Gavin Patterson President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce
NOW IS THE TIME FOR TECH TO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD
We are in a health crisis, an economic crisis, a crisis of racial injustice, and a climate crisis. But these challenges aren’t surprising.
In 2015, the UN outlined its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – an urgent call for action to combat society’s biggest challenges including halting poverty, mitigating climate change, and securing a more equal and peaceful future.
The pandemic has illuminated how interconnected our planet is and laid bare many of the structural challenges we still have to address. Our resilience is being challenged and I fear that society in its current state will not be able to withstand the pressures of climate change.
Right now, at the beginning of humanity’s most important decade and confronted with some of the most complex problems facing our world, we have the opportunity to reset and create the sustainable future that we depend upon. This starts with climate action.
For the first time ever this year, the top five spots of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report were filled by a single topic – climate change. Research by the World Resources Institute (WRI) found that 154 of the 169 SDG targets align with climate action.
Solving the climate crisis will help to address inequality, strengthen the economy, and promote global health. But the clock is ticking.
Failure to address the climate crisis at the scale and speed necessary threatens the future of humanity.
A shared commitment to sustainability must be our collective priority, if we are to build a better society. Real change requires leaders across the public and private sector to step up and work together to build a more equitable and sustainable future. Every company, government, and individual has a role to play – the climate crisis demands action from every angle.
At Salesforce, we’re thinking big. From our suppliers and our customers, to our technology and our voice, we’re leveraging the influence of our ecosystem to drive change.
Technology companies have been in the business of innovating the way we live and work for decades. This is a powerful moment for technology to be a force for good. In addition to helping customers navigate through this difficult moment, we’re giving them tools to double down on their efforts to combat climate change and build a more sustainable future.
Last year we introduced Salesforce Sustainability Cloud, which enables businesses to quickly track, analyse and report reliable environmental data to help them reduce their carbon emissions.
WINNING SLOWLY IS
THE SAME AS LOSING
We’re committed to using all of our platform capabilities to help our customers accelerate their climate action.
While cutting emissions is critical, we must also draw down the carbon in the atmosphere. In January 2020, the World Economic Forum and partners, including Salesforce, launched 1t.org with a goal of conserving, restoring, and growing 1 trillion trees within this decade. Salesforce has set a goal to support and mobilise the conservation and restoration of 100 million trees by 2030. By connecting, empowering, and mobilising a global reforestation community of millions, 1t.org is unleashing the potential to act at an unprecedented scale and speed.
Only through catalysing global systemic change can we hope to have a viable future. That’s why Salesforce engages in policy work to fight for change the planet will notice. We’re a signatory to the largest ever UN-backed CEO-led climate advocacy effort to urge governments to incorporate climate action in their economic recovery plans.
The greatest challenge is the clock, and delivering impact at global scale fast enough. With climate change, winning slowly is the same as losing. The call for companies is clear: be bold and ambitious, while demonstrating integrity in your sustainability goals.
We must rise to this challenge, together.