Climate action is not a standalone issue – it affects everything that uses energy. Decisions about daily operations, capital expenditures, and consumption of goods and services all need to be made with an awareness of the carbon footprints, and adjacent issues such as ecological impacts.
Policies and regulations have an outsized impact on climate action – many existing rules were created decades ago with the expectation that things would remain pretty much the same in perpetuity. Some policies lock in harmful practices, such as requiring minimum parking standards. Other existing regulations can delay or even prevent climate action, often indirectly. These types of barriers to climate action can often be subtle, and deeply entrenched.
Our approach to climate solutions includes the following
- understand what our world will need to look like in 2050, and work backwards from there to find how to get there from here.
- much like advice for test-taking from high school through university – do what you can first, and come back to the rest later.
- action is required at all levels of government, and sometimes things you would like to do are out of your control, with updated regulations blocked or delayed by other levels of government.
- the perfect is the enemy of the good. Ideal solutions may not exist, but decent solutions are usually available.
- take advantage of interconnections so that one action can deliver benefits in multiple areas.
- count both sides of every ledger. When facing change, humans tend to only see the advantages of the status quo, and compare them to the disadvantages of change.
- borrow from the best. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, and no time to do so either.
- take an iterative and adaptive approach while still making rapid progress towards climate goals. It’s impossible to get everything right the first time. We promote ongoing monitoring and quick response to fix issues that arise, in order to minimize disruption.