Quick Chat: Catherine Atkin, architect of SB253 climate policy, with a COP28 [audio] pre-brief

Heading into COP28, I had the pleasure to check in quickly with Catherine Atkin on what she’s seeing, and hoping for, in all of her carbon data accountability conversations. She’s a firm believer in the idea that once corporations know they’ll be held accountable, they’ll jump on board. What we are both looking for are the corporations that will loudly and proudly talk about their journey, and the opportunities that emerge, as a way to catalyze their peers and competitors. On that note - oh, how I dream of (and will be watching for) a corporation making that sort of narrative a big part of their COP28 presence. If yours IS one of those corporations intending to use the COP moment in this way, I would love to cheer you on loudly - so ping me.

Now, enjoy the audio! Let me know if it resonates and, please, share what YOU see in your COP monitoring that deserves big love. The more counterintuitively a corporation and it’s leaders are acting in this moment, the more I want to know.

Anyway - some of Catherine’s key points from our conversation are below:

(02:58): “…in a lot of ways what we were doing in California, what I had the chance to work on is really part of this kind of global reckoning that we have to get focused on where we're at. And so we can be smart about making the changes we need to.”

(04:53): “We are not going to make the changes that we need without getting outside of our comfort zone and pushing ourselves. So I take that responsibility personally. So it is not just about corporations, it is about government, it's about consumers. And I have to say it's been really gratifying to see these leading corporations, many of whom were doing this work already, but maybe quietly and not necessarily saying this needs to be, the floor needs to go up.”

(19:12): “So I just think that it's time for us all to come together and figure out what's keeping us from doing it and then work together to make it happen.”

News To Use

RE: The “name and shame” journalism heading into COP28 is picking UP. This Guardian piece on the advertising industry is by one of the very best investigative journalists covering climate, Amy Westervelt. (Sharing her Bluesky platform link, and - that’s a tip: lots of climate media are heading over there). Worth note: I interviewed Amy for my Living Change podcast on how fossil fuel companies develop “social license” to keep on drilling wherever they go. I highly recommend you give that a listen.

The transportation sector, identified as probably the most significant area of consumption for the top 10% by Julia Steinberger, a professor of ecological economics at the University of Lausanne and the author of a 2020 paper on the topic, is a good example. “The categories of consumption that the wealthiest people overconsume or overspend on and that constitute the big difference in their emissions is really flying longer distances, and driving bigger cars longer distances, so transportation is really the big one,” Steinberger said.

My context/takeaways: One - as I’ve long emphasized, transportation is a RIPE topic to leverage for leaders who *are* changing their ways. The climate influence of a single corporate CEO who shares online that they are driving less, choosing an ebike for short trips, or intentionally NOT flying as much for business or personal reasons would be massive. Talk about counterintuitive personal branding (I’m here to help do this strategically!) Two - The Guardian continues to have the best coverage of climate, publishing the realities and hard truths. They are a massive resource leading into and around COP28, folks. Three - Advertising agencies are doing what lots of corporations wish they could also continue to do: talk about how green their operations are while staying quiet on the emissions of the products they sell/help sell. Look out for California SB253 / The Corporate Climate Data Accountability Act! (Follow today’s QuickChat interviewee, Catherine Atkin, to continue to learn about all that this means AND the opportunities for corporations to step up *early*.)

RE: Twelve billionaires’ climate emissions outpollute 2.1m homes. Just sit with that. Ugh. This excellent piece on new Oxfam International research by Sandra Laville in, again -The Guardian, tells it like it is. Oxfam International worked with two U.S. academics on this research: Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk.

“Billionaires generate obscene amounts of carbon pollution with their yachts and private jets – but this is dwarfed by the pollution caused by their investments,” said Oxfam International’s inequality policy adviser Alex Maitland.

“Through the corporations they own, billionaires emit a million times more carbon than the average person. They tend to favour investments in heavily polluting industries, like fossil fuels.

My context/takeaway: What if just one of these guys took the lead and started to change their life, and talked about the why/the journey? This counterintuitive action would absolutely attract massive media attention. This is the climate influence of which I speak. The narrative of just one very influential, aspirational billionaire being seen reducing their obscene emissions, changing their personal behaviors, and transitioning their investments, could make a massive storytelling difference. It’d suddenly look very cool to be that one pioneering billionaire walking, pedaling, and staying-home with their talk. The climate world has not yet tapped the power in highlighting the few “name and fame” opportunities. THIS is my work.

Thank you for reading Andrea Learned On Climate Influence. This post is public so feel free to share it.

***

I intend to be watching COP28 social sharing and media coverage closely (particularly on food/agriculture, transportation, cities and carbon data) - so feel free to follow me on my various platforms if those sorts of climate influence insights are of interest. On that note - I have just started to check out an audio platform called Swellcast. It’s very new, so I may be one of few, literally, “talking climate,” but if you are tiring if selfies and likes on the usual platforms, give it a go… There is some fun potential and I will keep you posted.

Thanks *so much* for reading/sharing/subscribing. Please comment or message me with questions on building climate influence. I may cover your suggested topics in a future issue. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on LinkedIn or BlueSky (I linger on “X” but...)