We need companies to step up on climate now more than ever.
At 104.5, London recorded its highest temperature ever on Tuesday. The consequences to an area not used to such heat are devastating — roads were buckling and needed to be hosed down, bridges were cracking and needed to be wrapped in foil to cool them, and a runway at Heathrow airport quite literally melted down. And that’s just London.
The unprecedented heat has killed more than 2,000 people in Spain and Portugal this month alone, with that number expected to rise. And, as Somini Sengupta, International Climate Reporter for The New York Times pointed out, that’s in the global north, where they can afford to take mitigating action.
Add to that the significant policy setbacks in the U.S. — the Supreme Court curtailing the EPA’s authority and Senator Joe Manchin torpedoing the Democratic Party’s climate initiatives — and our prospects for climate salvation might seem bleak.
But since doing nothing is really not an option and reforming politics likely takes too long for our climate goals, what can we do?
We can look to the area where the most positive climate activity is now underway – the private sector.