Climate Change Progress Hinges on Massive Changes in Behavior from Both Public and Private Sectors

Successfully tackling climate change and its impacts will require rethinking the roles of public agencies and the private sector, argues Ashley Ward in a commentary at The Hill.
 
“We need large-scale changes in organizational culture and behavior, both from the private sector and from public agencies, to bring about the transformative societal and technological evolution required to meet this moment,” writes Ward, a senior policy associate at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. “Neither government nor private industry can do this alone. They need each other.”
 
Ward examines the respective limitations and strengths of public agencies and the private sector in addressing the climate challenge, and draws attention to how they could collaborate more effectively. Taxpayers and consumers need to better understand these dynamics, Ward argues, in order to pressure agencies and public sector to make the right moves at a critical juncture in the climate crisis.