largest, most sophisticated investors—those that understand financial climate risk deeply—are structurally constrained from financing the transformations needed to reduce that risk at its source. Simon Mundy's recent Financial Times article on Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund (Norges Bank Investment Management) is a powerful illustration. NBIM’s own modeling suggests that climate change could wipe out 19% of the value of its U.S. equity holdings. Yet its mandate—to maximize returns with reasonable risk—limits its ability to “more aggressively support climate change mitigation.” This isn’t a critique of NBIM. It’s a reminder that asset owners, no matter how committed or informed, cannot - on their own - deliver the systemic transformations that meaningful climate action requires. There is a better approach: coordinated, multi-actor strategies that are both more effective and entirely doable. Systemic transformations—redesigning energy systems, electrifying transport, decarbonizing industry—require multi-actor coordination, institutional arrangements, and financing tools that go far beyond conventional portfolio strategies. Moreover, two-thirds of future emissions are projected to come from emerging and developing economies. But most institutional capital is not flowing there, constrained by high perceived risk and low credit ratings. Mitigating climate risk requires unlocking affordable finance in EMDEs. Financial institutions can and should be core partners in confronting planetary and financial climate risk. But today’s dominant approaches—corporate target-setting, exclusions, portfolio realignment, etc.—are not enough. The more effective strategy for large asset owners who understand climate risk is to work with governments, MDBs, utilities, and real-economy actors to co-design and co-finance system-wide transition pathways. Another basic reminder is that finance follows markets, not the other way around. When coordinated transition strategies reduce fossil fuel demand, improve the risk-adjusted returns of low-carbon alternatives, and de-risk investments through mechanisms like long-term offtake agreements or expanded credit enhancements, capital will follow. Pressure on financial institutions alone will yield, at best, inherently modest and limited results. Some argue that in the absence of stronger political leadership, incremental steps by financial institutions are better than nothing. But in many parts of the world, the real bottleneck isn’t political will—it’s the structural constraints of the financial system and the lack of coordinated engagement among economic actors. In developed economies, much can be done through subnational governments, public utilities, regulators, and public procurement, even without federal action. What’s missing is not intent but practical, multi-actor coordination—and that is entirely within reach. https://lnkd.in/eueSRXqt

Community is a climate solution. In December, I helped ClimateVoice organize a webinar called "Green Team Success Stories: How Employees Advance Climate Action at Work" and now, we're following up with a blog post that goes a level deeper! This article provides an exclusive glimpse into how employees from Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pinterest, and Salesforce have self-organized into employee sustainability communities (often called Green Teams) for years, showcasing their successes, challenges, similarities, and differences. Their efforts have shifted the dynamics of who can engage in sustainability work at these companies, created industry leading green innovations, and in each case, unlocked more resources and support for sustainability work. I authored this month's Connect the Dots newsletter to recap the session (find a link to the recording in the comments below) and explain just how powerful and transformative these communities can be. ✋ Green Teams work in organizations of all shapes and sizes and mostly run on volunteer labor, enabling individuals to align their passion and purpose with their work, while providing valuable career development opportunities and improving employee attraction and retention 🕸️ Their decentralized structure breaks down organizational silos, fostering connection and collaboration across the entire workforce, while increasing overall climate literacy 🪴 They uniquely embed sustainability throughout every part of an organization, driving innovation while reducing environmental impact simultaneously. 💡Most importantly, they transform sustainability from an operational task driven by a single team to a core part of organizational culture, making sustainability part of everybody’s job in the process. We learned that the challenges employees face doing this work are more similar than different: lack of place (no sustainability community), lack of time (burnout, layoffs, and competing priorities), lack of influence (employees are not considered a critical stakeholder), lack of knowledge (little to no climate literacy in the workforce), and crucially, lack of support (no top down sponsorship from a Chief Sustainability Officer or executive). The good news is that all of these obstacles can be overcome, and the employees in Green Team Success Stories: How Employees Advance Climate Action at Work told us how each had uniquely done it in their organizations. Read on to learn more and share your experience with green teams in the comments below. Help us tell your story! Kevin Houldsworth Mia Ketterling Alyssa Chen Prashansa Sonawane Nidhi Kaul Céline Zollinger Antoine Cabot 🌱Lindsey Peterson Rohan Nijhawan Sam Gooch Zoe Samuel Holly Alpine (née Beale) Van Riker Aiyana Bodi Chris Bradley Patrick Flynn Manav Goel Nina Panda Kimberly Forte Abraham Chen, MBA Ryan Eismin, PhD Peggy Brannigan Dana Jennings Elizabeth Shelly Maddie Stone Cecilia Emden Hands 🌱Kati Kallins Lucy Piper Katelyn Prendiville Nivi Achanta

I met Devin when he shared on Fortune 500 pharma company, Bristol Myers Squibb's journey measuring & reducing their Scope 3 (value chain) emissions. Here's his 4 pieces of advice.. For context: As of July this year, BMS has received approval for its near-term and long-term Science-Based Targets. Given BMS’s enterprise footprint involves >80% of Scope 3 GHG emissions, one of its near-term goals is to engage 75% of its suppliers to develop SBTs by 2028 From my perspective, this is admirable, provided support is offered to their suppliers, as it will help drive further Net-Zero action throughout their supply chain Here's our summary of his 4 key pieces of advice to sustainability professionals tackling Scope 3 emissions reliant on suppliers 1) Be an influencer to accelerate the sustainability agenda your organization This requires partnering both inside the business, but also with suppliers. Ethical and responsible purchasing needs to be a priority from the beginning, and sustainability questions should be asked to suppliers during any RFP process. Procurement teams should include sustainability in meetings with suppliers on an on-going basis, making it a standing topic on the agenda. 2) Segment your supply chain to prioritize efforts BMS performed a climate maturity assessment to segment its suppliers and prioritize its engagement efforts — knowing the company cannot feasibly engage thousands of suppliers at once. BMS started by looking at its top emitting suppliers and then assessed their maturity — finding one third to be very mature, a third just starting out, and a third somewhere in between. The company then prioritized suppliers with low maturity and/or a higher perceived ESG risk. 3) Partner with industry peers to create a collaborative environment In Pharma in particular, companies have been working collaboratively with their peers, through the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative, to harmonize resources and offer subsidized programs to suppliers, acknowledging the burden faced by them. One such program is Schneider Electric’s Energize, which offers access to education on renewable energy purchasing, and acts as an entry point for suppliers who can choose to enter buying cohorts and partner with other companies to buy renewable electricity. 4) Take your time and be comprehensive “I would just be a little cautious when you see companies who are sprinting out in front, because of the complexity, particularly in the supply chain — there's just fundamental challenges that folks are not going to be able to solve overnight. And doing the maybe less sexy work of just engaging stakeholders, setting targets, building a language of sustainability — that's the work that may not make the headlines, but that's what's going to change the world in the coming years.” 💬 What responsibilities should larger companies own compared to suppliers (and vice versa) when it comes to their emission impacts?

Here are three ways that corporates can help speed up the availability of new climate solutions:   🚦 Collaborate with industry to send demand signals to de-risk new climate solutions. Developing new solutions involves a lot of R&D and risk - mostly, what's the market for this? Large companies can help de-risk that initial investment for startups and companies by creating a readied market of purchasers through Advanced Market Commitments and purchasing coalitions that say "we're committed to buying X when it's available." There are already nearly a dozen AMCs organized around different climate solution areas, including aluminum, concrete, steel, and more, organized by groups like First Movers Coalition and Climate Group.   🚀 Catalyze new and existing climate innovators by bringing them into value chain challenges. Instead of developing new solutions in-house, it can sometimes be better to bring in existing startups to work closely with business units. Support can include pilot funding, physical resources, networks, and access to expertise in addressing value chain challenges at scale. This could be done in collaboration, like 100+ Accelerator, through sponsored accelerators with groups like MIT Solve (e.g. Amazon's Devices Climate Tech Accelerator), or as an open innovation challenge with partners like IDEO. Not only does this bring early ideas to market quicker, it also sends a demand signal to VCs and other innovators that the need for solutions is real.   💸 Align venture capital investments and advocacy efforts with existing climate objectives. Many large companies have some kind of corporate venture capital arm that invests corporate funds into early-stage startups. That existing mechanism can be incredibly powerful when aligned with climate objectives. Often times the investment can help address the company's own climate-related solution gap, but also presents larger financial return opportunities for other companies in need of that solution now and in the future. That investment can also speed up the scale of early-stage ideas and get them to market quicker, in-part because of the growth capital invested.   The reality is that companies cannot achieve success in climate innovation alone. Climate innovation requires a robust ecosystem that shares risks and fosters collaboration, involving investors, governments, universities, startups, and more. Companies must actively engage in that ecosystem in order for us to bring new climate solutions to market at speed and scale.   Pages below are from the latest Unlocking Corporate Climate Innovation report, found here: https://lnkd.in/esVc8Ykr

🌱 Sustainability Advisory Boards: A Growing Force for Change As sustainability becomes a strategic priority across industries, many organizations are turning to Sustainability Advisory Boards to guide their efforts with insight, accountability, and innovation. These boards bring together diverse voices—scientists, clinicians, community leaders, policy experts, and industry professionals—to help organizations: ✅ Align sustainability goals with stakeholder expectations ✅ Challenge assumptions and raise ambition levels ✅ Ensure transparency and credibility ✅ Co-create solutions that are both practical and impactful But why include external stakeholders? Because they bring: 🔍 Broader perspectives that challenge internal thinking ✅ Credibility and trust with customers, communities, and investors 💡 Specialized expertise in climate science, ESG, public health, and more 🤝 Stakeholder alignment across sectors and systems 🚀 Innovation and collaboration that drive real-world impact 🔍 Examples across industries: 🏥 Healthcare: Hospitals and health systems are engaging clinicians and environmental health experts to reduce emissions and waste. ⚡ Energy: Renewable energy companies consult climate scientists and community leaders to shape just transitions. 🛍️ Consumer Goods: Brands like Unilever and Nestlé work with NGOs and academics to advance circular economy strategies. 💰 Finance: Institutions like BlackRock and HSBC rely on ESG advisors to guide responsible investment. 💻 Tech: Companies like Microsoft and Google engage environmental scientists to ensure their climate goals are science-based. The common thread? Collaboration. These boards are not just about oversight—they’re about partnership, innovation, and shared responsibility. 💬 Have you served on or worked with a sustainability advisory board? What made it effective—or not? I’d love to hear your insights. #Sustainability #AdvisoryBoards #ClimateLeadership #ESG #CrossSectorCollaboration #SustainableFuture #StakeholderEngagement

I'm excited to share the launch of "Bold Measures to Close the Climate Action Gap," the latest report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. https://lnkd.in/e8MCFKAm    We see businesses doing more to tackle climate change, but collectively, the world is moving way too slowly. This new report focused on opportunities for companies and governments to translate their individual actions into more substantial global progress. The bottom line is that our individual efforts must be more geared to driving systemic change. The report highlights five ways for companies to do this, including: 1. Accelerate supplier decarbonization. In many companies, suppliers’ emissions are 3x to 8x their own Scope 1&2. Cutting the first 50% of many products’ supply chain emissions can be achieved with an end-price impact under 1% 2. Enable customers to make greener choices. Product redesign, circularity, reducing customers’ energy consumption can substantially lower the emissions footprint of many products. 3. Drive change with peers in your sector, especially in supply chain ‘pinch points’: Ten players or less control more than 40% of many key markets; clearer product labeling is another great area of opportunity 4. Engage in cross-industry partnerships, especially large-scale buying groups, to mobilize capital and accelerate development and scaling of advanced technologies 5. Advocate and support bolder policies. First, make sure you and your lobbying partners are not harming climate progress in your government engagements. Then, look for opportunities to go further to be an effective partner to governments to encourage bold and pragmatic changes in incentives, policies, and reporting. The report is filled with real life examples of what companies are doing today in each of these areas. Thanks to Pim Valdre and Pedro G Gomez Pensado from WEF and my colleagues Dr. Patrick Herhold, Jens Burchardt, Cornelius Pieper, Edmond Rhys Jones, Trine Filtenborg de Nully, Galaad Préau and Natalia Mrówczyńska for leading the work on this important report. And to my Alliance co-chairs, Jesper Brodin, Christian Mumenthaler, Ester Baiget, and Feike Sijbesma for your continued leadership.

🌳 Businesses could learn a thing or two from these trees 🌳 Have you ever heard of crown shyness? It’s one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena. When certain tree species grow close together, the canopies form intricate patterns – without their crowns ever touching. From above, it looks like a natural mosaic, with clear gaps between the trees. By keeping their distance, these trees allow sunlight to filter through, reduce the spread of disease, and prevent damage from colliding branches. In other words, they’ve mastered the art of cooperation over competition. 💼 How can businesses foster their own version of crown shyness? 💼 1. Share Innovations: Open up patents or solutions that can help others reduce their environmental impact. 2. Collaborate Across Industries: Partner with peers to create systems that benefit entire supply chains or industries. 3. Co-Develop Standards: Work together to set shared goals, like net-zero commitments or sustainable material sourcing. 4. Align on Shared Goals: Focus on collective targets, such as achieving industry-wide carbon reductions or circular economy milestones. 5. Create Knowledge Hubs: Develop platforms for sharing sustainability data, best practices, and resources openly across organizations. Credit to Markus Gilles for the video. Thanks to Sophia Kianni for bringing this to my attention. Follow Danielle Barrs for more like this. #CorporateSustainability #Environment #SustainableBusiness #Collaboration #NatureSolutions

🌍 Reflections from Davos 2025: Collaboration, Capital, and Building a Nature-Positive Future Returning from Davos this year, one theme stood out clearly: we’re not lacking solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises—what we’re missing is collaboration, coordination, and the capital required to accelerate change. 🚨 The Collaboration Gap: A critical issue that came up repeatedly was the siloed approach still dominating the investment and environmental sectors. Too many investors continue to operate as if nature, biodiversity, and climate can be addressed independently, but the truth is that nature will always hold us accountable—whether today, tomorrow, or for future generations. Another major challenge is the persistent funding gap, often referred to as the "valley of death." Climate and nature-based solutions that now exist, are struggling to secure the capital needed to scale beyond the early stages of venture funding. Companies that have progressed past Series A or B encounter a critical shortfall in investment required to transition from growth-stage innovation to large-scale deployment. This funding bottleneck remains one of the greatest barriers to achieving impact at scale. 🌱 Nature Positive: A Global Goal The concept of “Nature Positive”—halting and reversing biodiversity loss—has emerged as the equivalent of the Paris Agreement for nature. While we’ve made technical progress, the larger barriers lie in people-centered challenges: governance, compliance, monitoring, and unlocking innovative financing models. The question isn’t what needs to be done—we know that. The challenge is how we build the systems to make it possible socially, economically, and at scale. 💡 Key Takeaways from Davos: 1️⃣ Collaboration is essential. We must move beyond working in silos to unlock the full potential of climate and nature-based solutions. 2️⃣ Addressing the "valley of death" of funding is critical to bridging the gap and enabling solutions to reach the scale needed to drive meaningful impact. 3️⃣ Governance, compliance, and financing must evolve to support a Nature-Positive future. Davos 2025 was a powerful reminder that the ambition and ideas already exist. Now it’s about building trust, forming partnerships, and committing to collective action. How are you addressing these gaps in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts. 🌊 #Davos2025 #NaturePositive #CollaborationForAction

The recessionary economic mindset has made it riskier for employees to speak up, but many are frustrated with corporate silence on climate issues. There are groups active at Amazon and Google, to name just two. Participation is especially strong in Europe and Asia where political backlash against ESG has been less severe. “The current political climate in the U.S. is not conducive to any climate-positive action,” said Justin Lumpkin, a YouTube software engineer who’s part of an activist network called the Cross Company Alliance. The alliance's mission is to share best practices for campaigns, starting with a focus on how employees can encourage their employers to create “climate-safe” 401k fund options. It is using Google as a test case, where the work is supported by more than 1,200 employees. Many companies have “green teams” working on internally sanctioned programs such as hosting Earth Day events or advocating zero-waste initiatives. Employee climate action groups are self-organized to tackle more controversial issues, such as advocating fossil fuels-free investment options for 401k retirement plans, pushing for low-carbon procurement policies or campaigning for their employer to fire clients that perpetuate oil and gas exploration and production.  There’s no corporate playbook for integrating ideas and suggestions from employee activists, but there should be, said Alison Taylor, clinical associate professor with NYU Stern School of Business. “My classes are full of frustrated young people that want an outlet,” Taylor said. “If your company is going to discourage this, what are you putting in place? If you’re going to encourage it, what are you really going to do with these decisions?” The Employee Climate Action Network was launched in June to support corporate activists. Its first resource features more than 100 guides and case studies to help employee advocates — both those just starting out and those seeking to scale their efforts. Project Drawdown contributed tutorials covering topics such as how product designers and sales teams can add climate considerations into their work. There are step-by-step guides for organizing communities contributed by former Amazon and Microsoft employees. There is no fee to join the network. “The ultimate goal is to scale the number of employees that are actively working to create change from the inside and to build solidarity across geographies,” said Deborah McNamara, executive director of ClimateVoice, one of the founding organizations. You can read more details from my feature here: https://lnkd.in/egM88ePB