The Conservation Economy: Is Green Good for Business? (flyer)

Aspen Ideas Festival, June 30, 2016 panel discussion assembled by The Atlantic, sponsored by The Walton Family Foundation

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin calls for a Green GDP, cites carbon pricing as the critical vehicle to get there. (All panelists agree)

Listen to the discussion now. (click to listen or right-click to download audio)

Panelists:

• Pete Seligmann - Founder & CEO* of Conservation International
• Leisha John - Americas Director of Environmental Sustainability at EY
• Robert Rubin - Former Treasury Secretary (Clinton administration.)
• Steve Clemons - panel moderator, The Atlantic

Highlights:

• Pete Seligmann begins with the role of business leaders in driving sustainability; how today, license to operate depends on whether companies are perceived as either partners or predators. (*Jun 30, 2017 - Seligmann steps down as CEO of CI. Exit Interview.)
• At 4-min, Leisha John discusses the triple-bottom-line, the circular economy, and other business drivers of sustainability such as transparency and reporting and standard CSR principles. (Leisha's spotlight bio in GreenBiz: How She Leads)
• At 7½ min, Bob Rubin brings up the moral-hazard risk, suggesting that typical CSR initiatives (transparency, targets, reporting, etc) should not be used as an excuse to delay pricing carbon. "I think is all great and the things companies <inaudible> are terrific, and it's wonderful and the more they do it the better, and the more you're right, the better. But there's a moral hazard problem in this. And I'll tell you what it is: To the extent that that takes our attention away from what I at least think, is the key with respect to to at least climate change of which I am most concerned, that I think could be an adverse, rather than a positive effect of all this. We have got to have pricing carbon in my opinion...
  And if we can't... and to the extent that companies and those involved in the environmental movement feel that they are accomplishing their purposes this way, and therefore TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF TYING IT TO (carbon) PRICING, that, I think is a negative."

All three leaders ultimately agree on what we must do...

Melani & Rob Walton with EY's Leisha John, in 2016 and 2021.

Exactly one year later, recorded June 30, 2017 (Watch now), the Climate Leadership Council presented the Carbon Dividends plan to a room of 150 leaders business icons and opinion leaders at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Carbon Dividends: A Consensus Climate Solution

For a brief, clear explanation of the plan, watch #TedsTEDTalk (13 min.), A climate solution where all sides can win. Click here or below: bit.ly/CLC_plan

Related articles:

The big whiff: How corporate America missed the climate fix | GreenBiz - by Aspen Skiing Company's VP of Sustainability, Auden Schendler) Even the most committed of corporate sustainability leaders are undermining the cause. (Short URL: bit.ly/bigwhiff)

How Markets Beat Other Policies At Tackling The Energy-Climate Change Problem

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