The New York Times Company (NYT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

We didn't hear our introduction, so forgive us for being a little late. How is everybody?

All right...

Have you had enough of all of this? Or you're just getting started.

We're just getting started. Governor, thank you for being here.

Thank you. Honored.

On Friday, I wrote the story about California filing a really landmark suit. California sued 5 of the biggest oil companies in the world.

Yes.

Chevron, a home state company; as well as Exxon; BP; Shell; ConocoPhillips. As well as the American Petroleum Institute, alleging...

Especially. Sorry.

Alleging decades of deception.

Yes.

What was the motivation for bringing the suit? And what do you actually hope it will achieve?

Well, the -- I mean the very subject matter derives because of the folks you just listed. The climate crisis is, after all, a fossil fuel crisis, period, full stop; and these guys have been playing us for fools. They've been playing all of us for fools. They continue to play us for fools. They play the progress we've made as small ball. They've taken over the entire [ COP process ]. Please give me a break -- this year. That's an embarrassment, and I guess I've had enough and I'm sick and tired of this. And if California can make a dent with respect -- those of you from Germany, soon to be the fourth largest economy in the world. The size of 21 American states combined, the scale and scope of what the State of California can do, we think, can move the needle. It sure as hell can do this. And forgive me for being long winded. It can illuminate their deceit. It can illuminate their deception and their lies over the course of 50, 60, 70 years they've been lying to you. [indiscernible].

If you actually read the complaint: It's a pretty stunning document that goes into real detail about some of these claims. When you started to familiarize yourself with this story, how did it strike you? And I think I got a sense of it just given your reaction, but as a Californian, as a governor, when you're dealing with these disasters and then you put it together with what you are reading in that complaint and the claims you now make, how does it sit with you?

I didn't know. I didn't know. I thought I knew, a little bit. These guys have been lying since the '50s, the 60s, the '70s and '80s. They knew. And they knew what to do about it to make sure we didn't do anything meaningful about it. We're living, as a consequence, in the world that I'm living in where the hots are so much hotter. The dries are so much drier. The wets are so much wetter. Third year of a drought, week 2 later, I'm now in the second, third week of the wettest 3 weeks in California history. Paradise, California was wiped off the map; Greenville, California, almost wiped off the map; Grizzly Flats, almost wiped off the map; places, lifestyles, traditions, our history being wiped off the map, cost to the taxpayers. I mean it's incalculable. I can't even provide home insurance right now, so -- one of the great crises in this country. Ask the governor in Florida, who still doesn't believe any of this. So this is it's too close to home. If you don't believe in science, you've got to believe your own eyes, your lived experience, the vividness of this. We said, a few years ago, Mother Nature has joined the conversation, but it's vivid in places like California. We're the tip of the spear, 1,100 miles of coastline. It's not theoretical. It's practical. And I'll be candid with you: Now I know, I get it now. I get it. I get why, 3 years ago, when I stood on this stage quite literally a few inches from where I'm sitting -- I get why I was so naive, because I didn't know the depths of their deception.

The case calls for the creation of an abatement fund. You just mentioned it's incalculable. In the suit, in the complaint, you talk about tens of billions of damages to California already and multiples of that in the years ahead. How do you think about these companies which you've now sued, their financial responsibility at a moment when many of them are enjoying record profits? What are you asking of them?

I mean, where is your decency? Just think about Chevron alone, [ you mentioned ], a California-based company, $75 billion of stock buyback and dividends. Ask Mike, decent guy, I'm sure -- or I thought before we filed the lawsuit. And I finally understood more than I did before we put together all the evidence, how much he's invested in renewables versus the deceit and the perpetuation of their interest in the issue of climate and their commitment to low carbon and green growth. It's incalculable in terms of the dollars, the lives lost, the funerals, the dead bodies in Paradise, California, people whose lives have been cut short because of health risks and health-related [ cause ] because of pollution and the smoke that they're sucking into their lungs. This is serious, [ into despair ]. I've got a 13-year-old daughter. She's here literally in New York. And one of those dream things, we did that breakfast at Tiffany's. I'm blessed that we got in. She'll turn 14 on Monday. And you know what, her lack of optimism, that's incalculable as well. And perhaps there's the greatest shame of all, is she literally -- her anxiety that she has and her friends have. A 13-year-old who should be filled with idealism and optimism and -- is filled with dread and stress because she's seen her dad come back from too many wildfires, too many droughts and floods. This is a serious, serious moment. And we cannot address this issue, with all due respect to all the conversations and panels, unless we get serious about addressing the issue. And the issue is fossil fuels, and the issue is the deceit from these companies.

I'm going to reclaim all of the applause time and we're just going to keep going. We've got more to talk about besides this case. It's a landmark case. It's going to be very interesting to see how other states respond. I heard that other cases have been sort of waiting in the wings to see if California would go. We will see what happens. I want to ask you, though, about some internal bills in the California legislature. Earlier this month...

Yes, yes, [ dealing with ] California politics...

Well, this is not California politics. This has potentially national and international implications. Earlier this month, the California legislature put forward 2 bills, SB 253 and 261. The first would put -- require major corporations doing business in California to disclose their carbon emissions, including scope 3 emissions. The other would require them to disclose their climate-related risks and [ put forth a plan ]. You have until October 14 to decide whether you will sign them. Are you going to sign them?

And I'm going to answer. I'm going to directly answer that -- I'm not going to do the politician thing, answering my own question, but I want to say a couple of things because I think you'll know where I'm going with the answer. And I hate that yes-no game, but I also abide by clarity. What we love about California when we talk about California: It's not just a state of dreamers and doers, of entrepreneurs and innovators, but it's a state that's long prided itself on being on a leading and cutting edge. The future happens in California, first: first cap and trade program in the nation; the first state to address the issue of tailpipe emissions going back to Ronald Reagan in 1967, when we started to address that issue, [ codified ] by a Republican in the 1970s by the name of Richard Nixon in the Clean Air Act, where you actually had Republicans and Democrats that understood these fundamental issues, low carbon fuel standards. California has been on the cutting edge. And a few years ago, I required every car sold in the State of California will be an alternative fuel car by 2035. It's the first time we had done that and the first state in the nation to do that. The point is would I cede that leadership by having a response that is anything but, "Of course, I will sign that bill." No, I will not. And of course, I'm going to sign those bills and California will continue to maintain that leadership, with a modest caveat. We have some cleanup on some little language. And I didn't want to begin there by confusing you. I just want to let you know that we want to continue to lead. And that is not inconsequential that we had a lot of opposition in the chamber on these bills. I don't normally talk about bills, but it would be wrong for me to be here at Climate Week and not talk about these 2 landmark bills. But the one in particular that will generate, I think, more interest in climate risk is this disclosure bill. And that is for businesses that earn over $1 billion a year, and for California, that's over 5,300 businesses, so it's not insignificant. And of course, they're multinationals and they're some of the most well-known businesses in the world. And I'm proud, in closing, that a number of them recently in the last few days came onboard, like Apple, to their credit, Salesforce, to their credit, some of the larger companies realizing they see where the puck is going. And they're going to do the right thing and support it and not do everything to stop me from getting back home so I can officially sign those bills.

You heard it here first. More news in California this year on permitting reform. You -- this is one of the most central issues as we think about building out the clean technology we need to make the transition that you were talking about earlier in this conversation, not easy, though. You got permitting reform into the budget but faced enormous, enormous opposition from environmentalists, including the Sierra Club of California. How do you think about this tension between conservation, between protecting nature; and actually speeding up and allowing for the development that is needed?

It's not an ideological exercise. I'm not working for a think tank. I mean we've got to practically go out there and do the hard work. And things can't take 5, 10, 15, 20 years; and by the way, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years for large-scale green projects. I mean it's the great implementation now. We're in the how business, not in the what and why business. 5 years ago, we were what and why. We have ambition. There's no state in the country that has more ambition. I mean everybody has now got ambition. I'm not inspired any longer by ambition. Signing something for 2050, '45, what are you going to do? What's the game plan? What's the tool kit? And what we were missing in California was the capacity to deliver. Because the world we invented, I love it in many ways, shape or form. The world we invented, paralysis by analysis has gotten in the way of progress, and we've got to move. And so yes, I was stubborn and I put it -- and this is a technical point. Roll your eyes, but the reason -- and David said something very important. The reason I put it in the budget is I attached that level of prioritization to it, that this wasn't separate. This was fundamental and foundational to the fate and future of our transition to a low-carbon and green growth future. And so we needed to get that done and we got it done in its Phase 1, and watch this space. We're going to be doing a lot more. And so I say this to all of you that want to invest in the future, the fate and future of this planet, but also if your interests are aligned with our interests. I mean we are that tent pole in terms of environmental policy. I -- we care what happens in Washington, D.C., but California will remain a partner in progress. And with these implementation strategies, all the Biden administration has done to incentivize this space, there is simply no better place to invest in green -- low-carbon, green growth future than the State of California...

But can it -- go ahead.

No, I know there's other governors that may quibble with that. I just want to be sensitive.

I think they just left, though...

They left. Yes, they're not even close [ then ], yes.

Can you do it though, if you can't get insurance? I want to come back to this issue. And when you talk about the disasters, the climate-related extreme weather that California is experiencing, you mention the fact that it's hard for homeowners, even businesses perhaps, to get insurance should, still, people be moving to California. And what are you going to do to fix the insurance market, by the way?

We're working on it in real time. I mean it's stubborn. And this, by the way, you already know this is not unique to California, quite the contrary, I mean. And this is not also unique just to Florida and Louisiana. I talk to the governor up in Colorado struggling with similar issues. This is an issue all across the United States and around the globe. And so it's profoundly consequential, particularly in California, where we have an -- we passed an initiative many moons ago that actually caps the costs that ultimately are borne by homeowners. Now that's wonderful. The challenge now is the competitive landscape is changed and people are pulling back from writing policies, and so we've got to address that issue. We're trying to do it in real time. We fell short last week. We were this close to a bill landing on my desk. We fell short, as I said, literally the day after. And it's nice to have a speaker of our assembly who said the same thing. This is a red flag, not a yellow flag. And we are not going to be waiting till January, the next legislative session, to address it; and so in real time, we will be moving with some creative ideas. Watch this space.

In closing, I want to invite you to sort of sketch out 2 scenarios, 1 in which the pace of progress remains what it is, which scientists will tell you is insufficient. That looks like more climate-related disasters, more extreme weather, a broken insurance market, the continued burning of fossil fuels. You've got friends in Washington trying to stop your 2030 EV mandate. Some of that doesn't get done, okay. The other scenario is a greener California, one in which a lot of the permitting reform...

Actually I get this part of the question a little more. I mean -- so that question reminds me that [ there's an old sign that says ], talks about the fresh air of progress versus the stale air of normalcy. You describe the stale air of normalcy. We are in the fresh air of progress. You also mentioned -- and I think you should know this directly. And forgive me, but the person that led the effort to roll back our 2035 alternative fuel vehicles mandate is the speaker of the House of Representative in the United States, someone by the name of Kevin McCarthy of California, whose constituency, more than any other, is more impacted by the issue of climate change. It was disgraceful. He is, and dare I say -- and forgive me. And I'm a much nicer guy than I may be appearing today, but it's a wholly owned subsidiary of their oil interests, wholly owned subsidiary. Look it up. Look where the money is. And he's a cheap date. It don't even cost much to buy him off. It's disgraceful, what's happened in this district; and what's happening to the children in this district, grandkids in this district, so I -- this is serious. This is a serious moment in the context and the frame of your question. I am also not naive. California, larger than 21 states combined, fifth largest economy in the world. [ You're on ]. We need everybody. That's why we're all here. I recognize: Do you want to go fast? Go alone. Do you want to go far? We have to go together. And it's the power of emulation. Success leaves clues, and I just want to end on that. We already have 6x more clean energy jobs than we do fossil fuel jobs, already. California, the GDP, look it up, in 2021 was 7.8%; and we've been in the tent pole of the American economy. We've been proving the paradigm. We can do this and significantly change the way we produce and consume energy. I mean I asked Elon Musk. He had to run back from Texas to reopen his R&D headquarters in California because he realized that's where the talent is, 56 manufactured ZEV companies now in California. It's one of our top exports. Like that, policy is an accelerator, and that success does leave economic cues for this nation. That's why I'm so proud of the President and his leadership, and the irony shouldn't be lost on anyone. Most of that money is going into states whose leaders oppose that leadership, yet they're all enjoying. None of them have rejected the [ maleficence ] of the American people in terms of their tax credits or their direct subsidies. And if they do, we are happy to receive that redirection of resources. And that perhaps is the greatest proof you need, that we are on the right track and we have to quadruple down. We have one thing that folks like Kevin McCarthy will never have, and that is moral authority on this issue. We need to exercise not just our formal authority, but we need to share our moral authority more abundantly, not just here but every day and everywhere. Thank you all very, very much.

Thank you. Thank you, [indiscernible]. Hold on. Thank you. Well, there you have it. In the shadow of The New York Times reporter, we've got some breaking news on our hands, don't we? Climate lawsuits, climate legislation, climate insurance taking place in the State of California. One more round of applause, please, for Governor Gavin Newsom and David Gelles. All right, next up, we're going to hear from a panel of business leaders; as well as the Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone. They're going to be outlining the importance of driving systems change collaboration between the public and private sectors and taking action to protect people, to protect nature from the grim realities of climate change, so we're going to be welcoming out our next panel. We have Governor Bill Ritter, really from one governor to another here. He is also the Chair of Climate Group's Board in North America. Also delighted to introduce Alexandra Palt, the Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer for L'Oréal Group and the CEO of Fondation L'Oréal, who have been making a difference through scientific research, inclusive beauty and climate action for more than 2 decades and are also one of Climate Week NYC's partners once again this year. We also have Bob Moritz, the Global Chair of PwC, spanning 155 different countries; supporting clients, from multinational corporations to start-ups, to build sustainable businesses. And of course, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr: She was sworn in as Mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone in May 2018. She's heavily motivated by concerns around the environment and sanitation in her city. And she incorporated into a comprehensive 3-year plan for the city called Transform Freetown. So a big round of applause for our next panel, please. Hello, governor. Pleasure, pleasure.

Hi.

Hi.

Welcome.

Thank you...

Have a seat. Great to have you.

So you can't hear anything up stage, so I'm going to thank you, Carl, for the introduction we did not hear, but I assume it was fitting. Anyway, it's great to be here in New York City with you. I'm representing the Climate Group. I'm the Chair of the Board of the Climate Group North America, and we're the conveners of this vital gathering. I'm joined by 3 stellar individuals who you just heard introduced: Alexandra, Yvonne and Bob. And we want to delve right into their thoughts on how to go about driving the wider system change needed to tackle the global crisis we face today.

So the first question is really a question to all 3 of you, and we'll just kind of go in order. And it's a pretty broad question. We know that, to effect change, solutions cannot be piecemeal. That's just change in general. They must be applied system-wide and at scale. The challenge we face in fighting climate change is no different. And wider systems change will require deep collaboration between currently disconnected systems such as food, agriculture, health, the environment, business and finance, so we want to know: What more could be done to create change which works for the people and the planet? I know it's a broad question, but you have 3 different perspectives. And I'd ask you to answer sort of from the perspective you come from, so we'll go to you first, please, Alexandra.

Yes. So I would like to start a little bit what are the difficulties I see facing and how we need to overcome them in order to create that system-wide change. So unfortunately, I have the feeling we discussed before about it that we come together every year and that we say to each other a little bit the same things. And then we -- the progress is very slowly. And we do not just not connect the dots, but I have even the impression that on some things we have gone back in the last years, so I think there are different -- a lot of corporates today are really committed and really engaged to -- there are really companies who have understood that this is not just a -- won by the side on either clean energy or people. There are some corporations who have understood that this is a transformation of the business model. And so sometimes they are confronted, and I see it also. We have started this quite early, but I see that sometimes it really seems still very huge because basically, what we say to people, what you learned in business school and doing business is maximize certitude. And now what we ask you is to do something completely different, is to completely reinvent your model; and so this is already difficult. And then it becomes much more difficult when you have a lot of contrary winds outside because you have, on one side, stakeholders who go for it, who are more and more demanding. And they are right to criticize us, to challenge us, to demand more, but then on the other side, you have countries where it has become a political issue, an issue of fragmentation. And so people do not want to talk any more about it. And we are -- we see that the financial community and a lot of how [ finance stock sales camps ] from the U.S. is less and less insisting on it and using other words. And we need more and more pressure in order to be able to make choices that are tough choices. So I think, if you ask me how can we change the whole system and connect the dots, I have the impression that it would a little bit paralyze me if I try to find a solution to that because it seems quite impossible, but what I see is that we have to make -- really to [ make it understanding ] to people. We have a responsibility also to share that this is -- it's not always an opportunity economically. It's also cost things. It's too easy to say, "Guys, yes, sustainability, great opportunity. You will make more money." No. Sometimes, you will not make more money. It will cost you something, but inaction is going to cost much, much more. And we really have to make that understood in order to get people on the move who now are still resisting.

Mayor-elect, a totally different perspective, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Talk about your own sense about the scale, the speed, the collaboration needed to change the systems.

So being a mayor and [indiscernible] for mayors, I really have that lens. And I think I can start by saying that we have seen over the last 10, 15 years cities really taking the lead when it comes to addressing that kind of crisis. And I'm not saying this because I'm a city mayor. I'm saying it because it's the practical thing to do. Cities are at the forefront. When there's a flood, when there's a forest fire, when there's a drought, the people are at the door of the city government. And therefore, we've had to innovate. We've had to work, but the question of scale is really important. It is one thing for you to respond to a crisis that's at your door. It's another thing for us to work collectively to build the systems that are required for us to address the grim reality we all saw in the documentary we watched earlier on. Alexandra said that, if she tried to give the answer, she would be paralyzed because it feels overwhelming. And yes, it is overwhelming, but it has to be done. And I think today's theme, "Yes, we can. Yes, we will," is really true on that. What are the things that I see and feel need to be in place? When it comes to action, we've got at the national level the nationally determined contributions of the UN. In 2019, New York took the lead and got the cities to start writing voluntary national contribution -- or voluntary reviews for us to say, "This is what we're setting out to do, and this is what we're doing." A practical example, C40's requires the mayors, the cities, the members to set climate action plans. We set out a plan in 2020. We're setting plans which are practical. And the trick is, unlike with the national situation, if you fail to deliver, you're out of the club. That doesn't happen at the UN, which is [ not a thing ] for the UN. It's just the reality of how things are. I think accountability is going to be required. I think we're bridging the gap between national and local, and not seeing it as competition but as collaboration is going to be central. I think ensuring that we have finance available at the city level. And certainly something I was just sharing with Bob earlier on is that I come from the developing -- a developing country. Less than 4% of emissions come from Africa, but we are disproportionately affected by climate change, so whether you're talking about floods, you're talking about droughts, whether you're talking about food scarcity, whether you're talking about deforestation, we're talking about migration, it's affecting us. So let's just say -- because I don't have the exact numbers, but let's say for argument's sake 70% to 80% of the impact is felt because of the lack of resilience. Guess how much of the climate finance comes to Africa. Less than 4%, so we have a challenge. In order for us to fix this, we really do need to take a systems approach. It's a systems approach which brings finance to the table for everyone, and we've been talking about this. I've been a mayor for 5 years. We've been talking about this for 5 years, as far as I know. And I'm sure [ it was those conversations ] were starting before. We've got to move beyond the talk and to the action. And what will that mean? We've got to build accountability into our systems. We've got to get some more passion in the room. It's not just about numbers. It's about real people and it's about our future. And as we look at that video earlier on, we see the icebergs -- that's iceberg...

Yes.

Yes.

That's icebergs melting -- forgive my English. The icebergs melting. We see all the devastation. We know what's happening with our ecosystems. We cannot afford, so what I'd add to what we need is that sense of urgency.

And I think what -- the point you make is you can talk about finance. You can talk about the environment [indiscernible], but you can't talk about this without talking about justice. So the justice system becomes part of the systems change. Bob, we'll throw the big question to you, sir.

I think Alexandra and Yvonne teed up the enormity of the challenge. And the reality is you can't actually accomplish what's needed to be accomplished throughout the entirety of the system to be radically changed. So let me put 3 different things on the table, some of which has been talked about already: number one, boundaries or limitations; and I'm going to say this at the expense of the business community, regulations of some sort. And the reality is we have today rules and requirements to protect consumers, citizens, investors. How about some rules to protect the planet? And the reality is, as you go into [ COP ], one of the things that would be really beneficial is to land those to make sure we can get alignment against those and hold people accountable to that. The second point is align better and more so and empower the stakeholders. As was said, I think, by Yvonne, the reality is we're saying lots of different things lots of different times and it is confusing. You tell me something once. I might do something about it. You tell me something 100 times, the same thing, I'm definitely doing something about it. You tell me something 100 times 100 different ways. I don't know what to do. And that's what we have today with so much confusion in the narrative in terms of how do I deal with this. And events like this is a great forum to actually not bolt on new and different things but rather combine them, escalate them and hold accountable the converging factor and the scalability of those things to really get to the impact that we're talking about. And the third piece, and I think it was Alexandra who said this, it is this point on accountability. If you look at, for example, the business community in this regard and look at the 50 top CEOs in Europe that have requirements today that actually have incentive plans that include climate and economy -- or economics and ecology-like metrics in them, we would say we have as a collective not made the progress. However, 86% of that particular group got paid out, didn't meet the objectives, got paid out. It tells you the climate-related objectives, the business-related objectives related to climate are limited impact. It's still P&L and bottom line, so we're not getting that shared agenda in terms of what has to happen. And that's equally as important for governments as it is for the business community. And that's the other thing that's missing is where is the accountability for the goals that were set and not met. And as we sit here today and one of the reasons for this week is, business, it needs to be aligned with government more so because government can make all the commitments they want. Unless the business community, the public, private sector comes together, you're never going to get the progress because we're talking 2 different languages.

So the next question is going to be really personal to each of you as climate leaders. And I'm going to go to you first, if I may, mayor-elect. In January, you took a significant step in protecting the citizens of Freetown from climactic -- climatic events by announcing the city's first climate action plan, kind of what you were saying in the answer to your first question. With policy proving to be a great tool in implementing systems change, what role do you play as the mayor-elect in driving collaborative action on climate for your citizens?

I think the starting point was bringing everybody together. And earlier on, Alexandra said to me, "I said I'd campaign on climate change." [ It's like ] you campaign on climate change if people voted for you, but I said I didn't use the language climate change. I talked about the issues. I talked about the fact that people's houses flooded, talked about the people who are subjected to landslides, that people on the coast were seeing sea level rises. So the role of the mayor is to help people to understand the benefits of us working together in dealing with this crisis. The -- one of our sort of top interventions, which is a nature-based solution and actually touches on a number of core benefits or give a number of core benefits is our plan to address the deforestation our city has faced. And it's called #FreetownTheTreeTown. It's a plan to plant 1 million trees and we're doing it. And somebody said to me earlier on and -- out there and said, "So when do you plan to do this?" And I said we've done it. He said, "Oh, okay." We've got over 800,000 trees in the ground. We started in 2020, and by the end of November, we'd have planted 250,000. That is punching way above our weight as a small city with very, very small budget, but we've collaborated. We've reached out to others. The financing, I think we were lucky. [ God is great ] because, under normal circumstances, we see that it's so much harder for the average city to be able to attract the sort of funding that we're talking about, but this comes back to the point of the role of the city leader and the role of collaboration. It shouldn't be this hard. And I suppose the good news is that, by doing #FreetownTheTreeTown, we've created jobs. We don't plant trees. We grow trees. Each tree is digitally tracked. Each tree is monitored by a tree grower who gets paid for monitoring and tracking those trees. And through that, we've been able to build on a system of sustainability, so we're moving now and bringing the private sector onboard because we can now provide carbon offsets. And that's what we're working on at Phase 2. So the mayor's role, I think, is to work with others to set vision, to set ambition. And this journey, we're not going to succeed if we don't have ambition. We all have to punch above our weight in this because it's a big challenge, but we can.

There is a song in there somewhere, #FreetownTheTreeTown...

There's a song in it...

So Bob, this really follows up on the answer that you gave to the first question. The climate-aligned economy is the economy of the future, and its design is vastly different from today's. How could business leaders both help accelerate the transition and position themselves for a long-term advantage? Is that possible?

It is possible. You see it time and time again for the organizations and the leadership teams that get it and actually do something with it. You have to step back and say, "Okay, have I actually thought about a strategy that's all inclusive, including the elements of climate change and other aspects like that?" Longer-term sustainability is a competitive advantage. When thought about not only at an incident in time but over a period of time, it's not one or the other. It's the end, the power of the end statement. The second piece is to make sure, once you set that strategy, that you've got the business leaders aligned. Their compensation plans have to be aligned around that. And it includes not only what the company can do, but it includes what the company will do with its ecosystem and interacting with the broader ecosystem. And when you do that, that's when the power of the scalability really starts to come to life. And there's accountability in that as well as scalability in that. Third is the data points in terms of delivering against those metrics, those requirements, these objectives of those empowered stakeholders; and endearing the trust of those stakeholders, be it the consumers, the future employees, the investor group or otherwise the citizens and the communities of which they're operating in. And by that, you can actually take it to the next level, but let's get real for a second, folks. Today, we sit here and we're talking about climate. We are also talking about the concepts of AI and all the technology implications associated with that. Here is a conversation we had with a CEO recently. They're all in on AI. Okay, how are you going to do that yet being net zero? The reality is AI requires a tremendous amount of computing technology capabilities. It requires a number of servers. You haven't even thought about the fact that you're going to be so dependent on the need for fresh water and the heat that's going to be created and the energy that's going to be used by these mega data centers and the like. And that's where the interdependency becomes so important. Now last but not least, Bill, is the obligation the business community has with the politicians and the regulators to engage, educate, influence as much as possible to do the right things so policies accelerate the change.

Right. It's a big, big lever. So Alexandra, take us inside the boardroom. What are the conversations we're not privy to that are happening inside the boardroom up and down the country? Where do you see us facing the most resistance inside boardrooms? Where is that resistance coming from, if it does exist? But just kind of share with us what that -- those conversations are like, from a woman who has been a leader in this effort in a company that's powerful.

Yes. So I think I'm just a little bit -- to come back to what you just said, that -- the policy influence, then we really need the right people in the right place because, for the moment, a lot of people lose their power and influence, to influence in a bad way on policies. And that is a little bit scary. We have to limit that kind of influence, I think. So what is happening in boardrooms? So it depends a little bit on the maturity of a company. So you have -- what is interesting is that in -- for European companies, very often the demand to change the business model came much earlier because it's a different culture. In Europe, especially in France, we pay a lot of taxes, so the part of philanthropy was less developed in Europe. Because in the U.S. you give more money for philanthropists to give back in the community. We pay taxes to give back to the community, so the question was, very early on, the internal transformation. So we started 10 years ago on that. And I was lucky to have a very visionary CEO who wanted already to make that happen at that time, but what I see is that the conversation changed. So I still -- first, I think it became in 2017 with the Paris Agreement. Suddenly it became a conversation. Okay, it's not about protecting the planet. It's about protecting a safe operating space for humanity. So that was the first maturity step. And then it is also -- it takes some time to understand of how transformative this is going to be because, if you're not just looking into one aspect, if you really want to change your economic model to operate within the planetary boundaries, it challenges everything. And so at first, people are a little bit like, wow, all this needs to be done. And then you have to break it down and make seen that it is possible and have smaller successes. And then you go to a bigger system. You lead through influence. You say, "Guys, we have done this, so now in the industry we can show it is possible. You can do it also." And then it becomes industry influence. I still think also we have to say that it is something about the company you want to be. We are a company that is for -- existing for more than 100 years. In 100 years, we had 5 CEOs, so we know something about long term. And that changes the game. That is important. Family is still there. And they want this company to exist in a responsible, value-orientated way in 20, 30 years, so that gives a CEO and his team another opportunity. When you have 18-month CEOs, you are remunerated on what -- how much money they bring and how much the share price. What -- you do not have the right motivations, so we have also to -- as citizens, as stakeholders, as consumers, we have to express ourselves of what kind of companies, what kind of leaders, what kind of CEOs we want to have. And so I think the conversation nowadays depends in boardroom. It depends on the maturity of the company and of the leadership team.

So I'm going to follow up with you because my wife and I were talking about this on the way here. Are your consumers pushing you? Is it more you're a family company that carries a great deal about their image? They've been around for 100 years. Or are there also consumers saying, "We want sustainable practices inside your company?"

So first, I think what is important is it's not so much about image as about who we want to be. It's really about values, and that is something that is quite strong as -- at our company. Consumers, they say a lot, yes. "We want to see more sustainable products. We will pay even more for more sustainable products." We look when we -- well, that's opinion polls. That's not the reality, but what is interesting in that is now it's not yet the reality. But when people say that in opinion polls, they know that they should look into it because, otherwise, they wouldn't express that opinion. So that's just a question of time until it comes because people -- I have read that study about the U.S. You are better informed than me on that, but for a long time, people said, "Yes, I would vote for a black mayor or a black President." And then when it comes to the day of vote, the numbers were much smaller, but one day, there was this shift. And I think it's going -- on consumers, it's going to be the same thing. Now they say, "I should look and I should take it on -- into consideration." They don't do it, but they will. And the more disasters, the [ harder ] it gets, the more we see that. I think that is they will move faster.

It's a little bit what Bob is saying. Educate people and have everybody in leadership roles educating people, and we can, hopefully, move it a bit faster. So Bob, back to you: When we talk about cutting emissions, we're usually talking technology. We talk a lot about technology, renewables, EVs, maybe the circular economy, perhaps recycling, but we speak less of where the resources will come from or the damage done through a carbon-heavy supply chain. What role can businesses play in driving a change in systems rather than just in technology?

So let's go back to the question you asked Alexandra. What's happening in the boardrooms? Depending on the size of the company and again their values and their purpose, some of them are saying, "We can't have a big impact. The biggest thing we can actually do is continue to grow and actually gain market share and do what we need to do for the purposes of investors." And this is where I think we actually have to talk more so about the energy transition. The business community that Alexandra talks about is very much aligned around we have to as a business community think more so about the circular economy. Emissions usually comes from fuel and energy use. What are we doing to actually change the energy transition as fast as possible? And that goes to a combination of things. Let's get real. We're slowing as an economy globally. We've got to accelerate growth. If you want to accelerate growth, you're going to use more energy, so we've got to be more energy efficient. And we actually think about doing more with less, so that's where that technology comes in, in terms of some of the technologies, how to use energy; where to use it; how to store it, capture it, transport it; and the like. Second is how do you actually think about the diversification and the efficiency that comes from that in terms of different suppliers and types of supplies that are necessary. And again think about the right pricing mechanisms to get the demand to actually accelerate that. That goes to the ROI that we talked about backstage, in terms of how do we get the capital markets to be seeing the upside potential of those things for the longer term. And last but not least is the system itself, but we're working today at PwC with the IBC, which is the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, around what a good energy transition plan looks like. It is not simply stop using coal; or heavy-, intensive-emissions companies. You can't do that. Otherwise, economies suffer, economies like in Africa or elsewhere, but you can actually hold people more accountable for the transition over a shorter period of time, escalating as much as you can. And that's where the business community is looking for, again, the types to elaborate and collaborate as much as they can; and then go to the government and say, "This is where in fact the policy could change," to actually [ incent ] the behaviors. And what they're also doing is making some commitments. A lot of you might know this, right, the first movers club. They're committing in advance to actually use sustainable aviation fuel. We've got to scale that up a little bit more so they get the ROI because people need to make those investments. So the technologies are there. It's now about scalability when you think about focusing on the energy transition that's got to be changed in a radical way.

So mayor -- this is something, mayor-elect, you and I talked about outside a little bit, this relationship between functioning governments and addressing climate change. So it feels to me, just in your situation, you're in a developing country that we badly want to develop. There is climate change that's real and impacting you. You're like in this circle, in this hub of like justice concerns about not being responsible for the carbon footprint but bearing the impact of it. And your party right now is protesting the government that has ceased power because of a bad election. And how can you kind of take all these things and [ hold them in tension ]. I'm -- and I really want to know the answer to this, if there's an answer, because that seems like a really heavy load to carry.

No pressure, right...

No, no, no. I think I can turn that question to a different way and maybe just generalize a little bit more, and that's to say politics cannot be taken out of the climate agenda. And whether that's politics in the U.S. with your previous President or whether that's the situation that I'm sort of experiencing, the bottom line is what that -- what the risk is to us all is distraction, distraction from getting on with the things that matter. We're dealing with a complex set of issues. And as you rightly said, on a daily basis, we've just seen what's happened in Libya. We've just seen what's happened in Morocco. This is the daily reality. And politics cannot be allowed to get in the way, but how do you remove politics from the climate agenda? That's a big question for us all because our lives are sort of lived within the frame of politics. And I think this is where maybe I have this idea that, if we go down to the lowest level of where effective work can be done; and we use the -- our existing international frameworks to bring in levels of accountability, where you say, for example, it doesn't matter if the mayor is from one party and the government is from another. When you go to submit your nationally determined contributions, you must show evidence of the role of local governments in your climate agenda. And that evidence must mean that there is space for the work to be done. We need accountability at some level and we need to begin to think outside the box about how that's done. So I -- to answer your question a little bit more directly. You said how do I get on with it. It's tough, but we're doing it because we can. And I think that's the message that we should all take out of here. We need to take those -- I'm not going to call them baby steps. We don't have the luxury of baby steps, but we need to take individual actions wherever we can. Whether it's in the boardroom with the sort of messaging that L'Oréal is promoting, whether it's a sort of research that PwC is doing, we need amplification. And for that, we need political will, so it comes back to the politics, but we need everybody and those organizations and institutions that have the leverage to be pushing that leverage in a direction that ensure [indiscernible] say one thing. I mentioned the 4% of climate finance going to Africa. We need to remember that, when you talk about business, we cannot just be thinking about businesses in this part of the world. When we talk about consumers, we cannot just be thinking about the consumers here. We must be thinking about this 70% of the population that are living in much different circumstances and who are facing the reality of this climate emergency. It's estimated that, by 2050, we will have 200 million people migrating because of climate-related incidents. We don't -- this isn't something that we want to see happen, whether you're migrating from my city or migrating to your city. What we want to see happen is us addressing this catastrophe before people's lives become unbearable where they find themselves. So joining the dots.

Sure. And I only use Sierra Leone as an example. This is a global phenomenon where we find governments that are in disarray or governments that are really not functioning and maybe even not functioning according to democratic principles when they call themselves democracies. And it impacts our ability to fight this, so a final question, Alexandra and to you -- to Bob. And it really is a follow-on to what the mayor-elect just talked about. How do we do a better job of government and business sort of working together in this massive transition, whether you consider an energy transition or an economic transition? What are the ways we get governments to function better around this question?

Yes. So I -- if there was an easy answer, we wouldn't have waited for me to bring it to you, I think.

Right.

So I have to admit that what I feel is -- really important that we do is we have to stay true to what we think needs to be done independently of pressure. That can be local pressure, regional and less international because internationally we all agreed that this has to be done, so I think there has to be something about a very solid leadership. I think I work a lot on the idea of what kind of leaders we need. And I think that is a real question because, in the world in which we are going, we can -- we do not have the luxury of leaders who are just there for the money they earn, for the power they gain. We need leaders who are there for something bigger. And so we have, as individuals, the responsibility to vote for them and to go and vote for them. We have, as companies, the responsibility to not be reacting in these hyper-fragmented societies because -- it's not because you take 500 Twitter messages on environmental action that, "You do that. You should change it." It's temporary. We need leaders who go through that because they know where they have to go. And we need people who want to play this leadership role. As I told you, we try to play a really positive role on the industry level and then on the FMCG and then bringing to the European Commission. I'm aware that this is much easier in Europe than in other places because there is a lot of stakeholder alignment, but I think -- what I really also think that we have to do is educate, train, vote and support the leaders we need.

Bob, do you want to add to that?

The leadership we're talking about here and what Alexandra has eloquently described is those that have our collective best interest in mind. And they personalize it because it's important to them at a very local level. And that's where the business and the government actually can align because the business employees in whatever city, in what hemisphere or continent we may be in the world are employees of that corporate and citizens of that government. And that's where actually we can bring the best locally to actually think about what we can do, how we can do and get that alignment. You've got to start small with the right people and, as Alexandra said, hope that they have that right mindset. And if not, you're not going to waste your time doing it because you can't -- you really can control only what you can and influence what you can. You shouldn't waste your time if they're not going to make that move. Otherwise, get them out of the way. Just get them out of the way and move on to something else there or someone else as we look ahead. The second thing I would say, and we've seen this around the world. While some will argue there's not enough capital, some will argue there's not enough technologies. The reality is there is capital available today. There are technologies today. What we're not doing is actually taking lessons learned and scaling them as fast as we possibly can. Because everybody is doing their own thing in terms of this technology or that technology or that policy or this policy or this initiative or whatever comes out of this week. And the reality is we are too fragmented to allow for this world to suffer the way it is, and we actually have to bring those things much more so together because we don't need another initiative. You don't need another program. So leadership really, truly invested at the local level, cascading it up. Leverage as much as you can. Learn as fast as you can. Fail fast and move on to the next thing. And that goes to not only the initiatives but also the leaders that we have in place.

Well, that's fantastic. That concludes our time together. Would you give our panelists a round of applause? You guys are fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you. [indiscernible]?

I -- you could go. I have another thing to do here. So our next speaker is the present Governor of Maryland, Governor Wes Moore. And I'd ask you, as much as you can -- you can stay in place. He's a fantastic climate advocate and a fantastic speaker. So governor? Governor Wes Moore. [indiscernible].

[indiscernible] Thank you. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. It is wonderful being with each and every one of you and it is great to be here at Climate Week NYC. And it is an absolute true honor for me to be here with each and every one of you because I stand at this podium as probably the most improbable governors -- one of the most improbable governors you've ever met because I -- and I say that with real humility and gratefulness because I am standing here as a son of an immigrant single mom who did not get her first job that gave her benefits until I was 14 years old. I stand here as a person who felt the feeling of handcuffs on my wrists by the time I was 11. And before I run for governor, I had never run for any political office before in my life, so the truth is I am new to politics, but the thing that I'm not new to is working on -- working in communities and working on these issues because, throughout my entire life, I have seen the damage that climate change has caused our communities and I've seen it up close. In fact, just before running for governor, I led one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in this country. And I saw how climate change was already impacting some of our poorest and most challenged communities. The climate crisis is not a far-off threat because, for those who are living in communities we know, it's already here. And that's especially true for those who have been historically left behind. My state, the State of Maryland, is 70% waterline and water lot, so when there is a big storm, it can take literally weeks for our low-income communities and low-income neighborhoods to basically recover. My state has some of the worst heat islands in this entire country. And our public school students, just last week, were sent home because of extreme heat and because their classrooms got too hot. We can't punt on this issue and we won't. And that's why in the State of Maryland I have been very clear that in our state we are going to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2045, and we are going to be unapologetic about it. And hitting our goals will help to -- help us to defend against the consequences that we continually see around climate change, but I want to spend a few minutes with you here today not just to talk about how are we going to avoid tragedy. I want to spend a few minutes talking about how we're going to help people to find opportunity because, when we invest in clean energy and reduce emissions, we do not just help the planet. We create good-paying jobs. And those jobs have the power to reshape our economy and reshape our destiny in a way that works for everybody and not just in a way that works for some because our communities of color are working parents, are middle-class families. They are the ones who stand to benefit most from our aggressive climate goals. And we are going to make sure that we are prioritizing them as we're pushing together our climate goals because those are the hands that will install the new solar panels at the local rec center. Those are the minds that will invent the next-generation wind turbines and power millions of homes. Those are the hearts that will reshape a stronger country. And we aren't just building pathways to sustainability: We're going to create pathways to work, wages and wealth for all of our communities who have been left behind. It's not enough to ask people to see themselves in the consequences. They need to see themselves in the progress. That's our goal. And they need to see themselves in that progress because climate justice is economic justice. I remember when I was running for governor. And I was on a campaign trail and I gave this big speech on climate in my hometown, the city of Baltimore. And when I finished the speech, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I thought it was a pretty good speech. And then right after the speech, an African American gentleman came up to me. And he told me that he appreciated the speech, but he didn't understand why I was here in his neighborhood talking about climate change when it wasn't the most important issue that his community was facing. And he told me the most important issue that our community is facing is the economy. And I looked at him and I said everything that I just said is all about the economy. This is about whether or not we can dominate -- this isn't just about whether or not we can dominate industries of the future and also making sure that we can make sure we can dominate industries of the past. This is about whether or not we can bring manufacturing jobs home instead of relying on foreign labor. This is about whether or not the clean energy revolution is going to close the wealth gap instead of just being another new industry that is going to make it bigger. Now I'm going to be very honest. I don't know if I convinced them because, in order for this man to go from skeptic to believer, I need to be able to give him more than talking points. We need to give him results, so the next time I'm at a rally and I see him, I need to be able to say look at how many entrepreneurs of color are building businesses in the clean energy space. I need to be able to tell him look at how many young people are on a pathway now to getting a 6-figure job building wind turbines right out of high school instead of getting 6-figures of debt going to a 4-year school. I need to be able to tell him that progress is not just something on a horizon, but progress is something of the now, that now it's going to be up to us to be able to build our coalition by making sure that people understand just how much they stand to gain from the movement that we are building and to be able to show them exactly what it looks like. This can't be about partisan talking points. This can't be about political punch lines. This has got to be about building an economy that works for everyone. That's how we're going to win from our big cities and our rural towns, from our blue states and our red states, from Main Street to Wall Street and everywhere in-between because, if we can do that, make people believe in not just the challenges of these consequences but the promise of our economic aspiration, we're going to win. The climate change that we are seeing, the climate crisis that we are seeing. This represents a generational opportunity to grow an economy that leaves no one behind. And if we can help people to recognize that truth, I know that we will meet this moment united. We will meet this moment stronger. And we will build a more sustainable, a better and more resilient and a more equitable future for everyone. And that's the goal because, if we can do that, we are going to create a future not just that everyone can root for but a future that everyone can benefit from. Thank you all so much and I wish you a great time...

Well done. Thank you. [indiscernible]. Okay.

Thank you. [indiscernible]. Thank you.

Well, I am not a governor. I feel a bit left out, but I think I have a couple of announcements that you'll still appreciate hearing from me. The first one is a reminder that we will be hosting an opening ceremony networking reception with drinks and snacks and refreshments. That will be at 6:30 p.m. right here and The Times Center just out in the foyer, so please do stick around for that. That's at 6:30. Now the second announcement is we will be taking our networking break, so that means like refreshments and drinks now available in the foyer for everyone. We really appreciate you being here, being such a fantastic audience. To continue that tradition of being a fantastic audience -- if you wouldn't mind being back here at 5:30 so we can continue with the rest of the program. It's been great having you. Thanks again. So first networking break happening now, 5:30. Be back.