ClimateVoices Featuring Dominic Gogol
In this issue, I’m pleased to be interviewing Dominic Gogol , Deputy Director of Policy at the We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC). Founded in 2014, the organization’s mission is to “catalyze business and policy action to halve emissions by 2030 and accelerate an inclusive transition to a global net zero economy by 2050.” Dominic is responsible for policy advocacy in the US, EU, UK and South Africa to accelerate climate action to drive the clean energy transition. Dominic leads the coalition’s workstream on Responsible Policy Engagement (RPE), including the development of the RPE Framework. Before joining WMBC, Dominic worked in the private sector consulting in the energy and water sectors, and before that worked at the World Wildlife Fund UK in a number of roles.?
Congratulations on the 10th anniversary of the We Mean Business Coalition. What have been the coalition’s most meaningful achievements over the last decade?
Taking corporate climate action to scale! If you look back 10 years ago when the We Mean Business Coalition was founded, and before the Paris Agreement was signed, there were only a handful of companies who had made a commitment to procure 100% renewable electricity. There were a lot of warm words from companies about caring about climate change, but in all honesty there was not a lot of substance to their concerns in terms of the actions and investment to reduce their emissions. Now you look where we are, through our work and that of our partners – there are 17,000 companies taking tangible climate action globally, including 9000+ taking action through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the gold standard of corporate climate action. That is a lot of companies reducing their emissions in line with science and creating the clean energy economy.?
Personally, for me, the achievement I am most proud about during my 4+ years at WMBC is the “U.S. NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) campaign and letter” in 2021. Over the space of a few short months, together with our partners, we engaged hundreds of companies across the United States about the importance of renewed U.S. climate leadership and the need for an ambitious U.S. 2030 climate target of at least 50%. By April that year we had gathered support from over 400 companies providing the private sector support for President Biden’s subsequent announcement. And of course it was followed by passage of the historic Inflation Reduction Act a year later, which provided the U.S. federal government the financial resources for companies and communities to create the clean energy economy.
WMBC published a guide for companies to accelerate progress called the 4 A's of Climate Leadership.* One of the key actions you recommend is advocacy. From your perspective, what is preventing corporations from advocating for ambitious climate policy and pushing their trade associations to do the same?
There is an “advocacy gap," where companies' ambitious climate pledges often do not translate into active support for climate-positive policies. Our partner Ceres, Inc. identified it in 2022 with their report which revealed that half the S&P 100 companies in the U.S. then had a science-based target, yet only 19% publicly supported the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in U.S. history. This trend is mirrored globally, we view that this advocacy gap stems from a few key problems. Firstly, many companies struggle to integrate climate commitments internally, leading to misalignment between sustainability goals and the actions of key teams like public affairs, legal, and communications. Secondly, the absence of clear standards and guidance for how companies align policy engagement with science-based climate goals and supporting policy interventions to reduce emissions. Finally, the pursuit of climate goals can be overshadowed by conflicting pressures and the influence of fossil fuel and other vested interests.?
We launched the Responsible Policy Engagement Framework to start to address these issues and provide companies the tools, resources and examples of best practice to help them become more consistent corporate climate advocates. And we have big plans for this workstream going forward to engage many more companies and provide a richer set of resources to improve how companies advocate.?
This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan has generated controversy because it’s the second time this climate meeting is being hosted by a petrostate. We Mean Business has asked business leaders to sign a letter* calling on governments to create more ambitious climate goals (NDCs). Why is it important for corporations to urge countries to raise their climate aspirations?
World leaders made a historic commitment to a clean energy future and to transition away from fossil fuels at COP28 last year in Dubai. At #COP29 , it’s time for them to deliver. At WMBC we see COP29 as an important moment for companies to engage for two reasons: to support the negotiations to secure a deal on climate finance and to engage governments as they develop their national climate plans (NDCs), which are due next year.
On Finance – COP29 needs to deliver a new deal on climate finance, or in climate lingo a new collective quantified goal (NCQG). A strong agreement on climate finance will drive greater corporate climate action globally to accelerate the transition from fossil to clean, whilst halting and reversing nature loss.?The NCQG should be designed to catalyze and scale up flows of private finance for climate action in developing countries in the Global South as efficiently and effectively as possible.
On national climate plans – Governments are working on the new climate targets and plans for 2035 that they have agreed to deliver by early 2025. These plans must align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C goal by accelerating each country's transition from fossil to clean, and halting and reversing nature loss, to enable us to secure a safe and sustainable future.
Hundreds of companies are urging governments to address the primary cause of climate change: burning fossil fuels. They are looking for clear signals that governments at COP29 will deliver on the historic commitment last year to accelerate a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy solutions.
Keep up with ClimateVoices – an online Q&A penned by leading climate thinkers and doers. Follow ClimateVoice to stay in the loop when additional interviews are published monthly.
#climatevoices #sustainability #climateactivism #climateleadership #climatepolicy #climateaction #employeeactivism #corporateadvocacy #corporateinfluence
The opinions and views expressed in this interview are solely those of the individual(s) being interviewed. They may not reflect the views, policies, or positions of ClimateVoice, the employer(s) of the individual(s) being interviewed, nor of any other organizations with which the individual(s) being interviewed are affiliated. This interview is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as an endorsement or official statement on behalf of such employer(s) or organization(s).