Will Richardson, who started climate advocacy at 15, identifies three shifts in how business leaders discuss climate: data is now incontestable, audiences moved from niche to mainstream, and language shifted from saving the planet to protecting livelihoods and supply chains. The persistent problem: those most affected by climate change, like smallholder farmers and floodplain communities, bear the least responsibility for emissions.
Chapters
Hey, thanks so much for listening. I would love to be able to help you more on what it is that you are listening to and why you're listening to, to me. If you could click on the link in the show notes, that would be awesome because it will help me define what it is that we should be talking about on this podcast. I gave my first public talk on the environment at 15. 3 things have changed and one hasn't. One, the data is now incontestable. When I started, you had to argue the science. Today, the UK Joint Intelligence Committee assesses every critical ecosystem on a pathway to collapse. 2, the audience is different. It used to be a parochial conversation, something that others would talk about, and now it's mainstream. Now the people who most need to hear it sit in finance and operations and are thinking about risk. 3, the language has matured. We have stopped trying to save the planet. The planet will be fine. The transition is about livelihoods, supply chains, food systems, and insurance markets. What has not changed is harder to admit. The people most worried about climate are still the people least responsible for it. The smallholder farmers we met in Morocco, the communities next to the floodplain, the young people who did not vote on any of this. After 200-odd episodes of our podcast, the lesson is the same as it was when I was 15. Listen first, speak second. Be useful to the people in front of you. What is the climate conversation you wish more business leaders were having?
Grab free access to Will's Substack while it lasts. Every week we pull together the top sustainability stories from dozens of trusted sources. Then he breaks down the big issues facing business right now in plain, practical terms. Link in the description.
