ClimateVoice

📰 This time of shifting political headwinds and escalating energy demands are shining a spotlight on Big Tech companies’ backpedaling on climate commitments. As Big Tech bows to President Trump, employees should ask themselves if they are willing to fall in line to support the billionaire autocracy fossil fuel grab or instead use their influence to engage coworkers and press their leaders for action. 🗞️ Latest opinion piece from Deborah McNamara and Bill Weihl in Fast Company. ⤵️

As the Trump administration wages a multi-front attack on federal environmental policies, Seventh Generation is stepping up its advocacy and defense of state laws that require polluters to pay for the negative impacts of climate change. “Some of the most ambitious and just policies on climate have been advancing at the state level,” said Kate Ogden, head of advocacy and movement building at Seventh Generation, a subsidiary of Unilever. “We can have the greatest impact there.” (*𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘞𝘦𝘪𝘩𝘭 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 "𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰.") “Building public support is super constructive, and 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘆,” said Deborah McNamara. “𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁. They are either obstructing consciously, keeping themselves on the sidelines or stepping out as leaders.” 📣 Urge your company to weigh in and support similar polluter-pay laws and bills in play, especially if you operate in one of these states – California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon.

Leadership can come from anyone, anywhere and given the deafening silence from corporate climate leaders like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon while the Trump administration guts environmental regulation and knee caps the clean energy transition, it's seems that when it comes to climate change, the leaders of these companies are anything but. It's now up to employees everywhere to stand up, speak out, and ultimately, vote with their feet to counter this corporate hypocrisy. There has never been a more important time for employees to get organized, use their voice, and push their employers to stay on track with a 1.5 future ✊ Leadership is earned, not given. It is not about rank or position, but about the trust and respect you build through aligning actions with intent. Real leadership is about doing the hard thing - especially when its politically unpopular. "Shifting political headwinds and escalating energy demands are shining a spotlight on Big Tech’s backpedaling on climate commitments. Companies like Meta and Microsoft, who were once vocal about their clean energy goals, are now pivoting towards dirty fossil fuels, pointing to deepened corporate complicity in an era of silence on climate action. Tech titans such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have remained largely silent in the face of the new administration’s attacks on clean energy. This is a sharp pivot from Trump 1.0 when these companies overwhelmingly spoke up against the decision to leave the Paris Climate Agreement. This time: crickets." Thank you Deborah McNamara, Bill Weihl, ClimateVoice for always speaking truth to power, Holly Alpine (née Beale) Will Alpine Maren Costa Emily Cunningham (she/her) Rebecca Deutsch and the countless other tech workers who have made real personal sacrifices quitting or leaving their jobs to stand up for climate; James Browning and F Minus for shining a light on the dark underbelly or corporate lobbyists who play both sides with reckless abandon; likewise Dylan Tanner InfluenceMap, David Pinsky, Laure Legros, Lucy Piper, Katelyn Prendiville, and WorkforClimate for your work to grow effective climate leaders across all companies and roles; Tessa Wernink and Undercover Activist, Creatives for Climate, Climate Designers, LES COLLECTIFS, Régénération Canada, THIS is what real leadership looks like.

As the Trump administration wages a multi-front attack on federal environmental policies, Seventh Generation is stepping up its advocacy and defense of state laws that require polluters to pay for the negative impacts of climate change. The cleaning products company known for its bio-based formulations was a prominent supporter of Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act that became law in May 2024. It was also part of a business group that got similar legislation passed in New York in December 2024. Now, it is focusing on California, where lawmakers have revived a climate superfund bill that failed to pass last year, and staying abreast of similar bills in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Oregon. ➡️ Climate superfund laws hold businesses accountable for the damage of climate change on communities by assessing fees related to company greenhouse gas emissions.  ➡️ The New York and Vermont laws have been attacked by opponents that have challenged them as unconstitutional. Fossil fuels companies commonly pit environmental concerns against affordability. Companies like Seventh Generation are using the cost of climate disasters to counter that narrative. “We know we cannot make progress until we rein in the influence of the oil and gas industry,” said Kate Ogden, head of advocacy and movement building at Seventh Generation. “This is a way to have a huge impact on the climate, without putting you head to head with the current presidential administration.” More on Seventh Generation’s state policy playbook: https://lnkd.in/erHtP-bd Ashley Orgain Deborah McNamara Bill Weihl InfluenceMap NY Renews Stephan Edel

Seventh Generation is stepping up its advocacy and defense of state laws that require polluters to pay for the negative impacts of climate change. Next in the consumer product company's sights: California legislation that would assess fees on the world’s largest fossil fuels producers. ✍️ Get the full story from Heather Clancy: https://buff.ly/xzCT8Zx

What do these 15 companies on our scorecard have in common with Chevron and ExxonMobil? 👀 They are all members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and/or the Business Roundtable. When 3M, Amazon, Apple, Cisco, The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Qualcomm, Salesforce, and Visa keep company with fossil fuel giants and help advance their interests, they are complicit in worsening the climate crisis. 😡 View our #GuiltByTradeAssociation scorecard by clicking the link in the comment below.

I'm grateful to have been invited by Deborah McNamara, Bill Weihl, and ClimateVoice to participate in #ClimateVoices, where we discussed how corporations can do their fair share to combat climate change in an equitable and inclusive way. It's imperative that we recognize our own agency in holding companies accountable, and that we don't let them hide behind the current Administration's policies in order to avoid doing what's right–which, I might add, is also in their long-term business interests. You can read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/exDSrJVz

In this issue of #ClimateVoices, I’m pleased to be talking with Malcom Glenn – a writer, speaker and equity advocate. He is the Founder and CEO of MG Equity Consulting, an advisory firm that helps organizations pursue more equitable outcomes in their external-facing work. Malcom has spent his career helping build partnerships between corporations, nonprofits, and governments, as well as telling the stories of the impact of that work. In 2024, he was a U.S. Policy Consultant for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), where he worked with state and federal lawmakers, as well as third party advocates, to promote expanded corporate ESG reporting requirements. Malcom is also a Fellow at New America’s Future of Land and Housing program.

Shifting political headwinds and escalating energy demands are shining a spotlight on many companies’ backpedaling on climate commitments. Companies like Meta and Microsoft, who were once vocal about their clean energy goals, are now pivoting towards dirty fossil fuels, pointing to deepened corporate complicity in an era of silence on climate action. During these times, employees should come together in community to advocate for action and rise to this moment such as inviting meetings with company leaders, sending emails to decision makers, asking questions at town hall meetings, and posting calls to action and engagement opportunities on internal message boards. 💡 Looking for more guidance? Dig into our step by step employee climate action guide. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gXM6YqBu

My favorite thing about being alive in these chaotic times are the courage and clarity of the leaders I get to work with. This piece by Deborah McNamara and Bill Weihl invites employees from tech giants to use their voices and tap into their courage to DO SOMETHING. Which, in the past, has worked. Remember: the thing about the 1% hoarding the world's wealth is that they are outnumbered by everyday workers who have so much to lose, and so much to gain. I'm honored to be on the board of ClimateVoice and I hope this article gives you the courage to take your next step. https://lnkd.in/gdZfV2iT