John Doerr’s Post

I’m thrilled to share the Speed & Scale emissions tracker—free and available to all at speedandscale.com/tracker  We can’t manage what we don’t measure—and the emissions crisis is no exception. The tracker aggregates and visualizes critical data that tells us how the world is progressing on cutting emissions.  It shows us, clearly and compellingly, how we’re doing on every measure that counts. My hope is that the tracker will help individuals across the world 1) understand the sources of the problem 2) focus on the highest-impact areas to drive action and 3) hold businesses and governments accountable for their actions. The tracker specifically aligns progress on goal on the OKRs laid out in Speed & Scale. Importantly, it pairs data with an action guide to help users act on individual and systemic levels. To invoke an old favorite, let’s measure what matters. And let’s do it at speed and scale. https://lnkd.in/gziT3zzf

Today, Ann and I are thrilled to announce our collaboration with Stanford University to create its first new school in 70 years – The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.    This new school will accelerate scholarship and solutions to pressing challenges facing the earth, climate, and society. It is the result of visionary thinking about the changing role of the university and our shared ambition to make a measurable impact on the climate crisis. Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and his team, led by Persis Drell and Kam Moler, have been fantastic founders of the new school. We are ecstatic that Arun Majumdar will be the inaugural Dean. The new school begins with 90 faculty working across disciplines to forge critical breakthroughs and insights, and it will hire an additional 60 professors. A new sustainability accelerator will bring speed and scale to high-impact solutions in both policy and technology. Most of all, we are humbled and energized by the thousands of passionate students who will change the world as entrepreneurs, innovators, and stewards of our planet.   With a deep track record in groundbreaking scholarship and impact, and a critical mass of subject experts and innovators, Stanford is well-positioned to make a measurable difference in climate and sustainability challenges. This is the decisive decade, and we must act with full Speed & Scale.

Over the next few days, you will hear from companies and leaders about their plans to tackle climate change. There will be no shortage of commitments made. But as we all know, words and promises aren’t action. It can be hard to tell what qualifies as substantive action, but here are five things you should look for to assess the quality of corporate climate commitments: 1. Measure and share Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. These emissions range from the energy produced and purchased, all the way through to the emissions generated by their customers. A company’s emissions disclosure report should be publicly accessible. 2. Set a net zero by 2040 commitment that doesn’t depend on offsets. Offsets don’t remove emissions generated–for companies to make their math work, they must cut their emissions, use energy more efficiently, and then lean on carbon removal. 3. Reduce emissions in half by 2030. We need action today, not twenty years in the future. Judge a company’s commitment by the actions they are taking in 2022 and 2023. 4. Invest in carbon removal. We need companies to proactively purchase carbon removal for a portion of their emissions. This will help drive down the cost of a very expensive technology. 5. Involve your stakeholders, from your suppliers to your customers. It is rare for a company to reach their net zero goal alone. Companies will have to engage with their suppliers to upgrade their practices and material. The Speed and Scale plan outlines 10 key objectives and 55 key results to drive greenhouse emissions to net-zero by 2050. It is an actionable plan to tackle our emissions crisis – now we need to execute. Learn more at speedandscale.com.

Right now, the innovators, the businesses, the investors, the impassioned youth, the private sector are well ahead of the public sector [on tackling climate change]—and for good reason. It's hard for a political leader to make pledges that his/her population won't support. That is why we've got to make the climate crisis a top two voting issue in the top 20 emitting countries by 2025. This can be done. This has been done. In the spring of 2018, just before Greta Thunberg launched her youth climate strike, voters in the EU's member countries ranked climate and environment seventh overall. In the fall of 2019, when Thunberg became internationally known, the issue leapt to number two, trailing only immigration. Great conversation with Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood on This Week in Startups.

Despite all progress, emissions were up 6% in 2021 YoY. We can solve our climate crisis, but we must act now. The first step is to get smart about what we need—from the solutions we have to invent and scale to the policies that will accelerate progress. We're in a race for the survival of our planet, and we won't win without greater individual and collective engagement. Thanks for the substantive conversation, Masters of Scale.

To gain broad adoption, clean energy solutions must be cost-competitive. We can’t get to net zero emissions until we eliminate the green premium, the additional cost for cleaner alternatives. We've got to make the right outcome the profitable outcome, so that it can become the probable outcome.

Love the idea of applying the blitzscaling approach to the climate crisis, Reid Hoffman! We can still avert catastrophe, but only if we act with far greater urgency and ambition—and immediate, drastic emissions cuts.

I’m thrilled to introduce Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now. A launchpad for the leader inside you, @SpeedandScale shows how we CAN turn back the tide on climate change. Join us at speedandscale.com.

40 years ago, Andy Grove shared the most important lesson of my career. It was a thrill to give this TED talk: https://lnkd.in/gizAyYh Onward!