Conversation with Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group
Steve Howard is the CEO of The Climate Group, an organization he co-founded in 2003. In this role, he works with governments, businesses and consumers to drive climate protection strategies, working alongside the world’s foremost business and political leaders. He has worked with the City of London to help establish the London Climate Change Agency and the C40 large cities initiative, as well as HSBC on its carbon-neutral program. He has also helped facilitate the Montreal Declaration of States and Regions on climate change with the Premiers of Quebec and Manitoba, an initiative that led to the formation of the Climate State’s Alliance. He is a longstanding member of the World Economic Forum’s Carbon Standards Disclosure Board and an advisor to the Virgin Earth Challenge.
Howard has a first class honors degree in ecology and a PhD in Environmental Physics based on work as a Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry in Kenya and the University of Nottingham. Over the course of his career, he has worked in more than thirty countries.
He recently took a few minutes to talk about his role at The Climate Group, his new climate change campaign and how businesses and consumers can make a difference for the planet.
What is The Climate Group?
The Climate Group is an international non-profit that seeks to engage business, government and consumers to drive down their collective greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of non-carbon intensive sources of energy.
How did you get involved with the organization?
I founded the organization a few years ago with a few other people in London. We looked around at what non-profits were doing to address climate change, and felt that perhaps a different approach might be more effective. We thought about more actively engaging those people in business and government who could really deliver results in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to be very proactive and more flexible in working with the sources of emissions to get better results. It’s gone really well. From those humble beginnings we’ve grown into an international organization, and have been fortunate to have a steadily increasing number of companies and governments join.
A year ago we launched Together in the UK. The Group had reached a good base in business and government, so the missing bit seemed to be the consumer. In its first year, Together created 20 million actions that cut half a million tons of CO2 and saved UK households $200,000. Together launched in the US in June, and will go on to India, China and Australia.
Tell us a bit about the steps you’re taking to encourage businesses and governments to take action. Are you satisfied with the response to date?
The response has been great. We’ve got around 50 companies as members, plus representation from government such as the City of New York, the State of California, most of the Canadian provinces, and we’re actively engaging regions to form alliances and create plans to help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
What’s next for The Climate Group?
We’re working with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on an important initiative to create a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. The approach is somewhat different, in that what this undertaking will do is seek to establish consensus among the world’s major greenhouse gas emitters ahead of time, targeting the half dozen or so countries that can really make a difference, rather than trying to get two-hundred odd countries, many of which may be relatively small sources of greenhouse gas, to get together, talk and then agree. This process just takes too long, and we haven’t got the luxury of time.
The Climate Group launched a major new initiative this month. Can you tell us more about it?
Together is a consumer initiative that makes it easier for consumers to take small steps to address climate change. It brings together brands, cities and non-profit organizations who commit to delivering and promoting simple, practical solutions that will help people save energy, save money and save the planet.
Recent research has shown that that while Americans are more willing than ever to change their behavior to do something about climate change, the majority don’t know exactly what to do. Together delivers clear and simple steps people can take to help reduce their impact on the planet.
We launched Together about a year ago in the UK. In its first year, Together helped consumers save 522,000 tonnes of CO2 and over $200 million on household energy bills. After the launch in the US, Together will roll out in Australia, China, Hong Kong and India.
Ten years from now, what will you look back and say you achieved?
I’d like to say that in ten years The Climate Group wouldn’t exist as our job would be done. We would have achieved a robust global deal between the governments of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, and we will have succeeded in inspiring millions of consumers to take personal action to reduce their impact. Our window for real action on climate change is small and closing, so our job in driving businesses and governments globally to lead on the issue is vitally important.
