Starving for clarity

Microsoft, Google and Amazon are the global “big 3” of cloud computing.

All 3 have publicly declared their decarbonisation plans, and their intentions to be powered by renewable energy.

As of 2020, all 3 also heavily support the fossil fuel industry, with things like tech and AI that help in the search for and extraction of oil and gas.

(If you want to read more about the big 3 missing their climate marks, go here and here).

These enormous contradictions are magnified when corporations are this big, but the pattern of thinking is common.

On the one hand, you have a climate champion in your organisation whose leading all the clean green initiatives – people are generally on board and enjoy their passion. The org publishes it’s sustainability report every year, with all the numbers going in the right direction.

Then on the other hand, marketing, HR and other departments are still procuring and purchasing materials from the same places they always have, without considering more climate conscious alternatives. Fleet vehicles are still petrol or diesel, with no plan to transition to EVs. Banking is still with the big 4 who wouldn’t know where to start with divesting from fossil fuels, and the org has no idea that by staying with these suppliers, they’re directly contributing to a destabilised climate.

A climate journey is never perfect. But the more it’s painted to look that way, the less believable it is.

Not a single organisation on the planet is doing this perfectly.

Declaring what your organisation is doing well is your bragging right, so brag the hell out of it. When you’re nailing it, take a pat on the back.

Declaring what your organisation could improve is your bravery award. Talking publicly about your org’s weak points is rarely recommended but in this case, taking some of the gloss off might be the exact thing your customers are starving for.