News  |  December 22, 2021

Drawdown Labs year in review: accelerating drawdown

by Drawdown Labs team

To be a business climate leader in the 21st century, doing incrementally “less harm,” relying on offsets, and making far-off emissions reductions commitments no longer make the grade. And while the U.S. Congress repeatedly fails to lead on climate, the private sector must dramatically level up its ambition and action. We need a new definition of business climate leadership, one that not only dramatically reduces emissions, but also mobilizes capital, skills, and technologies—as well political and cultural influence—to scale climate solutions, quickly, safely, and equitably in the broader world. 

Drawdown Labs engages businesses, investors, and philanthropies to take bolder and more expansive climate action. Below are key highlights of our 2021 work and impact.

This year: We worked to make every job a climate job.

  • We published Climate Solutions at Work, a how-to guide for employees poised to help companies take bolder climate action—encouraging every employee to find their inroad. The guide introduced a framework for the drawdown-aligned business, an ambitious new north star for the private sector. We presented this new framework to over 700 employees (across hundreds of businesses) in the last two months alone, and shared with many more via social and press (enjoy features in Fast Company and GreenBiz). 
  • We built community and shared tangible steps to grow climate engagement at work. In a collaboration with The All We Can Save Project, we launched an expanded edition of All We Can Save Circles, specifically designed to help employees foster dialogue and action around climate in their workplaces. To celebrate the launch, our organizations hosted a virtual event with 450 attendees across dozens of organizations and industries. (Join our Slack community, today!) 
  • Collaborating with our partners to develop job-specific playbooks for climate action, including a guide for marketing teams at a large tech company to integrate climate action into their jobs.

We spread the word about climate solutions by:

  • Advocating for climate action—and the private sector’s role in scaling solutions—far and wide: on CNN, The Weather Channel, and the Second Transition and Your World, Your Money podcasts. We also publicly challenged companies in various outlets, while we supported our committed business partners to accelerate their action.
  • Facilitating crucial knowledge sharing of solutions and bringing in the experts. Our partner Google presented to the Drawdown Labs consortium on the impact of their 24/7 Carbon Free Energy (CFE) initiative, inspiring others to learn more and take related action at their own companies through the recently launched Carbon Free Energy Compact.
  • Providing insights to dozens of philanthropies, startups, and impact investors on the most impactful climate solutions, helping build awareness of and shape strategies for—much-needed climate financing.

We convened private-sector partners to help galvanize outsized impact by:

  • Partnering with ENGIE Impact, Rare, Count Us In, and Netflix's "Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet” to collaborate on a new platform for individuals to identify the solutions that resonate most in their own lives and calculate the positive impacts those choices make. Project Drawdown’s own Chad Frischmann and Crystal Chissell also published an article on individual and household climate action, encouraging adoption of these solutions.
  • Bringing together Intuit, Aspiration, and Copia to launch Intuit’s Climate Action Marketplace, enabling small businesses to take climate action. 75 percent of small businesses believe environmental sustainability is important to the future of the economy, and because small businesses comprise 90 percent of the global business population, Intuit’s new marketplace is harnessing a massive and untapped opportunity for collective climate action.

We utilized private-sector influence to help the world achieve drawdown by:

  • Sending a message to Congress and state legislators that the private sector supports bold climate policy. Drawdown Labs business partners signed a joint letter in support of the climate provisions in the Build Back Better Act—a crucial piece of climate legislation that passed in the House in November with the help of vocal private sector support, despite experiencing serious setbacks in the Senate this week. We also worked with our partner Allbirds to express public support for California’s Senate Bill 260, the Climate Corporate Accountability Act, which would require all U.S.-based businesses in California with over $1 billion in gross annual revenue to report their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and set science-based emissions reduction targets. 

In 2022, you can help expand our work to leverage the influence of the private sector and make every job a climate job.

  1. Read Climate Solutions at Work, the employee guide to the drawdown-aligned business 
  2. Start a workplace-focused All We Can Save Circle
  3. Sign up for our newsletter
  4. Support the work of Project Drawdown 

Stay tuned for more from Drawdown Labs in the new year.

Press Contacts

If you are a journalist and would like to republish Project Drawdown content, please contact press@drawdown.org.

More Insights

News  |  November 16, 2023
Charred wood pellets
New report: Reducing black carbon
Key Report Takeaways:  Black carbon is a powerful climate pollutant which stems from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass Black carbon has unparalleled impacts on human well-being, the environment, and climate change   Black carbon has a short-term warming potential up to 1,500 times greater than carbon dioxide and is responsible for millions of premature deaths annually worldwide Black carbon emissions are highest in low- and middle-income countries with half of all emissions coming from just five countries Around 48% of all black carbon emissions are attributable to the residential sector, particularly from the use of dirty cooking fuels Targeted solutions across the residential, transportation, and industrial sectors in high-emitting regions would dramatically reduce black carbon emissions while preventing millions of premature deaths and saving trillions of dollars per year  In a report published today, scientists from Project Drawdown, the world’s leading resource for climate solutions, provide the most comprehensive look yet at how addressing black carbon – more commonly known as soot – would reduce global warming while preventing millions of premature deaths and saving trillions of dollars annually worldwide.  Black carbon, which largely results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and organic matter used for cooking, transportation, industrial production, and more, is a major pollutant and greenhouse gas with a short-term warming potential up to 1,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.  Worldwide, black carbon is responsible for millions of premature deaths annually, increasing the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory, and other diseases. This results in the loss of trillions of US dollars globally in economic productivity each year. These impacts are felt most acutely in low- and middle-income countries, which still rely heavily on unclean fuels, such as wood, for heating, cooking, and energy production.  In the groundbreaking report, Project Drawdown researchers highlight global hotspots and sources of black carbon across geographies providing policymakers and funders with the best insight yet into what solutions, deployed where, will result in the greatest emissions reductions.
Read more
News  |  November 15, 2023
A graphic for Drawdown's Neighborhood: Tri-State featuring skylines of New York City, Newark, and New Haven
Drawdown’s Neighborhood video series takes on the Tri-State area
by Drawdown Stories
Drawdown’s Neighborhood, presented by Project Drawdown, is a series of short documentaries featuring the stories of climate solutions heroes, city by city across America. For its fifth edition, the series heads to the northeast in Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Tri-State – now available online! Spanning New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the Tri-State area is one of the largest and most populous metropolitan areas in the world. As such, it both strongly impacts and is heavily impacted by climate change. From record-breaking heat waves to supercharged hurricanes, the Tri-State is all too familiar with the increasing threats wrought by climate change as well as the inequities exacerbated by such disasters.  Fortunately, the region is also brimming with bold creators, innovative leaders, and energized environmentalists working at the forefront of climate solutions to help their home – and the world – become a greener, healthier, and more equitable place. Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Tri-State passes the mic to eleven of these climate heroes whose voices too often go unheard.  Voices of the Tri-State Join Drawdown’s Neighborhood host and Project Drawdown Director of Storytelling and Engagement, Matt Scott, as he introduces us to: Amanda Appelson, Plantega (Bronx, NY) Hailey Miranda, We Stay / Nos Quedamos (Bronx, NY) Jennifer Seda, Bronx River Alliance (Bronx, NY) Anthony Diaz, Newark Water Coalition (Newark, NJ) Bilal Walker, Al-Munir LLC (Newark, NJ) Christian Rodriguez, Ironbound Community Corporation (Newark, NJ) Nathaly Agosto Filión, Newark Green Team (Newark, NJ) Alex Rodriguez, Save the Sound (New Haven, CT) Doreen Abubakar, Community Place-Making Engagement Network (New Haven, CT) Schandra Madha, New Haven Ecology Project / Common Ground (New Haven, CT) Xóchitl Garcia, Environmental Justice Community Organizer (New Haven, CT) Share These Stories Help us amplify the work of these Tri-State climate heroes by sharing their stories with others in your network and across social media. Please feel free to copy and paste the posts below: Sample post 1: Let’s hear it for climate heroes! Check out #DrawdownsNeighborhood: #TriState, presented by @ProjectDrawdown — a short doc series that tells the stories of 11 changemakers bringing climate solutions to their communities. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood Sample post 2: Join @ProjectDrawdown on a journey to #PassTheMic to climate heroes whose stories too often go unheard. We’re taking you to the #TriState area to show you how 11 local changemakers are creating a healthier, more livable future for all. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood Sample post 3: Need inspiration for #climateaction in your own community? #DrawdownsNeighborhood: #TriState features 11 stories from unsung heroes who are using climate solutions to usher in a better, greener future. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood Additional, shareable assets include: Drawdown’s Neighborhood landing page Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Tri-State trailer Drawdown’s Neighborhood: Tri-State promotional graphic (also below) 
Read more
Video  |  November 1, 2023
Triple Win: climate change, poverty, and biodiversity
Halting climate change, alleviating poverty, and stemming the loss of biodiversity are some of the most critical challenges humanity faces today. With finite resources to invest in addressing them, how do we decide where to focus our efforts? Good news: We don’t have to pick one or another! Project Drawdown has identified a set of specific technologies and practices that address multiple challenges simultaneously and synergistically, creating an exciting opportunity for funders and development agencies to dramatically amplify impact while working to address the world’s most pressing needs. In this latest Drawdown Ignite webinar, climate-poverty solutions scientist Yusuf Jameel and policy advisor Dan Jasper introduce these “triple-win” solutions and explore how strategic deployment in low- and middle-income countries can bring new hope for a better world within our lifetimes. Top Takeaways Solutions to three massive threats humanity faces today – climate change, poverty, and biodiversity loss – overlap, and numerous actions can address all three at the same time. Efforts to alleviate poverty can increase or decrease demand for fossil fuels. As development proceeds, it’s critical to avoid “carbon lock-in” by favoring renewable over carbon dioxide–producing technologies. Climate change and biodiversity loss are intricately intertwined. Climate change exacerbates biodiversity loss, and biodiversity loss exacerbates climate change. Thus, efforts to alleviate both simultaneously can have synergistic effects. For greatest impacts, funding and action should focus on solutions that address multiple challenges at the same time. For example, shifting agricultural practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can also enhance food supply, improve gender equality, and protect habitat. The ability to do so is unfortunately limited by inadequate funding, inappropriate use of available funding, and inequitable distribution of available funding. Solutions include increasing funding for projects that address multiple challenges simultaneously, living up to funding pledges, increasing accountability to ensure funds are appropriately distributed, basing funding decisions on sound science, pursuing the greatest good rather than the greatest profit, and canceling debts owed by low and middle-income countries.  Anyone can help by sharing this message with policymakers and joining advocacy organizations that recognize the importance of and promote intersectional action. Useful Resources Climate–Poverty Connections: Opportunities for Synergistic Solutions at the Intersection of Planetary and Human Well-Being Desperate for hope? Linking human well-being and climate solutions is a way forward The win-wins of climate and biodiversity solutions Reflections from Bonn: Climate negotiations must face reality and rebuild credibility A rescue plan for people and the planet New IPCC report highlights urgent need to advance climate solutions and development simultaneously Key takeaways from Drawdown Lift’s Climate–Poverty Connections webinar series This webinar is part of Project Drawdown’s monthly Drawdown Ignite webinar series. Drawdown Ignite provides information and inspiration to guide your climate solutions journey. View past Drawdown Ignite webinars on YouTube, and visit our Events page for updates on future webinars.
Read more