Colin and I just completed the Oxford Climate Emergency course. The objective of this course was to nurture business leaders to drive climate action and tackle the climate emergency. The premise for this course is that there is no more time for analysis paralysis / overthinking that prevents action. Hence, the modules were deliberately crafted in a way to provoke tangible actions.
In this blog, I share a summary of our takeaways. During the climate resilience internship programme, we will also be conducting workshops that are inspired by this programme.
Key takeaways
1. In order to activate change, we need to effectively communicate the scale of the climate emergency to inspire action. It can be tricky to find a balance as too much fear could cause paralysis while too little emphasis on the urgency will lead to procrastination.
2. The nature of the climate emergency is a systemic problem. Effective collaboration is necessary to help individual companies cross the chasm (Moore’s adoption curve) by sharing the understanding of the problem, resources and skill in addressing the climate emergency.
3. Organisations and business leaders need to identify ways to reframe the value it creates and generate added value to create impact for the society and the environment. We need to redefine our business models in order to effectively tackle the climate emergency.
4. Transform from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism, where the emphasis is to increase the wellbeing of people and the planet. The associated consequences our current economic system highlight an inconsistency which is known as the sustainable growth paradox.
5. Have a good understanding of the risks the climate emergency poses to your industry, and innovate on ways to capture the opportunities the climate emergency presents
6. Maintain strong personal resilience. The scale of the climate emergency can be overwhelming, we need to be kind to ourselves in our attempt to tackle the emergency.
The course deep dived into frameworks to implement effective action (typical of an academic course). Happy to share them privately!
The underlying concepts covered in this course is actually not too deviated from the values of Audacity. I believe that as a community, we are in a good position to collectively tackle the climate emergency and establish a humanity-centric future through effective collaborations. Cheers to more of us in successfully navigating our way building start-ups from zero-scratch!
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