The former vice president spoke to GreenBiz at a Climate Reality roundtable in New York City. Al Gore speaks in New York City at the 55th Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps training in April 2024. (Credit: Climate Reality Project) Companies have the power to reach “true net zero” by midcentury, according to former vice president Al Gore, if they “stop using the sky as an open sewer. We've got to get to true net zero, and then we will solve this crisis.” Gore, who since his controversial defeat in the 2000 presidential election has chaired the ESG-focused Generation Investment Management firm that he co-founded, sat on Apple’s board for two decades and advised Google and Kleiner Perkins, spoke to GreenBiz at this weekend’s 55th Climate Reality Leadership Corps training event in New York City. More than 50,000 people have attended one of Climate Reality’s training events since he launched them in 2006. “This is a moment unlike any other in human history,” Gore told the crowd. “We are seeing the emergence of the largest grassroots movement around the world, [that] many groups are building, that has ever existed - in all of history. It is up to us.” No corporate CEOs headlined the three-day training. However, event organizers noted that representatives from Apple, Starbucks, Bank of America, Deloitte, EY, IBM, Mars, Patagonia, PWC and Salesforce were in attendance. Business sustainability leaders also engage with local chapters of the Climate Reality project, which says it engages several million people globally. In addition, a Climate Business Working Group with 1,000 members in the US and abroad seeks to help small businesses with climate efforts. Gore accused fossil fuel companies of using direct air capture technology as an offsetting greenwashing tool to allow them to continue to pollute the atmosphere rather than ending their emissions altogether. “They are liars,” he thundered to applause Saturday during a... |