Should Businesses Have Sustainability Goals, and Why?

Video Transcript

I think the most successful businesses are those that understand the interconnection of their supply chain, their personnel, and the world around them, that don’t ignore the risks. So for instance, climate change is accelerating the weather risks, the risks of wildfires, even just the difference of a few degrees on average that we’ve already seen changes in the heating and cooling platform and needs for commercial buildings. It also might change the availability of solar generation or the need to quickly deploy solar generation. In fact, at our own home just today, I was wondering with amazement at the reality that we’ve had less rain this month, but my solar panels on our home have generated more power. And so we’re actually using clean technology to not only adapt to climate change but mitigate it. And what I see is that companies and enterprises that are thriving and attracting more investment are those that are recognizing that we don’t have endless resources and that there are new opportunities and a need for new technology.

So at some point, we’re going to start seeing a need to recycle batteries and rare earth and rare minerals from e-waste. That’s a phenomenal opportunity. We work with a lot of renewable natural gas facilities that are capturing methane, not letting it become a potent greenhouse gas, but turning it into power or putting that into a pipeline and creating revenue and business opportunities there. That’s where I think the largest opportunity is for the private sector and for companies, is to recognize that they can increase the resilience of their supply chain and they can create opportunities by solving big challenges with what they know and do well already.