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The Climate City


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could, and one might argue should, account for all the carbon their city has sent into the atmosphere up to the point they reach “net-zero” emissions and then beyond. First-principles logic supports this. If a customer kept going to their favourite store and leaving with goods without paying, then started paying for goods after a certain number of visits, the shopkeeper would reasonably expect the customer to settle their old tab at some point. Only then would the shopkeeper be paid in full. On Earth, scientists track the response of the world’s natural systems to historic emissions. In the couple of centuries since the industrial revolution, cities have been emitting GHGs at vastly different scales and increasing at different rates. Even fully scoped, science-based, Paris-Agreement-compliant emissions reductions that start today would not eliminate that historical debt.

      A fourth descriptor – “Cumulative” – would strengthen the definition of “Net-Zero”. It would also encourage cities in developed nations to fund the just transition to a sustainable future; not with unlimited liability but instead surrounded by some rational boundaries. These cities could calculate their historic emissions “debt” and fund carbon credits at a significant scale to help the less wealthy preserve the natural resources on which we all depend. Entities could also invest in carbon removal (just at a significantly higher cost per ton than preserving developing-countries’ forests). The key is to calculate how many tonnes of emissions long-term emitters have produced before they achieve net-zero emissions for the first time, and to purchase carbon credits to settle the full tab for the city up to that point.

      Fully Scoped: Microsoft has defined its responsibility across scopes 1, 2 and 3 (complete with a jargon-light explainer video). The inclusion of scope 3 emissions sets Microsoft apart. Typical of companies with a complex product range and large reach, its direct emissions are dwarfed by those from its supply chain and its products in consumer use and disposal.

      Science-Based: Microsoft’s historic commitment to reducing what it calls “operational carbon emissions” runs across several years with reference to peer-reviewed science.

      Paris-Agreement-Compliant: Microsoft has correctly spotted that historical carbon credits available for purchase have not been issued by nations themselves, nor tied to independent assessments of any nation’s carbon budget as part of the Paris Agreement. Microsoft seems to view sparing trees as secondary to planting new ones and appears to conclude that investing in expensive technologies for reduction and removal is preferable to transferring wealth to developing countries to prevent deforestation. In fact, preventing deforestation and preserving existing forest cover is crucial to achieving Paris Agreement goals.28 Despite Microsoft’s current view on forest carbon with which I would disagree, the company has stated its case clearly and left its options open for future changes in direction.

      Cumulative: Most resonant and forward-thinking, Microsoft is pledging to account for all previous emissions by 2050. This is a significant challenge from a 45-year-old technology company to older industrials and younger tech companies alike. Putting it into practice can create methodologies, develop staff experience, and potentially define a new space for intellectual and investment growth.

      Microsoft’s approach is one of the first corporate examples to have thoughtfully addressed all four criteria for a comprehensive “Net-Zero” strategy. It sets a new bar for companies of any age. Which city could be first to do the same?

      From Bold Leadership Goals to System Change

      To achieve bold, clear climate goals while managing all the other priorities of the complex modern city, we need leaders that are truly connected: to themselves; to the team around them; to their communities and stakeholders; and to an awareness and appreciation of the entire complex system they are trying to manage and change.

      Figure 1.7 Cats being parachuted into Borneo in the 1950s. (Source: U.S. Air Force / Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez.)

      Figure 1.8 Chris Argyris’s ladder of inference. (Source: Chris Argyris, Overcoming Organizational Defenses: Facilitating Organizational Learning, Allyn and Bacon, 1990. https://books.google.co.in/books?redir_esc=y&id=z7i3AAAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Ladder+of+Inference%22.)