John Doerr and Ryan Panchadsaram: An action plan for solving the climate crisis | TED Countdown

Lindsay Levin: Good to see you both.

So the book is called "Speed and Scale."

But I want to focus on the subtitle.

The subtitle being -- where have I gone with this? --

"An action plan to solve our climate crisis now."

What's the plan, John?

John Doerr: The plan is to transform society.

LL: And what do you mean by that, transform society?

(Laughter)

JD: I thought you might ask that.

There are six big objectives.

We’re going to electrify transportation,

which means stop using diesel and gas for our vehicles.

We're going to decarbonize the grid with wind and solar and nuclear.

Third, we're going to fix our food systems.

And that includes eating less meat and dairy.

Reducing food waste

and improving our soil health.

Fourth, we're going to protect nature.

That's stopping deforestation.

Protecting our oceans,

protecting our peatlands, our grasslands.

Fifth, we're going to clean up our materials,

how we make things like cement and steel.

And then sixth,

we're going to have to figure out ways to remove the carbon that remains.

That stubborn, residual effects of emissions that cannot be eliminated.

Every one of these six things is a major challenge.

We've got to attack them all at once.

LL: And how do we do that on time, Ryan?

How are we going to get this done?

Ryan Panchadsaram: So we've got to attack them all at once,

but we've got to move quickly.

And so the plan has four accelerants.

Think of these as the levers that we can pull on equally.

We've got to win the politics and policy,

so the commitments that are being made actually have follow through.

And then we've got to turn movements into real action,

at the ballot box

as well as in the corporate boardrooms.

And then we've got to innovate.

Innovate to drive down the cost of clean technologies,

and then we have to invest.

We have to invest in research, in deployment, in philanthropy.

We do all those things, Lindsay, we get to move faster.

LL: So that's the plan in a nutshell, but what makes it different?

JD: What's different about the Speed and Scale plan

is it's based on objectives and key results.

Or OKRs.

If you're not familiar with them,

what OKRs are is a proven system to set goals for success

that's been used by large and small organizations alike.

And the benefit of using them is they help you focus,

get alignment, commitment

and track your progress over time so that we get everything done.

Objectives are what you want to have accomplished;

key results are how I get that done in time.

Really good key results are concrete and measurable.

And so they're what turn a set of goals into a real action plan.

LL: Can you give us an example, Ryan?

RP: Yeah, of course.

So let's pick on that first objective,

to electrify transportation, which cuts six gigatons.

So every set of these objectives have a handful of key results.

And so for this first one, there are six.

An example of one is the price of electric vehicles

have to be cheaper

than the fossil-fuel equivalent by 2024.

Or another one, by 2025,

all new buses have to be electric, all the new purchased ones.

And so these key results tell us if we're making progress

and if we're getting there on time.

And so if electric cars are still expensive

or we're still seeing diesel buses sold after 2025,

we know we're off track and we have to course correct.

LL: So what I hear you saying is that we need to be accountable,

we need to be super ambitious,

we need to be very practical because of the scale of change needed.

Now, John, you have helped grow some of the most successful companies

in the world.

And when I think about the conversations that go on in boardrooms,

I can't help but think

that some of the leaders there will be frankly daunted,

maybe aghast, even horrified

at the scale and speed and breadth and depth

of the transformation that you're talking about.

What is your message to your business peers?

JD: My message to them is simple.

It's that climate change has been underhyped,

underhyped.

We are underestimating

the economic opportunity

and the risk in this transition.

The human cost,

the economic toll that can come if we don't seize this opportunity,

which could create 25 million jobs, new jobs,

in the next decade alone --

or wreck our communities.

I want to ask you, friends,

how much more damage do we have to endure

before we realize that it's cheaper to save this planet than to ruin it?

(Applause)

LL: One of the things that people often say about climate change

is that we already have all of the solutions that we need,

and the real issue is that we’ve just got to get on and implement them.

And I believe and I read in the book

that you're saying that's not enough, Ryan,

talk to us about that.

Why do we need something more than what we already have?

RP: I think of it as a “yes, and,” right?

We have 85 percent of the solutions that we need.

Record lows of solar and wind prices means deployments around the world,

the dropping cost of lithium-ion batteries means we're seeing more electric vehicles.

But those solutions alone won't get us to net-zero.

And so we're going to have to both deploy and invest in the now

as well as invent the new.

So we need the now and the new,

we need to scale up what we have as well as invest in the future.

And there are two pretty tangible examples, right,

when you think of solar and wind as it gets deployed,

you can't turn that on and off when you need it, right?

So a grid needs to find a way to fill its gaps.

Hence, next-level battery technologies or even safer nuclear.

One of those could fill the gaps.

Or think about how much we fly.

Carbon-neutral fuels need to be developed,

and the cost needs to be driven down.

The goal of all of this at the end of the day

is to try to take these green premiums,

and if they can become green discounts we’ll see this technology everywhere.

LL: One of the things in the book is carbon removals,

which you believe is imperative to solving this problem.

And when people think about carbon removals,

they get understandably suspicious.

Because historically, it's been an excuse for inaction.

We can continue polluting, and we’ll clean up later.

You're telling us in your view

that carbon removals are an imperative piece of the plan.

Can you describe why and what you mean by that?

RP: Of course. I mean, people should be suspicious.

Carbon removal needs to be the last piece.

So as an organization, if you're trying to get to net-zero,

the first thing you have to do is cut, right?

Pick the alternative, pick the electric alternative.

Then you’ve got to be more efficient.

So you've got to cut, become more efficient,

and then Lindsay, then people can rely on carbon removal.

But when you look at all the models from IPCC or even our rough modeling,

you're still going to have 10 gigatons left over.

And so we've got to invest in carbon-removal technologies

that are both nature-based as well as engineered,

because we're going to need it in the future.

LL: Climate justice.

Let's talk about climate justice.

It's a big theme in the book.

John, you are an affluent white American,

white male American.

Yay, exactly.

Any more of those in the room? Yeah.

Tell us, from your viewpoint,

how do you think about this question of climate justice?

JD: You know, when you think about it,

climate justice,

climate change, amplifies inequities.

Those who suffer the most

have done the least to cause this problem.

(Applause)

And what that means is that the US,

as the world's historic biggest emitter,

must decarbonize first.

We've got to do that for two reasons.

To show the world that it's possible.

And to drive the cost down for everyone else.

More broadly,

the US, Europe and China

have to step forward and fund the transition --

all of the costs -- for a transition to a new clean economy.

Third, as we stop using fossil fuels,

some of our communities,

their livelihoods are going to be left behind.

Those jobs are going to evaporate.

And so we've got to guarantee that the good-paying jobs

of the new clean economy are available to them.

LL: I want to finish by asking you about leadership.

So you say that the book is written for the leader inside us?

What's your call to action?

We have leaders sitting in the room,

we have leaders listening.

What's the message to leaders?

JD: Well, first, let's be clear,

individual actions are needed and expected.

But they are not going to get us where we need to go

in this, the decisive decade,

when we have to cut emissions in half by 2030.

Only concerted global action is going to get this job done.

And so we need each of us

to mobilize others into action.

That's what I mean by the inner leader inside each of us.

And we can be inspired by the actions and the stories in this book.

Like parents and teachers in Maryland

who switch all the school buses to be electric.

Like workers who are demanding that their organizations,

their companies and employers

both commit and then meet the net-zero commitments.

Or the protesters

who today are opposed to this Campbell offshore oil development.

Audience: Yes!

(Applause)

JD: In my experience and in this plan,

when people strive for extraordinary things --

and not just strive, but plan to get there --

the results can surpass all expectations.

I want to tell you, friends,

we've got to pull together, we've got to act together,

we’ve got to act now.

Because we are fast running out of time.

LL: Ryan, a final thought for leaders of your generation.

When you think about your peers,

are people ready,

are you seeing a shift in terms of people's capacity and willingness

to step up and create this different future?

RP: Absolutely, absolutely.

I think this is, like, a time

for intergenerational teaming up on these things.

I think one of the things

that in doing the research for the book we found is

the leverage points don't take millions of people.

The leverage points just take five or 10 people coming together

and saying, "This policy shouldn't happen,"

or, "This research needs to be done

to show why we shouldn't go down this path,"

or in the world that we both are in,

just three people coming together to start a company.

So I think our generation is jumping full into this, Lindsay.

We can't wait to work with --

LL: Brilliant. We wish you --

JD: Let's do this with speed and scale.

LL: Speed and scale.

And we wish you the very best with the plan.

Thank you, thank you.

(Applause)