High-profile tree planting projects often don't work because they lack long-term funding and fail to address the root economic pressures—like demand for agriculture or firewood—that caused the deforestation in the first place.
From credit issuers to project developers and corporate buyers, every party in the carbon credit system benefits from lax standards. This creates a market where most credits likely represent no actual, additional emissions reduction.
Previously limited to surface-level hot spots, geothermal energy's potential is expanding dramatically. Technologies pioneered for fracking now allow for deeper drilling, making it possible to tap into a vast, reliable, and clean energy source worldwide.
Low-impact environmental actions that inconvenience people (like ineffective paper straws) can create frustration. This may lead the public to reject more substantial climate policies, viewing the entire movement as unreasonable.
Even when world leaders agree on climate action, their commitments are fragile. As administrations change, countries frequently reverse course (e.g., the U.S. and the Paris Agreement), destroying the confidence needed for sustained global effort.
Viewing climate change as a range of potential futures, from miserable to manageable, empowers action. The goal is to steer society toward the better end of the spectrum, rather than viewing it as an all-or-nothing, hopeless fight.
The model of pressuring tech companies to go green doesn't apply to major industrial emitters like oil and steel. For them, the cost of eliminating emissions can be several times their annual profit, a cost no shareholder base would voluntarily accept.
While reducing your personal carbon footprint has a negligible direct impact, purchasing new technologies like heat pumps or EVs sends powerful market signals. This helps nascent companies scale and reduces costs for everyone later.
To solve the chicken-and-egg problem for new green products like clean steel, companies can use Advanced Market Commitments. A coalition of buyers pre-commits to purchasing the product, giving producers the financial security to build out manufacturing.
The idea that we only need political will to deploy existing climate tech is flawed. While solar and EVs are viable, critical, high-emission sectors like concrete, steel, aviation, and shipping do not yet have commercially scalable green technologies.
Even with cheaper panels, solar and wind face scaling limits. The massive land footprint required (e.g., Ohio + Kentucky for the U.S.) and growing community opposition to large infrastructure projects mean they likely cannot provide 100% of our energy alone.
Instead of focusing on marginal emissions cuts, companies should leverage their unique capabilities to solve hard problems. This means acting as early buyers for new green technologies or investing in R&D within their supply chains, creating new markets for the entire industry.