Advancing the E in ESG

To celebrate the 14th annual Climate Week, Nasdaq’s Green Team is sharing the knowledge and insights from a panel that included Nasdaq’s Lead Climate ESG Advisor, Ekaterina Hardin, the Founding Principal of SolEd Benefit Corporation and Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteer, David Kunhardt and Founder/Executive Director of Environmental Voter Project, Nathaniel Stinnett. Together, they discussed how to reduce our carbon footprint, optimize resources and promote sustainable practices. 

The Nasdaq Green Team’s mission is to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing waste, optimizing resources and promoting sustainable practices within our offices and local communities. Takeaways from the panel followed three key themes to fight climate change: investable solutions, reducing your carbon footprint and leveraging power through voting.

Meeting the Climate Crisis with Investable Solutions

According to the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, putting a price on carbon is the single most powerful tool available to reduce America’s carbon pollution. A Carbon tax may be an efficient way to tackle the climate crisis and curb emissions. But to enact this tax, revenue-neutral solutions that don’t add to the deficit and border adjustments that encourage global compliance are paramount.

But emissions mitigation is not enough. According to the panel, we need restoration strategies to reduce CO2. Innovation in areas such as CO2 removal technology is crucial to help sustainably tackle the climate crisis. 

Reducing Your Own Carbon Footprint

Altering small habits and building new ones can help us move towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Initiatives include reducing meat, buying local, buying less, reuse and recycle, buying less packaged goods and eco-friendly travel options. The panel also added choosing longer shipping options, using more energy efficient lighting, reducing water heater temperature, reducing heating needs, limiting the AC, limiting water consumption, investing more sustainably, among others.

While tracking all these habits may seem daunting, technology can help calculate and benchmark our own carbon footprint. For example, individuals can estimate their footprint using interactive calculators like Capture, Klima, Ducky, The Nature Conservancy’s calculator and the EPA’s calculator. Climate conscious individuals can also use lower carbon paths when traveling with Google Maps, check carbon emissions on Google Flights and budget their carbon impact with apps like Decarbon.  

Untapped Voter Potential

Leveraging environmental voter potential is necessary to consistently persuade governments to enact environmental policies. Back in 2020, 8.1 million environmentalists did not vote. In 2022, it is estimated that 13+ million environmental voters are unlikely to cast ballots.

The Environmental Voter Project uses data science and behavioral science to identify, mobilize and reinforce the habit of “super voting,” which is voting regularly in city, state, and federal elections. By voting for conscientious government officials who prioritize a livable world, significant policy changes can be realized. This is why organizations like the Environmental Voter Project are working to tap into the voting potential of millions of environmentally-minded people. Additionally, we can email our political representatives to encourage support for solutions such as low carbon technologies.

While we celebrate all life once a year, every day is a good day to act to protect our health and conserve the future for our loved ones. Protecting our livable world and mitigating climate change is a global problem that needs cooperation across all humanity at multiple levels. As individuals, we can contribute to the effort by living more sustainable lifestyles, such as tracking our carbon footprint or shopping at sustainable businesses. But climate change is a ubiquitous issue that also requires collective action at national and international scales.

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