A large part of my business interactions are with CEOs and other top management professionals - leaders of small startups to some of the largest firms in the world.
In my opinion, next to government leaders, CEOs comprise the stakeholder segment with the most potential to take effective climate action.
Given that the most powerful stakeholder segment is fickle and fragile ( 4 year fickle in the US, 5 year fickle in countries like India...), I would place my bet on the corporate leadership segment to get the world out of the mess for which their companies themselves are mostly responsible.
But are the actions of corporate leaders & CEOs in India and worldwide anywhere close to effective?
It is my job to track corporate climate action, especially in the top management context. I have been doing this for years now - in retrospect, I feel I could have done more interesting things 🙁
I can tell you with utter certainty that the answer to the above question is a BIG NO.
CEOs of large CO2 emitting firms know that their climate actions are nowhere commensurate with what are needed - and if they don't know this, they don't know enough.
But CEOs have their challenges. Analysis of these challenges is for a different post, but suffice to say that I don't envy them - they are stuck between the proverbial devil (stakeholders :-)) and the deep sea (decarbonization challenges).
So, here is how it stands:
=> CEOs and top corporate leadership are perhaps our best bet for Net Zero action
=> They are not doing anywhere near good on this, anywhere in the world
=> Something got to give.
Now, if you were expecting, in this post, a climate strategy pathway from me for CEOs, sorry to disappoint - I don't have one.
But I can tell you this - if we somehow get the E in CEO to also mean Environment, if these honchos start getting environment in their blood and veins, that might be a good starting point.
𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.
Do you think CEOs can get environment in their blood and veins and souls and minds - and not just outsource it conveniently to a CSO?
I will be glad to get your answers and thoughts.
(See all my decarbonization posts from 𝐍𝐞𝐭 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐢 - https://shorturl.at/jx137 )