In my role as Global Director for Sustainability, Security and Safety at Keysight, like many others, I note the exceptionally extraordinary year that 2020 has become. Starting in January, I led Keysight’s Global Crisis Management Team as incident commander for our Covid-19 response. After stabilizing in May, we entered wildfire and hurricane season which is shaping up to be one of the worst years in recent times. To date, greater than 4 million acres have burned on the west coast of the US, and we have run out of letters for named storms in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Coast.

The consequences of global climate change are not a distant problem. They are real and plainly visible today. Raging wildfires are once again devastating forests across the Western United States, with smoke spreading east across the continent, causing unhealthy or hazardous air quality for millions. Just last month, monsoons wreaked havoc in India as a year’s worth of rain fell in just one month. History shows that it is the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities that bear the brunt of the financial blow that often accompanies climate events.

Climate change is a public health crisis that impacts everyone, but especially vulnerable populations. Massachusetts is on a path towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 but more needs to be done, and fast. COVID has shown the injustice of the pandemic and we know the equity gaps of the climate crisis. With the support of leading institutions like MIT and Harvard, and forward-looking companies like Biogen, Massachusetts can be effect real actions in the state and well-beyond and become a model for addressing climate change, with clear considerations to health for all populations.

Letter sent to CEOs & chair of the board at 161 global companies sets out benchmark and calls on firms to commit to net-zero business strategies¹.   

Initiative, involving over 500 global investors with over $47 trillion in assets, to assess company progress in line with net-zero transition against 30 indicators.