PLAN C ADVISORS

My interest in climate change goes back many years — say hundreds of millions of years to the Paleozoic. On the Paleogeographic Atlas Project at the University of Chicago, I was an undergrad research assistant for a team of scientists retrodicting past worlds based on evidence from the fossil record and the paleomagnetic signature of drifting continents.

Understanding how the earth changed and endured over eons leaves me mindful that addressing climate change is about saving people. Mother Earth can do very nicely without us, but we depend on her for everything. As with much of women’s work, her contributions often are undervalued when valued at all. A 2014 study* gave global ecosystem services a value of $125-145 trillion compared to a global GDP of  $75-80 trillion.

Climate Action (SDG 13) is front-and-center of conversations in a way unimaginable just a few years ago. Businesses are pressured from every side to take action on climate in meaningful ways beyond complying with regulatory requirements or sweeping it into broad ESG initiatives. 

My work on climate action is through Plan C Advisors, founded by Amanda North. We are a multidisciplinary, multigenerational team of independent consultants, working individually and collectively, who deliver incisive briefings, assessments, and workshops to help business leaders assess and prioritize climate impacts and opportunities across their organizations.

*Costanza, R., de Groot, R., Sutton, P., et al. Changes in the global value of ecosystem services. Global Environmental Change 26 (2014) 152-158.