Every year on April 22, the world celebrates Earth Day, however, all of April is actually Earth Month. Sport fans, particularly those in the U.S, also celebrate in April: the NHL and NBA playoffs (Go Cavs); a new baseball season (Go Guardians); and the NFL (What can I say about the Cleveland Browns?) and WNBA drafts. If the race to net zero by 2050 were a sport, make no mistake, Team World is losing the game. Perhaps not “Browns-level-losing”, but clearly losing. For this Earth Day, let’s see if we can take lessons from the sports world and apply them to climate.
Understand time and score
To the untrained or uninformed eye, there appears to be plenty of time left on the clock to get to net zero. (i.e, 2050). The reality is that at the pace which we are exhausting the carbon budget, our goals of net zero by 2050 and limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees will soon be out of reach. In other words, we’re in the fourth quarter and we’re down. It’s crunch time baby!
To the untrained or uninformed eye, there appears to be plenty of time left on the clock to get to net zero. (i.e, 2050). The reality is that at the pace which we are exhausting the carbon budget, our goals of net zero by 2050 and limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees will soon be out of reach. In other words, we’re in the fourth quarter and we’re down. It’s crunch time baby!
Get Fan Support
There is little doubt that fans influence outcomes of games. That’s why teams that have home field advantage usually win in the playoffs. The lesson here: Let the crowd help you get back in the game. The Inflation Reduction Act is a great example of playing to the fans. It provides tax credits to Americans who buy electric cars, install energy-efficient systems, solar panels, or purchase high-efficiency appliances. The energy transition and jobs creation is another opening for garnering crowd support. Emphasizing economic opportunity in the climate fight that results in both prosperity and lower emissions will get more people backing transition solutions.
Build a culture of teamwork
To make a comeback, society will need to overcome a lot of challenges. Let’s highlight one big one. Getting to net zero by 2050 requires that there is some level of trust among the many main players involved in the climate fight – activists, scientists, policymakers, regulators, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and capital allocators. We face numerous obstacles – political polarization, corporate disinformation, and global conflicts, to name a few. Coordinated efforts between the many players to settle on the right policies or the right solutions will be difficult to achieve, but efforts to understand the roles of each player, and providing them the freedom to execute those roles, especially if they are “on your team” should surely happen.
“As we celebrate and reflect on Earth Day, let us consider how characteristics of championship sports teams can help lead us towards a more sustainable future. “
Make tough decisions
We have to be careful about wanting everything at once. Championship coaches make tough decisions in the face of many competing viewpoints. Solving the climate crisis will require us to make hard choices. We must prioritize emission reductions while also considering the impacts on biodiversity, the environment, and disadvantaged communities. But we must be pragmatic and accept that every issue will not be solved at once and that certain solutions to the climate crisis will make some issues worse. Permitting reform is one such challenge. The only chance to get enough renewables on the grid is to build more high voltage transmission lines in the US. This means permitting needs to change. But this has implications for biodiversity, for already marginalized communities, and could also offer benefits to conventional fossil fuel producers.
Put the ball in the hands of your best players
While role players are important, winning teams end up leaning on their stars to make plays at crunch time. Over the course of the last few decades, many of those star players have been in the technology community. And while technological advances have come with their share of issues (social media as an example), technology aimed at climate solutions offers great promise at increasing demand for clean and reducing demand for dirty. Technological advances have dramatically reduced the cost of producing energy from wind and solar. Artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, has the promise to accelerate these advances even further. From developing climate solutions to fostering communication and reducing misinformation, AI has the potential to guide us through this journey. However, we must also proceed with caution. As we explore the potential of AI, it’s crucial to ensure that it doesn’t become a greater existential threat than climate change itself. A delicate balance must be struck between harnessing AI’s power and mitigating its risks, but make no mistake, we need to invest in technology.
At FFI Solutions, our focus is on helping clients align their portfolios with the energy transition. That’s our role on the team. We all have a responsibility to do our part to address this urgent challenge. As we celebrate and reflect on Earth Day, let’s use one of our timeouts to consider how characteristics of championship sports teams can help lead us towards a more sustainable future. Remember, there is only one earth, and we must work together to protect it.
Chris Ito
CEO
FFI Holdings