Apr 14, 2021   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Netflix, General Mills, LinkedIn, Aspiration, and R&DE Stanford Dining Partner With Project Drawdown to Scale Global Climate Solutions

Climate solutions have powerful new private-sector champions. After launching Drawdown Labs last October, Project Drawdown—the world’s leading resource for climate solutions—is announcing five new partners to round out its pioneering group of private sector climate leaders. This consortium of 14 organizations spans nearly every industry, using their resources, influence, employees, community members, and customers to help the world reach drawdown—a future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. This spring, Netflix, General Mills, LinkedIn, Aspiration, and Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) Stanford Dining join Drawdown Labs to challenge status-quo private sector leadership for faster, safer, and more equitable climate action at unprecedented scale.

“Net-zero commitments by some date in the distant future just won’t cut it anymore,” says Drawdown Labs Director Jamie Alexander. “Drawdown Labs partners prove every day that any job can be a climate job, whether they’re helping people bank responsibly, find well-paying jobs, feed their families, inspire student climate leaders, or feel entertained at home. Project Drawdown chooses partners that are leading the transformation of their sectors—not simply playing at the edges of real change.”

Leveraging world-class research and analysis from Project Drawdown and cross-industry capabilities of its partners, Drawdown Labs is a testing ground for companies who already have industry-leading climate goals. Potential Labs partners are vetted on the nature of their science-based, independently verified greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets as well as their track record for lobbying, leadership goals, and commitment to climate solutions both within and outside their business operations. As the year progresses, Drawdown Labs partners will meet regularly, share insights, ask critical questions, and enjoy full access to Project Drawdown’s science-based resources and staff members.

“Drawdown Labs only works when you start with companies that are already all-in on climate,” says Alexander. “If a company is pouring money into anti-climate lobbying and suddenly makes a commitment to reach ‘net zero,’ we need to question the authenticity of that commitment. There’s no room for daylight between the pursuit of a just climate future and any other business priority. The superpowers of our five new companies, along with our existing partners, should demonstrate to the world the kind of climate ambition that is possible, achievable, and necessary.”

Joining Drawdown Labs (and its nine existing partners) are:

  • Netflix—The streaming entertainment service showcases inclusive stories on climate solutions to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. Sitting at the intersection of technology and entertainment, Netflix shows how sustainability can be implemented beyond operational footprints through creative, memorable storytelling.
  • General Mills—This global manufacturer of branded consumer foods has the reach to create large-scale impact in the food and agriculture industry beyond its own operational footprint. As a Drawdown Labs partner, General Mills brings with it its holistic focus on regenerative agriculture that strengthens both ecosystems and communities.
  • LinkedIn—As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is focused on creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. This means providing its members with the tools, resources, and community needed for this transition by spotlighting green economic trends, connecting green job seekers and employers, providing sustainability skills training, and partnering with environmental innovators.
  • Aspiration—Drawdown Labs’ first-ever financial services partner enables customers to keep their deposits out of fossil fuels, automatically plant trees with their card purchases, and track business and personal Planet & People impact scores as they shop. Aspiration shows that people can use their spending and saving to achieve meaningful climate impact at scale.
  • R&DE Stanford Dining—This leading university partner collaborates on many aspects of complex global food systems—from equitable supply chains, climate-smart dining, and regenerative agriculture, to reducing food waste and shifting diets towards plant-forward options. Stanford Dining demonstrates that sustainable, ethical, and healthy food systems can be deployed at scale, while simultaneously inspiring the next generation to improve how Earth’s precious resources are managed.

Learn more about Drawdown Labs online, follow Project Drawdown on social media, and sign up for email newsletters for inspiring real-world Labs updates throughout the year. Looking for a deeper dive into the climate solutions driving Drawdown Labs partners to think big? Climate Solutions 101 presented by Project Drawdown—the world’s first educational effort focused solely on global solutions—is free, full of hope, and streaming now.

About Drawdown Labs

Drawdown Labs is Project Drawdown’s private sector testing ground for scaling bold climate solutions quickly, safely, and equitably. This consortium of visionary partners goes beyond “net zero” to scale global climate solutions, within and outside their own operations. Leveraging world-class research and analysis from Project Drawdown—and the cross-industry capabilities of participating organizations, businesses, and funders—Drawdown Labs experiments with collaborative ways to address climate change at unprecedented scale, and offers the world a transformative vision for private sector climate leadership. Drawdown Labs members include Allbirds, Aspiration, Copia, General Mills, Google, Grove Collaborative, IDEO, Impossible Foods, Intuit, Lime, LinkedIn, Netflix, R&DE Stanford Dining, and Trane Technologies.