Business Gets Serious About Climate

Will 2021 be the year that business gets serious about climate change?

Fortune gathered 100 CEOs for a virtual confab recently, and that was one of my takeaways. Among those attending was GM CEO Mary Barra, who earlier the same day announced a new "aspirational" goal of eliminating tail pipe emissions by 2035. “I think we will look back and see ’21-‘22 as an inflection point that allowed us to start driving mass adoption of electric vehicles," Barra said.

IKEA CEO Jesper Brodin made a similar point. “2021 looks like an historic year in many respects," he said. "On the climate issue…we have definitely shifted the dialogue from the ‘why’ and are now focused fully on the ‘how’.”

And even the Prince of Wales, who joined the CEOs for part of their conversation, agreed that the attitude among businesses is changing. "It seems the dams are beginning to burst and people are now taking a real interest in this, particularly, if I may say so, a lot more of the investors, a lot more of the shareholders," he said.

You can listen to the conversation on this week's episode of our podcast, Leadership Next.

Others who shared views at the event included Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and CVS CEO Larry Merlo, who talked about the prospects for the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who focused on the outlook for tech regulation.

The CEOs also emphasized the need for collaboration with government, not just on climate change, but also on issues like infrastructure and education and training. It was clear that most of them are eager to play a constructive role in solving the big problems facing society.

Are we heading into a new era of "constructive engagement" from business? We'd be interested in your views. Please share them here. And subscribe to hear other episodes of Leadership Next on Apple or Spotify.