Waste Management hosts forum to discuss ‘Driving Sustainability’ over the next four years

Looking back on how COVID-19 has impacted Americans, Houston-based Waste Management wanted to look at the impacts a new administration, as well as the ongoing pandemic, would have on policies and initiatives to help rebuild the economy and promote sustainability.

Hosted by Waste Management Senior Vice President of Field Operations Tara Hemmer, the forum, called “Driving Sustainability: The Next Four Years” also included journalist and author Alex Wagner and BloombergNEF Chief Content Officer Nat Bullard.

The topics discussed varied from the election to potential policy changes and how the environment and social justice are intertwined.

The election

To kick off the session, Hemmer asked both Wagner and Bullard about their thoughts on the environment’s role in this election and how it played a role for voters.

“Was the environment covered in the way that it should be? No,” Wagner said. “Was it discussed along the campaign trail? I will say it was.” Wagner added that President-elect Biden often discussed climate change throughout his campaign in several ways.

She did add that she believes many young voters are passionate about sustainability and climate change, in addition to many other social issues, and that their turnout to the polls increased this election.

Bullard agreed that climate change is an important issue to young voters because they’ve lived through some of that change and have seen its effects.  

The next four years

Hemmer discussed some of the plans for Biden’s administration, including policies on climate change and sustainability and if those goals could become reality, something Wagner sees as a challenge.

“I think it’s going to be really hard to pass legislation. The division between the two parties is really, really steep,” she said.

Wagner added that executive actions will likely be needed to implement change, but that the Biden administration seems to be taking climate change more seriously with a new position, climate change coordinator, which will entail helping with sustainability efforts.

When it comes to the business side of electing a new president, Bullard said that companies often plan to be more sustainable on their own in the absence of federal regulations, which could change with polices put in place by the new administration.

The environment and its social impacts

When it comes to how sustainability and climate change impact Americans, low-income communities and communities of color often feel those impacts differently, panelists say.

“There’s the racial justice, social justice, movement. There’s the pandemic, which I think has made the entire population understand the disparities that exist in society, especially on racial and class lines, and there’s the environmental movement,” Wagner said.

She added that those issues overlapping creates an environmental justice movement and the opportunity to address them from many angles. With so many Americans passionate about climate change, as well as racial injustice, Wagner believes the Biden administration has already shown how it plans to address the concerns Americans have, especially in those communities.

Q&A

To close out the forum, Hemmer presented audience questions to Bullard and Wagner.

In regard to policies, Wagner addressed some of the current ones in place that could be holding some states back and which ones are moving others forward.

“Nevada voters passed Question 6 [in the 2020 election], that was generally seen as a step forward,” Wagner said. “That [requires] utility companies [in the state to] source 50 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2030.”

However, an issue in California that would have increased taxes on big oil companies failed.

Wagner said citizen engagement varies widely on a state-by-state basis when it comes to these issues, so to get the entire country on the same page could be a challenge. Not only do these issues vary widely from red to blue states, but also widely from states that lean in the same direction politically.

Bullard closed the forum with what he would recommend the Biden administration do if he were asked for his input on how to implement more environmental policy.

“I want every major public and private corporation above $1 billion in assets to have a credible plan for reaching net zero emissions across their portfolio by the year 2040,” he said. “That would need to be disclosed to insurance regulators, would need to be disclosed to market regulators and it would need to be disclosed to state legislators and Congress.”

This forum was the second in the “Driving Sustainability” series hosted by WM. The first took place in October and focused on how sustainability plays a role in 2020 and what’s next. Both of these series were a preview of what’s to come in February 2021 during the WM Sustainability Forum. This two-day event will discuss climate change as well as leading with purpose.