Climate summit in New York: When corporate groups act as climate protectors

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Reporting on climate change is one of the major journalistic challenges of our time. The climate crisis is also one of the most important issues of humanity for SPIEGEL. For this reason, we support an international initiative that seeks to take a look this week: "Covering Climate Now" has been initiated by the Columbia Journalism Review and the Canadian newspaper "The Nation", with more than 200 media companies worldwide including the Guardian, El País, La Repubblica, The Times of India, Bloomberg or Vanity Fair. SPIEGEL is dedicating the cover story of the current issue to the climate crisis this week and every day pays special attention to mirror.de

In the past, the fronts were clear: large companies resisted strict environmental regulations or a consistent energy turnaround. Some corporations like Exxon Mobil even financed climate deniers and declared war on science. At least eco and climate protectors knew who their enemy is. This black and white thinking has survived - at least it seems so.

Group CEOs and PR strategists do not miss any chance to present themselves as climate protectors: elaborate image campaigns, declarations of intent and public appeals. Are corporate bosses now becoming environmentalists?

At first glance, it looks like this: 28 large companies announce at the one-day UN climate summit in New York to make their businesses more climate-friendly. They want to align their production to the 1.5 degree target set in the global climate agreement. Together they have a budget of $ 1.3 trillion - about one third of Germany's gross domestic product.

There are big names like Unilever, SAP and Vodafone. As a result, companies are responding to a request from top UN officials, such as UN General Assembly Director María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés and UN Climate Change Secretary Patricia Espinosa: "We invite these visionary entrepreneurs to get their climate plans recognized at the UN climate summit ", advertises the open letter. The United Nations is rolling out the red carpet for companies in New York - to take part in the summit in gratitude for their climate goals.

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Also, 34 bank directors have been invited and personally received by UN Secretary-General António Guterres: they, too, want to commit themselves to "principles for responsible banking". The financial institutions also promise to "align" their corporate strategy with the World Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

More money for fossil energy projects

But if banks are serious, they would have to rethink their investments. So far, most of them are still investing billions in fossil-fueled businesses such as Arctic oil drilling or coal-fired power plants. "Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, banks have been funding $ 1.9 trillion in fossil projects," summed up a report by non-governmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Rainforest Action Network. They "track" where banks invest their money. Its balance sheet: Since the Paris climate change agreement, even more loans are flowing into coal, oil and gas projects.

Also, some members of the new UN Alliance for Responsible Banking, such as the French Societé General, spent more money on fossil fuel business than in previous years. And the US citizen Citigroup even in the NGO report is considered a "top polluters". In 2018 alone, it invested around $ 43 billion in oil and gas wells in the Arctic and climate-damaging tar sands mining.

"Destroyers do not become climate savers," says greenwashing expert Kathrin Hartmann. The author of "The Green Lies" has researched for years the green corporate image. She knows Unilever very well. Based in London, the 50 billion-euro company initiated this year's climate campaign with UN top officials.

"Unilever is one of the largest forest destroyers, because the company needs beef, soy and palm oil for its products," says Hartmann. "For its cosmetic products and ready-to-eat food, its palm oil supplier Wilmar International has been illegally quarrying vast amounts of rainforest in Indonesia for years." That Unilever is now committed to the world climate agreement and the 1.5-degree target is a PR measure. "Unilever co-initiated the UN forest conservation declaration in 2014 and does not let it interfere with its business," says the author.

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Everyone joins in - but all voluntarily

The climate change embrace of the economy by the UN has only really gained momentum since the Climate Change Conference in Paris. It follows a logic that also underlies the world climate agreement: Everyone participates, but all voluntarily. After all, the 195 countries that commit themselves to climate protection in the 2015 Paris Treaty do so voluntarily - and were able to submit climate plans to their heart's content.

Behind this lies the hope that the states will motivate each other and that there will be an out-bidding competition. However, this has not worked so far: The states with their presented climate plans miss the contractually stipulated 2-degree target. Rather, the earth threatens an average warming of three to four degrees.

"Climate change is increasingly regulated by governments," says Jesse Bragg of the US organization Corporate Accountability. The NGO is fighting politics against the anti-climate-lobbying of big companies. Economic commitments have a tradition at the UN. For decades, large corporations would first show remorseful and then courted. In reality, many people continued to do so, according to lobby expert Bragg.

Coal companies sponsor climate summit

There are many examples of flirting between the UN, governments and large corporations. Sometimes, the proximity of the economy leads to even absurd situations such as the climate change conference last December in Katowice. At that time, the Polish coal companies PGE, Tauron, JSW and the gas company PGNiG sponsored the meeting of the heads of state and government. A paradox, because the world climate contract perspectively withdraws exactly those enterprises their business basis.

The largest initiative of this kind is "Science Based Targets" - an ongoing cooperation between the UN, companies and environmental organizations. Companies voluntarily set themselves climate goals to be on the home stretch with the Paris Agreement and to limit global warming to "well below two degrees". More than 600 companies worldwide are already participating. 232 climate plans are officially confirmed. German companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Daimler, Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Post are also involved.

The fact that the economy as well as the states have climate goals is in itself not reprehensible. However, their compliance is not controlled - this must also be acknowledged by platforms such as "We mean business", which takes care of companies' climate campaigns. "We do not give companies exact specifications, but recommend that they publish their progress in annual reports or on their websites," it says on request.

There are no sanctions either. "Companies only change in areas that do not hurt them and are good for their image," says author Kathrin Hartmann. "With such cooperation, the UN wants to make the bad better - but all experience shows that this does not work".

The business with climate-damaging resources is going well

Not everyone sees it that way. Some environmentalists even think that one should at least recognize the efforts of the companies - after all, many other companies would do nothing. "You have to take a close look at what companies really do after such commitments," says Regine Richter from the environmental NGO urgewald. "Some of the insurers involved, for example, have a real interest in something that moves in climate protection, while other companies just green-wash."

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It is striking that the big oil and coal companies do not participate in the UN initiatives. They prefer to continue investing in new climate-damaging projects, as a recent study by the British think tank Carbon Tracker shows. While UN officials and companies in New York are celebrating their climate goals, Exxon, Shell and other companies will spend $ 21 billion this year to promote climate-damaging resources.

The shops are running well. Within just over twelve months, the study has approved $ 50 billion worth of projects. Exxon Mobil alone invested 2.6 billion in a new project to promote Canadian tar sands, which are considered to be particularly damaging to the climate.

"The New York Summit is a desperate attempt by the UN to bring even more actors on board," says lobby expert Jesse Bragg. Because you can not otherwise force the economy to operate climate protection, you try it on the voluntary path. "I doubt that anything will come out," Bragg said.

"After a few weeks, everything is forgotten, but the companies had their attention." Voluntary, the climate protector is sure, but not enough for a real change in climate protection - neither in the economy nor in the States.