Is ESG BS?

Climate One

News, News Commentary, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences, Science

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who’s responsible for climate change? Fossil fuel companies would like us to believe it’s all of us as individuals (after all, BP invented the idea of the personal carbon footprint). But many large corporations bear at least as much of the blame. And for a decade or so, there was a push for every company to disclose its own emissions — a kind of corporate carbon footprint — and “sustainability” became the word of the day. But corporate shareholders demand profits, and managers are held accountable if they don’t deliver. Auden Schendler spent over 25 years running sustainability programs at Aspen One, the company that owns one of the highest-end resorts in the world. He argues that those pushing corporate sustainability programs are living a “big green lie.” Can capitalism be cleaned up from the inside? What should corporations and their sustainability managers do instead? Guests: Auden Schendler, Climate activist; Author, “Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul” Mindy Lubber, CEO, Ceres On March 24, Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Right, time to get you pet insurance with pet jebity.
0:03.2	Wroop. Pet Jevity. You know, like longevity, but for your pets long and healthy life?
0:08.4	They have no upper age limit for dogs or cats.
0:11.1	Meow!
0:11.9	They insure hundreds of thousands of pores and have 24-7 access to vet video calls.
0:17.8	Look for pet jevity wherever you shop online for insurance.
0:21.6	The vet video calls if your pet is in need of urgent medical assistance, contact your local vet immediately.
0:26.6	Visit Petjavity.co.uk for full details.
0:29.6	I'm Greg Dalton.
0:33.6	I'm Kushan Avadar. And this is Climate One.
0:36.6	So I'm Kushanavadar. And this is Climate One. So I'm a climate guy, right?
0:40.3	And I do my best to do my part.
0:44.3	I don't eat beef.
0:45.3	I have no gas power in my homes or cars.
0:49.3	But I still feel guilty whenever I get on an airplane as I did yesterday or do something that creates
0:55.0	emissions I know are bad. Yeah, I get that Greg. I imagine a lot of us feel that
1:01.1	way, especially when we keep seeing extreme weather or other climate-driven
1:05.6	disasters happening all over the place. But of course, you know the deal. You alone
1:10.4	aren't responsible for climate
1:11.9	change. Right. There's a certain hubris and I can solve it or I'm all the cause. And this is the
1:17.6	thing that fossil fuel companies have pushed on all of us for decades. Their well-funded
1:22.2	misinformation campaigns are well documented. But even though I know that rationally, I have to say it felt nice this week to hear one
	...

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