Dow CEO Wants Clearer Government Guidance: Green Summit Update

(Bloomberg) -- Top executives, policy makers and investors are gathering Monday and Tuesday for the Bloomberg Green Summit. The virtual event focuses on the core issues of climate change.

The conference kicked off with speakers led by Bloomberg LP founder Michael R. Bloomberg and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Other presenters include BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, actor Robin Wright, Jigar Shah, executive director of U.S. Department of Energy’s loan programs office, and Ariel Investments Co-CEO Mellody Hobson. They are addressing the need for climate action and specific topics such as “the road to net zero” and “the investor’s case for climate action.”

BlackRock’s Fink, Buoyed by Record Inflows, Vows ‘Loud’ Activism (10:55 a.m. NY)

If BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink ever had second thoughts about injecting his voice into such weighty issues as climate change and voting rights, he doesn’t anymore.

“I’ve been very loud at what I’m saying and I’m going to be loud again,” said Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Over the last rolling 12 months, we were awarded $527 billion, so our voice is resonating with our clients.”

Emboldened by the record amounts of money flowing into his firm, Fink is among the most prominent leaders in finance to embrace the ideals of stakeholder capitalism, and he’s wielded the influence that comes with overseeing $9 trillion to push others in the same direction.

“I believe our voice is imperative in the communities where we work,” Fink said. “If you look at the companies that have voices, companies that have strong stakeholder capitalism as part of their principles, those companies are performing better than the ones who were silent.”

Dow’s Fitterling Calls for Clearer Government Guidance (10:40 a.m. NY)

For the private sector to decarbonize, it needs clearer signals from the government, said Jim Fitterling, Dow Inc.’s CEO.

“It is going to have to be a public-private partnership with some decent policies around a market-related price on carbon to help accelerate this transition and without overly binding it with regulations that really drive you in the opposite direction,” he said.

Fitterling said Dow has invested in pilots for carbon-reducing technology, including blue hydrogen and electric-based furnace. But he said the company was holding off of major capital commitments until it had a better sense of whether the government would support them through either a price on carbon or a carbon tax.

He also wants assurances that if such policy is implemented monies raised would go back into infrastructure and technology -- and not just into general government coffers.

Fitterling said that if there was a price on carbon, it would have to be global or it would cripple America and Europe.

“If we just follow Europe, you know, you run the potential that the United States and Europe could make themselves uncompetitive as manufacturers, and they could drive ball manufacturing to China, India, places that rely on coal and other forms of energy that would drive up greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

For Unilever, 2050 Is Deadline for Net Zero, Not a Target Date (9:55 a.m. NY)

For consumer goods giant Unilever, which has committed to reach net-zero emissions across its business by 2039, the mid-century target demanded by climate science for the global economy to zero out emissions should be seen less as a target date and more of a final deadline.

“The significance of 2039 is really a response to the scale and the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Marc Engel, Unilever’s chief supply chain officer. “We very much see 2050 as a deadline, and not a target.”

That’s in part because not all companies will be able to cut net emissions to zero by 2050, so if some can get there earlier it will help everyone.

“The climate crisis doesn’t wait, and it knows no boundaries, so you either win together or you lose together,” Engel said.

Every company needs to play its part in the transition to a net-zero economy and they should take action right away, said Mindy Lubber, CEO of Ceres.

“When a company says, I’m going to commit the next year or by 2050. Here’s what we would say: That’s great, but you can’t start in 2043, you must have a short-term, a medium-term and a long-term set of goals,” said Lubber. “It isn’t just about bold, glorious, long-term solutions that may never happen. We have to ensure that we’re not seeing greenwashing.”

Al Gore Says He’s Optimitsic About Reaching ‘Political Tipping Point’ (9:25 a.m. NY)

The global fight against climate change is accelerating and reaching a tipping point after a slow start, said Al Gore, former U.S. vice president and co-founder of Generation Investment Management.

“From the time the scientists started sounding the alarm, we’ve waited way too long,” Gore said. “But I’m very optimistic that we’re crossing the political tipping point right now.”

A combination of climate catastrophes such as fires and floods over the past few months have raised awareness among citizens in all latitudes about the need to act urgently against the fast warming of the planet, Gore said. At the same time, the sharp decline in the costs of clean technologies like wind and solar energy, and the outlook for electric vehicles are helping create momentum.

“We’re in the early stages of a revolution that has the magnitude of the industrial revolution,” he said. “Many are saying it’s the biggest investment opportunity of all history.”

In the past, financial firms looking to take advantage of the trend have sometimes made green promises they didn’t keep, or tried to make polluting initiatives look clean for the environment, a phenomenon known as greenwashing, he said.

“ESG investing has become mainstream and there is too much greenwashing,” Gore said. “But this is different now because we’ve seen the rise of public demands to get on with this.”

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