Many sustainability professionals are concerned about how our industry might fare under the new administration. While some of the campaign rhetoric presented reasons for concern, it is important to look at the facts.
Many corporations took decisive action under the last Trump administration including Walmart adopting a zero emissions plan, and Microsoft launching its “carbon negative” agenda, (which jump started carbon removal technology and early adoption). American corporations supported the addition of more than 142 gigawatts of solar and wind power to the U.S. grid from 2017 to 2022. The world is a different place this election, and global corporations are focused not just on emissions requirements, but also on their bottom line. There is just too much money at stake to not move forward with reducing emissions and adopting more sustainable practices. By some estimates, failing to act action on climate today will cost us $178 trillion by 2070, while taking action could unlock $43 trillion in economic benefits.
The states continue to lead on climate. As of today, 23 states and the District of Columbia having taken action setting economy-wide GHG emissions targets. Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois are pushing for sustainable aviation fuel, and Nevada and Georgia are negotiating new clean power tariffs for big users like Amazon, Google and Microsoft. In this week’s election, voters approved twelve state and local ballot initiatives related to climate and conservation representing more than $18 billion in funding. Voters in Washington state blocked efforts to roll back the state’s climate policies, and large public funding measures for climate were approved in California ($10 billion), Suffolk County, NY ($6 billion) and Minnesota ($2 billion). Two notable ballot initiatives passed in “deep red” states including a transportation sales tax in South Carolina to support $94 million in land conservation, and a Louisiana initiative directing federal energy revenue to coastal protection and restoration.
There is so much momentum for building a green economy, pure economics are likely to override partisan politics. Texas provides the proof, or it would not be producing more renewable energy than any other state.
Today, just like last week and the week before, we are optimistically busy producing ECOR panels and securing our future. ECOR Global was not built around the political landscape, a subsidy, or the need for one party or the other in power for our business plan to succeed. ECOR’s plans are built around an economic benefit for our customers and global material trends. ECOR represents a sustainable future that is destined to happen because of economics, not who is in the White House.