With the birth of my son Olin this past year, I’m reminded of the importance of our work insustainability—and I feel privileged to be able to do this work at Workday. Every step along our sustainability journey is truly a part of being a steward of the Earth for my son and future generations. To quote noted poet and environmentalist Wendell Berry, “The Earth is what we all have in common.”
Last month, I attended the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco—the largest climate event ever held in the United States. It was a tremendous moment where leaders from states, cities, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and investors gathered to take action on climate change.
When I think about what will make the world a better place for my son and what I’m most excited about from a sustainability perspective, there are three things that came out of the GCAS that I’m excited to share.
- Workday joined theStep Up Declaration.Alongside 20 tech companies, we’ve joined a coalition of organizations to harness the power of technology to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ensure a climate turning point by 2020.We’ve committedto set an internal price on carbon that will align our investments to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, and continue to provide our customers around the world with acarbon-neutral cloud. The Step Up Declaration is modeled after theParis Agreement, where each company contributes its own meaningful commitments that aim to inspire others to take action.
- We discussed the role of forestry carbon offsets and corporate sustainability.在工作日,我们投资于高质量的碳offsets,including forestry projects, to help bring us closer to meeting our net-zero carbon emissions goal. At the event,we participated in a panel由自然资本合作伙伴与Microsoft (another company that utilizes an internal price on carbon to meet its sustainability goals), several carbon offset project developers, andVerra, one of the carbon offset standard-setting bodies. Each panelist stressed the importance of forestry projects that not only result in GHG emissions reductions, but alsoprovide co-benefits for local communitiessuch as increased economic opportunity, food security, and better health and wellbeing outcomes.
- We celebrated California Governor Jerry Brown signingSB100, a bill that sets a goal for 100 percent carbon-free energy in the state by 2045.With our global headquarters in Pleasanton, Workday joined other California-based businesses insigning a letter of supportin alignment with our commitment to100 percent renewable electricity.
It was a great event, and I’m thrilled by the bold new goals and commitments announced that will have a meaningful impact to address climate change. Together, we can step up and leave the world a little better than we found it.