America’s CEOs have advice for Biden’s long road ahead

First and by far most important is to put a price on carbon, and make it sufficiently high that it covers the social cost of carbon pollution. In the absence of sound policy, Allbirds imposed a carbon tax on ourselves, measuring carbon pollution from ‘farm to foot,’ paying for our carbon emissions via offsets while we navigate our journey to net neutral. However, we’re only one brand, and without a larger policy ecosystem focused on carbon reduction, the private sector will continue to emit at unsustainable rates.

Second, reinvest the proceeds from carbon taxation and create incentives to move our agriculture sector to regenerative practices. In doing so, we must also eliminate price guarantees for farmers who utilize practices that emit large amounts of carbon. Transitioning farming from a carbon geyser to a carbon sink alone has the power to reverse climate change indefinitely.

Third, encourage adoption of electricity-based transportation. Put a fee on each barrel of oil, and to a lesser extent natural gas, produced domestically or imported, and stick to the ambitious CAFE standards that the Obama Administration established.

And finally, fourth, create Green Economic Zones in areas where fossil fuel production and processing is a major contributor to the local economy. Invite investment in these areas to give people whose livelihood depends on high polluting industries the opportunity to benefit from a green economy.

Without good policy, leaders in the private sector with a stakeholder-centric model, as we aspire to be at Allbirds, can help; however, no company can do this without thoughtful policy from the government. These next four years can determine the fate of our species for the next four hundred, and we would embrace the opportunity to help turn things green.”
Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Accessories Council

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