Bill Gates takes over as guest editor of the Fortune website
today, providing a look at the steps needed for a climate
breakthrough. You can read the whole package, along with updates, at fortune.com. Especially
worth attention is Gates’ lengthy interview with editor-in-chief
Clifton Leaf, available here. In
it, he makes the point that during the last recession, in 2007-2008,
concern about climate change receded. But this time, the opposite
has happened:
“During the financial
crisis … people were like, “Hey, things are tough now and that climate
stuff, that’s way out there.” Even by 2010, if you polled the public,
you’d find that interest in the climate had gone way down. It began to
build up gradually over the next decade, but as we hit the pandemic, I
thought, ‘Okay, what’s gonna’ happen?’ But it’s actually gone up
somewhat during the pandemic, which is kind of weird.”
Gates believes the global challenge to meet net zero carbon emissions
will have to rely heavily on innovation. And in his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,
he lays out the innovations needed. (Read Leaf’s
review of the book here.)
It’s a daunting agenda. But as we reported
last month, 60% of CEOs surveyed recently are now on board and have
adopted their own plans for achieving net zero by 2050 or
before. And many executives I’ve talked with recently share the
view that GM
CEO Mary Barra expressed at a recent Fortune
meeting—that 2021 could be an “inflection point.”
For its part, the Biden administration is rapidly turning the U.S.
government toward the net zero goal. The recent COVID vaccine effort
has shown what can happen when business and government collaborate with
a clear purpose. If they do the same on climate change, anything
is possible.
Separately, Chobani
CEO Hamdi Ulukaya is the subject of a new documentary,
which debuted last night on Vice. The film focuses on the work he
has done to resettle and provide jobs to refugees. I spoke with Ulukaya
about the film last week. He says he grew up “hating CEOs and
business and wealth,” and wanted to show it could be done better. He
believes other businesses increasingly share his view, for two big
reasons:
“One is the people who
want to come and join these companies. They want to work for companies
whose values align with theirs. That’s the new force, and it is getting
more and more powerful…The
second big force is the consumer…That’s also becoming more and more
powerful.”
And finally, Magic Leap’s new CEO Peggy Johnson was our guest on Leadership Next this
week. She believes she has a plan to turn the troubled augmented
reality headset maker around. You can listen on Apple
or Spotify.
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