Thank you Mark. This is an excellent summary of the state of climate policy, shareholder action, and corporate activity. Investors have really stepped up in the last 2 years - we owe this as much to George Floyd, as to a few leaders like Generation. I hope the SEC rule is a first step towards the climate policy we truly need. You rightly point out, the squeeze for investors and companies is coming, and we're going to need a few more arrows in our quiver to keep on the path.
Thanks for writing about this. However, I disagree with the statement that "voluntary initiatives like these can not coerce compliance." Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom showed that communities can sustain their own shared resources (commons) through self-governance. It's not easy but it is possible. Her former student Asseem Prakash with Matthew Potoski expanded on Ostrom's ideas and created the "club theory of voluntary environmental programs." Firms can work together toward shared goals and hold one another accountable. Successful programs balance the strictness of the standard with the compliance. It's not a replacement for regulation. But regulations will always be the minimal standard. Collaboration on a common goal is a way to move beyond compliance.
I wrote about this approach in my book, The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom: Essential Lessons for Collective Action. I also published a case study that applies the "club theory" to the 2030 District energy program. Firms that want to achieve environmental goals should consider collaborating and holding one another accountable.
Voluntary Quasi-Regs for Climate: Better than Nothing, But Insufficient
Thank you Mark. This is an excellent summary of the state of climate policy, shareholder action, and corporate activity. Investors have really stepped up in the last 2 years - we owe this as much to George Floyd, as to a few leaders like Generation. I hope the SEC rule is a first step towards the climate policy we truly need. You rightly point out, the squeeze for investors and companies is coming, and we're going to need a few more arrows in our quiver to keep on the path.
Thanks for writing about this. However, I disagree with the statement that "voluntary initiatives like these can not coerce compliance." Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom showed that communities can sustain their own shared resources (commons) through self-governance. It's not easy but it is possible. Her former student Asseem Prakash with Matthew Potoski expanded on Ostrom's ideas and created the "club theory of voluntary environmental programs." Firms can work together toward shared goals and hold one another accountable. Successful programs balance the strictness of the standard with the compliance. It's not a replacement for regulation. But regulations will always be the minimal standard. Collaboration on a common goal is a way to move beyond compliance.
I wrote about this approach in my book, The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom: Essential Lessons for Collective Action. I also published a case study that applies the "club theory" to the 2030 District energy program. Firms that want to achieve environmental goals should consider collaborating and holding one another accountable.
https://islandpress.org/books/uncommon-knowledge-elinor-ostrom
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-commons-research-innovations/conceptual-model-of-polycentric-resource-governance-in-the-2030-district-energy-program/02F1FDAE74C27070FBE3A24F69FD8C18