We, the employees of South Pole, stand behind our values, mission, and management

As a climate leader, we have seen South Pole increasingly covered by the media in the past year – both in a positive and a critical light. While we agree that scrutiny is important— welcome, even, as we believe it can serve as a call to action. We provided fact-based rebuttals on all the allegations from various media outlets on the methodologies, baselines, and monitoring systems used for our climate projects, but we as employees of South Pole have not reacted to the allegations made about the workforce. We, the current 390 signatories*, who represent all continents and seniority levels strongly across the company, believe in our mission and company management.?

The climate urgency has never been more serious than today. It seems like ‘Groundhog Day’,? as we have been seeing, reading, and saying the same thing every day since joining the company and the fight in tackling climate change. The science is clear: We need to decarbonize as quickly as possible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change on our planet and therefore all life on Earth. Every fraction of a degree counts, as, the warmer it gets, the loss and damages on our planet grow exponentially. For all of us, the moral case for climate action is not up for debate - failing to meet the climate and sustainable development goals would push hundreds of millions of people into poverty and humanitarian crises, with devastating social and economic consequences globally. This is what motivates all of us, every day, to not look away, but to strive for a world where businesses, governments, and communities make climate action and safeguard our home planet the new normal. We joined South Pole because we are convinced that we can drive that change in the world - be it via our climate projects, our consulting services, or our digital solutions and that we can represent those who have no voice, connecting common interests of different stakeholders and serving as a bridge between global, national, regional and territorial visions.

The uptake of voluntary climate action in the business world struck a chord and led to the success of South Pole in the past couple of years. This shows that the private sector is willing and trying to change but it takes more than a village to make it happen: it takes thousands of big and small solutions, and we are providing some of them.?

As voluntary climate action grew, so did we as a company. Rapid growth has its challenges that have hit us too. But we are committed to solving them collaboratively, and to continuously improving the way we operate and do business - from day-to-day processes to internal communications. And let us be clear about one thing: even if we are operating in an imperfect world, system, and company (as we all do because nothing is perfect), we have never lost faith in our vision, mission, colleagues, or management.

South Pole has always taken a vocal and strong position against climate change, which is also present in our ethos internally. We take pride in our day-to-day work knowing we have taken a collective stand to address our climate issues one project at a time. We are proud Penguins, proud to work together with our colleagues who are exceptionally talented, and arguably among the foremost carbon and climate experts in the world. No workplace is perfect, we know, and it’s up to all of us to invest in continuously bettering it – but we look forward to coming to work, knowing that we are putting all of our efforts into reducing our impact on our planet, not increasing it. Knowing that we are encouraged – expected, even – to engage in open dialogue between colleagues, teams, and even directly with management helps to ensure that we are all moving forward, collaboratively.?

As a collective of colleagues who care deeply and passionately about the environment, we are all committed to supporting each other to achieve our goals. We work to make every office a place where our shared values are front and center. We are a young and dynamic company, full of energy, enthusiasm, and passion. For most of us, working at South Pole is more than ‘just a job’ and this forms the ties that bind us to each other and our mission. It lays the foundation of trust that we have in each other.?

We ask the media to represent our position fairly and get our perspective on how we identify with the company, the challenges we are still working on together, and our commitment to our common goals and values. As a representative of this group of signatories, Denis Jorisch would be pleased to speak directly to you.

* Updated on the 25th of July 2023. This post will be updated regularly to reflect new signatories joining the letter

Signed by

Denis Jorisch, Bethan Halls, Sophie Deheselle, Hannes Etter, Daniela Wild, Anna Menasce, Michael Eder, Michele Rumiz, Mauro Accurso, Giulio Mattioli, Roberto Mazzoncini, Marc von Niederh?usern, Bettina Wisthaler, Linda Kannenberg, Nicolas De Cock, Zoe Linder, Ramon Waser, Anna Burch, Sandra Fritsche, Patrick Horka, Gian Autenrieth, Paul Hill, Natalie Benz, Anja Moser, Agnieszka Kwolek, Mina Midtgarden, Julia Hunziker, Holly Blacksell, Andreas Reiter, Martina Hartmann, David Grosspietsch, Isabella Lowery, Dennis Owino, Gina Galli, Gian-Marco Brenn, Shuvani Thapa, Charlotte Rasche, Patrick Biber, Mike Shirley, Kai Eisenhardt, Naomi Rosenthal, Indra Fachru, Julia Kachynska, Revana Octiviani, Jessica Sanson, Viola Iselin, Christian Pape, Shrieya Mehra, Valeria Melli, Emily Sharples, Jens Olejak, Carolyn Addy, Ivan Grazioli, Fédra Bártfai, James Poley, Dominik Mohr, Hassan Moftah, Joanna Bax, Jonathan Moss, Natasha Atkinson, Luchia Garcia-Perez, Akash Arasu, Laura Bellagamba, Marco Suter, Alexa Maubernard, George Taylor, Gabriel Orozco, Sofia Chernova, Lucas Macdonald, Mariana Delgado, Adam Sipthorpe, Sarah Ager, Aymeric Reymond, Claire Muchiri, Renee Cervantes, Matt Sprague, Stephanie Bischof, Milo de Vries, Skyla Rabadi, Elise Garand, Laura Laatikainen, Neerav Morjaria, Felix Wuentscher, Chiara Romoli, Machika Kubo, Anvita Srivastava, Garyvanno Khowandra, Francesco Taddei, Viola Potenza, Nikolina Vidovic, Silvia Pontini, Ritika Tewari, Kadine Niedermeyer, Lisa Schleifenlehner, Leonhard Braun, Tobias Cervenka, Salahuddin Kamawi, Gordana Stojkovic, Souad Kolia?, Natasa Veljkovic, Eugénie Comty, Paula Utrera, Neil Currams, Tara Oakley, Adele Bunk, Karina Nikolaeva, Tianzong Li, Nuala Fitton, Clara Baumhauer, Sebastiaan Ioannis Petropoulos, Livia D’Ambrosio, Juan Morales, Rowan Canter, Mauricio Mira Pontón, Davide Tonon, Nicole Algio, Nadine Mathot, Alexander Paternoster, Jenny Wickstrom, Carole Hamer, Nadja Breckau, Federico Centorbi, Tainara Freitas, Emelie ?sbrink, Brayden Lai, Caroline Andebeek,? Nadia K?hk?nen, Francesco Crisanto, Russell Quek, Nico Kroener, Frederik Kehler, Rachael Odhiambo, Nathan Gilbert, Livia Vivarelli Colonna, Serena Oggero, Dimitri Lenzin, Elèsha van Doorn, Mireia Vilaplana, Nerina Burger, Anita Jacimovic, Harry Demetriou, Paul Aaron, Robyn Page, Jhoanata Bolivar, Andrés Pati?o, Patricia Fernández, Ariana Mendoza R., Diego A. Arango, Viktorija Stojcheva, Lida Marcela González, Sofia Paldanius, Ed Dowding, Juliana Valencia, René Groot Bruinderink, David Murphy, Jesse Feinberg, Andres Casallas, Laura Casas, Rebecca Wilson, Phillip Cory, Piergiuseppe Bartolomucci, Maria Gallmann, Bryony Cecil, Sakthipriyadharshini Udhayakumar, Aniruddha Mahato, Navleen Kaur, Patrick Bürgi, Alejandra Gutiérrez Ocampo, Marie-Sarah Jouffroy, Beatriz Zapata, A. Andrés Hincapié, Laura Hernández, Frédéric Hussler, Federico Liva, Roman Bolli, Ana María Paredes, Elisa Jaray, Jonathan Schmiedel, Erick Zimbrón, Vivek Jain, Annie Sedoric, Alejandra Ramírez, Nathalie D?llenbach, Marcelino Pellitero, Natalie Kalkach, Nic Butera, Pablo P?ster, Helen Mulhern, Therese Heinis, Justin Bergendahl, Andrés Echavarria, Himani Gupta, Anna Mahar, Putri Berlian, Renata Navarro, Matteo Barberi, Bart Jan Rodenberg, Christian Dannecker, Muhammad Willy Alhafizh, Aida Aletovic, Jessica Mora Jiménez, Penny Wongpaibool, Marlies Kimpe, Oscar Jurado de Larios, María Alejandra Rojas, Hans-Peter Egler, Liliana Andrea Martínez Sarmiento, Natalie Alex, Colin Tomkins-Bergh, Anna L?vquist, Aryel Garcia, Julien Xavier, Marie Gustafsson, Nav Kaur Kilroy, Emily Powell, Alexandra Connac, Miguel Chavarría, Eric Dierckx, Santiago Henao, Laura Salazar, Charlie Brunel-Lister, Austin Pelman, Alejandro Bedoya, Alejandra González, Yanina Scodeller, Sara Ekman, Philipp Trummer, Karolien Casaer-Diez, Fabrizio Magistrelli, Monica Diaz, Johanna Svensson, Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun, Ritwik Ballal, Danielle de la Cour, Alexandra Staples, Russ Cullinane, Tom Yi Shang Zhou, Benjamin Arsicault, Isaac Rayner, Nethania Valerie, Vitra Ramadiyanti, Fadri Mokolintad, Arman Sastraatmaja, Theo Shand, Salman Pribadi, Natasha Wibawa, Irmalasari Sebayang, Stephanie Zega, Sarah Park, Syed Aasim Ali Warsi, Mohamad Izzat Hamzah, Chris Wei, Dave Catley, Yosua Agassi, Saras Sutedja, Suya Patni, Anna Hendricks, Carly Youd, Lena Padis, Haryanto, Jasmine Cha, Ratih Dewayanti, Akmal Alfarizi, Amani Gupta, Firda Faradiba, Cindy Bernadine, Shabrina Nadhila, Sena Satria, Emma Cary-Brown, Shawn Woo, Vaishnavi Mutha, Mehul Patwari, Samiksha Dhingra, Peter Simiyu, Andrea Sabelli, Bettina Maag, Daniel Tapia Haro, Renaud Schmitt, Annelot Kuiper, Celia Vetter, Daniela Monteiro, Michele Wassink, Gautham Reghu Ganesh, William Horton, Kata Bors, Stephen Breslin, Emilie Devenport, Courtney Truong, Ruonan Wei, Shanti Mors, Roby Crean, Alejandra Mosig, Stephanie van Dee, Giulia Chivée, Onthatile Nkobeni, Bence Cserna, Trevor Leslie, Beatriz Varella, Valentina Ortis, Jonathan De Clerck , Lisa Fritsch, Zyrah Montebon, Martin Christen, Bhagyesh Dash, Ellie Tonks, Daniel Sachadonig, Andrea Soares, Pablo Van Lancker, Mathieu Cribellier, Lara Matragi, Lucía de la Fuente, Melinda Yunita, Edoardo Giorgetti, Putri Shafira, Thomas de Mee?s, Surene Goh, Beau Spree, Djordje Stefanovic, Pablo Montes Iannini, Joke Huysentruyt, Adrien Mies, Sam Riley, Jo?o Sargedas, Hessel Moelijker, Mylène Zambon, Cameron Kerr, Emily Mason, Shruti Singh , Amandine Rousse Lacordaire, Faliha Maulida, Lionel Thévenaz, Adeline de Lamar, Dale Dawson, Angela Luchi, Rohit Garg, Jasmin Schwaegli, Nicolas Roduner, Franziska Sinner, Athina Van der Schouw, Jessica Higgs, Gabriele Doppiu, Elena Beuchod, Felix Schamp, Omar Mayorga, Stephanie Lehner, Kerry Guthrie, Alexandra Ochoa Herrera, Guido Alfani, Harini Manivannan, Rex Davenport, Alexa Islas Escobar, Eliana Molina, Kushal Bhimjiani, Ana Zapata, Daniela Mazo, Alexandru Lesi, Jaime Benjumea, Chase Nelson, Camilo Arroyave A., Julio Quevedo, Lisa Echeverri, William Pe?a, Verity Kennard, Alejandro Salazar, Nick Aster, Maggie Wong, Alberto Esposito, Satria Bagaskara, Seiya Grant, Krishnakumar K, Jonathan Jones, Steffan Thomas, Joe Measom, William Garrett, Judith Oosterhuis, Leslie Berger, Ben Peacock, Tim Schmütsch, Annabel Solnik, Mathilde Treis, áine Laverty, Shalin Kaur, Roziana Rahman, Alexander Herold, Sixten Hage, Luz Adriana Velasco, Sofía Lozano, Emily Wain, Maria Strozynska, Parth Vaidya, Tom Bijleveld, Floor Havermans, Lea Fr?nkl, Mieke Priem, Bernardina Vieytes, Vanessa Gómez Santacoloma??