Climate change transparency comes to your couch & computer

The White House website offers some exciting news that 81 additional companies joined the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge. This is unprecedented in the movement to transition to cleaner energy and a more sustainable supply chain.

These 81 companies employ over 9 million people, have operations in all 50 states, and represent $3 trillion in annual revenue. “Companies making the pledge have set significant greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy sourcing goals for 2020 and beyond, and are focusing on increasing energy efficiency, boosting low-carbon investing and making sustainability more accessible to low-income Americans.” The most important part of this pledge is that these companies are making sustainability more accessible to all Americans and not just the rich.

IKEA personally committed to produce as much renewable energy as the total energy it consumes in global operations by 2020. Best Buy committed to reduce their carbon emissions by 45% by 2020. Best Buy and IKEA have unique opportunities to create both political and societal change with their environmental decisions.

With these public commitments, Best Buy and IKEA have to become smarter and more efficient with their energy usage, water consumption, transportation infrastructure, and waste stream. Transparency is crucial in the way in which these goals are set and how these goals are reached. These commitments must be monitored to ensure companies follow through with their agreements. With this said, companies like Volkswagen, that lied about claims of being environmentally friendly, will not prosper.

Both companies agreed that they want to remain relevant to millennials, who are becoming the next leaders, employees and consumers of their companies. Millennials are aware of the issues facing our planet and want their jobs to make a difference. By committing and following through, businesses must not only just talk the talk but walk the walk.

IKEA and Best Buy both agreed that a more holistic approach is needed to reduce their carbon emissions. For example, both companies expressed interest in establishing a national regulation for hazardous waste, recycling and e-waste. With the infrastructure this regulation would create, every company in America and its consumers could reduce their environmental footprint significantly. The whole supply chain must be evaluated because carbon emissions are produced in each step of production.

Because climate change affects everybody, everyone should care.

If you want to make a difference, learn your ecological footprint.