Middle Market Businesses and the Fight Against Climate Change

With new information about the effects of climate change being published on a near-daily basis, trying to keep up can feel daunting, if not downright discouraging. Even more frustrating, it can be difficult to identify realistic ways for companies to take action no matter how motivated you are.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. Middle-market businesses have a crucially important role to play as we build a healthier earth, and some notable pieces of recent climate news only serve to reinforce the fact that the choices we make will determine the state of our world in the years and decades to come. We’re still in control of the planet’s future.

Let’s take a look at the latest headlines and explore the impact that can be made by mid-market companies in the ongoing fight for climate progress.

Good news: The ozone layer is healing!

You may recall conversations about global warming and climate change in the 1990s and early 2000s that were dominated by concern over the earth’s ozone layer. Specifically, the emission of chlorofluorocarbons degraded ozone levels and created a hole in the atmosphere, leaving the planet vulnerable to the damaging effects of ultraviolet rays.

Today, the ozone layer isn’t in the news nearly as often. Public concern has shifted away from this problem for a (very good) reason: We’re well on our way to solving it! Most regions of the ozone layer are projected to be restored by 2040.

It’s important to understand that we didn’t get here by accident! This achievement required cooperation from nations around the world to ban chlorofluorocarbons in 1989, creating a more amendable environment that allowed the ozone layer to recover over the long term. 

It’s nothing short of remarkable. A huge threat to the future livability of the planet was largely eliminated as a result of swift, strategic cooperative action. Without a doubt, this success should motivate us to pursue meaningful solutions for other environmental issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Bad news: Weather events really are getting more extreme.

Unfortunately, for every victory in the effort to combat climate change, there are plenty of battles that have yet to be fought. 

A prime example: If you feel like you’ve been seeing more headlines lately about catastrophic storms, drastic temperature spikes, and damage to communities around the world at the hand of severe weather, it’s not just your imagination.

A new report from the American Meteorological Society has affirmed (yet again) that greenhouse gas emissions produced by human behaviors are already leading to consequential levels of warming, making severe weather events more common. Experts have been ringing alarm bells on this issue for many years, so it may not come as a surprise to hear that our sky-high levels of emissions have led to negative outcomes. Still, it’s striking to see the effects of climate inaction so clearly.

With Catalyst Power, you can be part of the solution.

Even if it’s simply reinforcing the facts we already knew, this additional reminder of a pressing climate threat is tough to hear. But we aren’t sharing the unpleasant news just to ruin your day. It’s actually quite the opposite: These stories underscore the fact that, although the climate issues we face are massive and urgent, there aren’t any forgone conclusions.

Yes, we still have a very long way to go—but we also have clear proof that positive change is possible! It wasn’t always safe to assume that we could change behaviors drastically enough to heal the ozone layer, but coordinated action led to real progress. We have a blueprint for success and a clear picture of the next steps we need to take.

This is all to say that the earth’s future remains largely in our hands. If we want to move in the right direction, strategic action is necessary. To that end, specific sectors of the U.S. economy—one of the world’s largest producers of carbon emissions—have an immediate opportunity to reimagine their impact on the environment. 

Catalyst Power exists to serve middle-market commercial and industrial energy customers, a population that has gone under-resourced by power suppliers of all kinds (renewable or not). The companies that provide most of the country’s jobs and serve as the core of America’s economic engine haven’t been provided with enough accessible, effective clean energy resources.

Again, that’s where we come in. Catalyst Power’s solutions are designed to serve this important group of U.S. businesses, which are also responsible for a significant amount of the country’s emissions. Shifting our middle market to renewable energy is exactly the kind of effort that can yield real progress on our pressing climate issues, opening the door to more big victories in the future.

To be clear, it’s going to take a massive amount of effort to solve today’s climate issues. (The ozone layer is only healing because the use of chlorofluorocarbons has decreased by 99 percent over the last 30+ years.) That kind of change requires international cooperation and policy change at every level, including a significant focus on incentives that motivate businesses to adopt clean energy. But even as we advocate for change across the board, there’s no need to wait for action from regulators to start making a responsible shift—smart, effective options are available right now, and we’re here to help you get connected to them.

There’s plenty of reason to believe we can solve the world’s urgent climate issues. We’ve done it before! Now is the time for mid-market companies to embrace their role in pursuing a more sustainable world—in addition to the absolute necessity of improved environmental health, there are all kinds of financial and performance benefits to be enjoyed along the way.

Take your place in the fight for a brighter future. Get started with Catalyst Power today.