America’s Most Powerful CEO Lobby Is Trying to Stop Climate Action—Again
America’s Most Powerful CEO Lobby Is Trying to Stop Climate Action—Again
Despite its high-profile rhetoric about climate change, the Business Roundtable wants to render toothless the Biden administration’s climate disclosure rules.
On Friday, The Guardian published my latest article, “How a top US business lobby promised climate action – but worked to block efforts.”
The story centers on the Business Roundtable, the powerful American lobbying shop that represents CEOs of many of the world’s biggest and most politically connected companies, from Apple to Goldman Sachs to Walmart.
On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable and its member CEOs generated immense praise and publicity for themselves by issuing a statement in which they claimed to “redefine[] the purpose of the corporation” to serve all of their “stakeholders,” not just their executives and shareholders.
As I show in The Guardian, despite pledging in that statement to “protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses,” over the past three years the Business Roundtable has worked relentlessly to block the U.S. government from taking meaningful action on climate change. The piece explores one particular example of climate obstruction: the Business Roundtable’s efforts to weaken a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that would help investors hold companies accountable for their climate promises.
In a revealing comment submitted to the SEC, the Business Roundtable argued that requiring companies that have publicly announced climate-related goals to be legally accountable for reaching those goals could have a “chilling effect,” dissuading more companies from setting climate goals.
But goals without accountability differ little from illusions. And as many of the Business Roundtable’s own members have acknowledged, the climate crisis makes little allowance for illusions.
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You can read the full story here: “How a top US business lobby promised climate action – but worked to block efforts.” Many thanks to everyone I spoke with and interviewed during my reporting, and to Dominic Rushe and the team at The Guardian for editing and publishing the story.