“Our mission is to mobilise boards around the world to accelerate the net zero transition, guided by the World Economic Forum’s Principles for Effective Climate Governance.”
Politicized ESG alert for corporations. The Climate Governance Initiative (CGI), housed at the University of Cambridge (UK), wants to hose you down in the name of “saving the Planet.” Rather than debate climate alarm and forced energy transformation, CGI wants to assume it and race down Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, the Utopia being Climate Stability (or some such thing).
The UK Climate Governance Initiative is based on the following premise:
Climate change is a global emergency. Business has a crucial role to play in the necessary transition. Boards must take the lead on this.
Our mission is to mobilise boards around the world to accelerate the net zero transition, guided by the World Economic Forum’s Principles for Effective Climate Governance.
Our core purpose is to enable effective climate corporate governance and mobilise boards to act.
Our vision is that a critical mass of boards proactively govern their organisations to ensure they fully contribute to resolving the global climate challenge.
Our values underpin everything we do. We are impact focused, collaborative and entrepreneurial in spirit.
Impact focused – We are highly motivated to make a difference through effective climate governance, using impact as a lens for our decision making.
Collaborative – We work with others who share our goals to achieve our mission, valuing the importance of collaboration over competition.
Entrepreneurial – We are fast acting, creative and learn from our actions and those of others.
We see the next 3 years as critical in our response to the global challenge posed by climate change. The IPCC report 2021 signals a ‘code red’ for humanity and emissions globally need to be halved by 2030 to ensure average temperature rise does not exceed 1.5 degree by 2050. The business community must act now to move from pledges to action, yet lacks the tools, skills and expertise to do so effectively, to create climate related opportunities and respond to risks. Boards are uniquely placed to drive this change, asking the right questions and providing robust challenge for the long-term resilience of the companies they oversee.
Our ambition is for Boards to be transformed through implementation of the World Economic Forum Principles for Effective Climate Governance. This will be evidenced by the progress of companies whose board members are active members of CGI Chapters over the next 3 years and an overall increase in the number of companies with transition plans compatible with a 1.5 degree scenario. The Chapters of the CGI have an instrumental role to play for this Ambition to be realised, with the support of the Governing Board and Secretariat.
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Conclusion
Yes, it takes nerve for a business to tell an organization like this to stay off its property and not bother the employees. To go away. To debate rather than indoctrinate. To read Steven Koonin’s Unsettled: What the Science Tells Us and What It Does Not and Why It Matters (2021). Alex Epstein’s Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas – Not Less (2022). And the newest of all: Judith Curry’s Climate Uncertainty and Risk (2023).