Bill Flederbach is the President & CEO of ClimeCo and is a respected leader in the global environmental commodities market. Following his favorite motto, “To make a difference each day and always do the next right thing,” Bill has created scalable Greenhouse Gas reduction efforts while creating a work culture at ClimeCo that nurtures creativity and empowers his team to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit.
Today, ClimeCo operates at the forefront of an exciting transformation as global businesses, governments, and environmental advocates recognize that market-based solutions are the most efficient way to address environmental challenges. Through his leadership, ClimeCo is well known for its technical role in developing a diverse portfolio of environmental credits and for providing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) solutions for clients navigating a path to a more sustainable future. He is passionate about supporting clients’ success while encouraging new practices and technologies that will benefit all.
Insights for Impact
BUSINESS & SOCIETY · ONE PLANET PODCAST
So you're president and CEO of ClimeCo, which, for those who don't know, is a pioneering force in the global environmental commodities market. Under your leadership, ClimeCo has not only spearheaded scalable greenhouse gas reduction efforts but also fostered a workplace culture that champions creativity, transparency of climate innovation, and works to empower entrepreneurial spirit.
ClimeCo, I understand, has been recognized for its technical expertise in environmental credits and commitment to ESG solutions, and is really at the forefront of leveraging market-based strategies for a sustainable future. Can you start by explaining how environmental credits work and why they're an effective tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
BILL FLEDERBACH
Yeah, absolutely. You'll hear ClimeCo speak a lot about market-based solutions because oftentimes, to really drive change in the market when a company is looking at ways to decarbonize, the first thing they typically do is look within their own operations. How can they get decarbonized?
What's the cost of decarbonization? We call it the marginal abatement. Can they decarbonize with the technologies that exist? Oftentimes, those technologies exist outside of their operations. The benefit of the environmental markets allows companies to invest in projects that have a reasonable marginal cost. They have technologies that are available. We can implement those projects at a facility, reduce those emissions with our partners' capital or with our capital, and then transfer the environmental attributes or the carbon credits to the investor.
So what this really means is there's no double counting. To create change today, we need to look at incentives to abate greenhouse gases at facilities, but they're not taking the claim for those reductions. They're getting the technology, they're getting the investment, they're making the reductions, but they're not counting them towards their quantifiable goals.
They're transferring that right to the investor so they can count them towards their own goals. That's how free markets work: looking at companies that want to reduce emissions, they have the capital, and then identifying sites that have the potential for reductions, making those reductions, and then transferring those reduction rights or the credits to the investor outside.
So, oftentimes with ClimeCo, we talk about market-based solutions, and we believe in real reductions. As a global leader, there are two ways that we look at reductions: avoiding the molecule before it goes into the atmosphere or sequestering the carbon once it's already in the atmosphere. That can be achieved with nature-based solutions.
One way to think about carbon credits is that many clients that are part of the Science Based Targets initiative, for instance, have goals for reductions but, in order to achieve net zero, preferentially look at carbon sequestration projects or nature-based solutions. That's an area where we focus, where we will do massive scale. We have a 14,000-acre planting in Louisiana currently where we're doing the planting. We're sequestering the carbon, but then there's an investor that is purchasing the carbon credits to align with their own goals.
BUSINESS & SOCIETY · ONE PLANET PODCAST
That's really interesting. It just helps us put that into context. Disruption never sleeps; it's happening all the time. Now we have a disruptor in chief in America, bent on putting polluters' profits ahead of people's lives and the environment. I'm just wondering how this affects you at ClimeCo and us all globally. The EPA has issued 31 announcements that take aim at almost every major environmental rule designed to protect America's clean air and water as well as a livable climate. So, how has that disrupted ClimeCo's model, and how do you work with that?
FLEDERBACH
That's a great question, Mia. I think we saw some disruptions eight years ago when the US extracted from the Paris Agreement. We took ourselves away from having a seat at the global table on climate change. Now, fast forward eight years later, we're seeing it again, but in a more robust fashion.
You mentioned a lot of the EPA reversals surrounding some fundamental regulations. Where we're resilient which is why it's really exciting, is that a lot of our markets are based on voluntary commitments. What we saw eight years ago is that leaders in industry stepped up under the Trump administration when it said they didn't believe in climate change and wanted out of the Paris Agreement.
We saw Fortune 100 leaders step up and say, "Well, we do believe it's the right thing for our business, and we're going to march forward with our commitments." Fast forward eight years later, we're seeing the same thing already. It's early, right? We're not even 60 days in, but we're seeing a reaction from leaders who say this does matter for us.
You know, our carbon intensity of our products does matter. It differentiates us globally, and we have a 2030 commitment. There are a lot of commitments based on 2030 and 2050. Companies know that in order to achieve their 2030 commitments, they can't take their foot off the gas for the next four years. Fast forward, that leaves them a very minimal amount of time to achieve their objective.
BUSINESS & SOCIETY · ONE PLANET PODCAST
I love Bill's motto in life about making a difference each day and always doing the next right thing. I think you're saying that about voluntary markets and technical innovation. Bill, I want the listeners to hear about what you're doing in Colombia's cloud forest because that also explains how you're global already. How you look at the map of what you do and have activities in North America, Latin America, Africa, and budding places in Asia. If you could give people a sense of the scope of your firm and how you're a pioneer in the world, the Colombia cloud forest might be an interesting example, or the Houston Food Bank. They're both telling examples of how you can advance the climate control and innovation space by doing many interesting things with technology, people, and other partners.
FLEDERBACH
That's a great question. Bruce had stated one of my key statements in life: do the next right thing. One of my mentors always told me, "Bill, do the next right thing and don't tell anybody about it." He said that for a reason: do something nice every day, but don't publicize it.
We see a lot of organizations doing something because they want the press. One of the things I've had to work with my marketing department on is they've always told me, "Bill, we're doing a lot of great things, but we do want to tell some people about it." By telling people about it, it can inspire more action. I also call it the 60-minute test, Bruce. My father taught me that whatever you're doing in life, act as if you're on 60 Minutes every day. Ask yourself, "Is this something that you would be proud of being on 60 Minutes?" If you live your life that way, life is simple. Doing the next right thing every day is really an important model for the firm.
It's by doing the next right thing that we've been able to take a US-centric operation and really expand globally. Right now, we have offices in Turkey; that's a new office that we have. We also have an office in Singapore for our Asia Pacific work, where we're decarbonizing both on an avoidance standpoint. We have technologies in India and China where we're abating super pollutants at scale. We have over 50 million tons a year of reductions under contract in those regions.
We also have nature-based solutions, as Bruce mentioned, in Indonesia, where we're working with indigenous women enterprises to restore mangroves on the Indonesian coastline. These are incredible projects where we're empowering local communities to do the right thing, and those mangroves are sequestering carbon in Southeast Asia. There’s another great example in Colombia, where we're restoring tropical rainforests. It made me think about our Colombia project, where part of climate change leads to more dramatic weather events. We had a dramatic weather event in Colombia during our project investment, and the indigenous tribes said, "ClimeCo, we can't access the site; the roads got washed out. Can you contribute some additional capital so we can restore the road?" This would allow us to go back to our project and replant the tropical rainforest, which has many ecological benefits, including sequestration and support for endangered species.
The first thing we did when we got that message was invest more capital to restore the road infrastructure so they could get in there and do the planting. This is where we have a long view on the importance of tying in communities. Another great example is in Afognak, Alaska, where we started to work on a project site that saved a spiritual timber, a 300-year-old tree in Afognak from being cut down for Chinese timber demand. We worked with the indigenous community to implement a project to take 7,000 acres of land, put it in permanent easement with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and created hunting rights, creating carbon credit value for the indigenous folks. Every time we have a monetization event where we sell the carbon and create a revenue event, we give back to the indigenous community.
We highlight projects that they need investments in within their communities. This is a really important aspect of what we do: working with indigenous tribes to ensure the investment is going back to them. They receive a return from allowing us to preserve their land.
BUSINESS & SOCIETY · ONE PLANET PODCAST
So you're going beyond offsets. ClimeCo is also about people and places. It's not just about protecting the environment but incorporating communities into the whole ClimeCo ecosystem.
FLEDERBACH
We have a culture that is very much based on leaders in our space because we believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion—and belonging. Our team is the sharpest possible because we have different views from around the world and from different cultures. I believe it's a competitive advantage of ours. Developing this team of honesty, trust, and diversity of thought has really differentiated us.
I think we have an incredible band. I love music and actually, we work with a lot of bands. We have an entertainment focus. We follow our love of music and work with bands to have carbon-neutral tours. We've done this with really popular bands like Pearl Jam.
It's interesting that you bring up bands because music is such a key part of our love and our team. In fact, we have a really big initiative in the entertainment space. COVID took a hit on the entertainment industry, and once bands quit touring, that affected us. Fortunately, it's alive and well again.
One of the neat journeys we've had at ClimeCo is working with bands. When we started to work with Pearl Jam, we collaborated not just with their PR representatives but with Stone Gossard himself, you know, the guitarist, Eddie's partner over all those years. Being a Pearl Jam fan, it was like, "Oh my God, Stone Gossard is calling."
As we started to work with Stone, it was obvious that as an environmentalist, he was passionate about the types of projects they invested in to offset their European tour. He wanted to visit the forests and the projects. His level of due diligence was greater than most of our industrial due diligence. It was genuinely fun to work with him.
Our only disappointment at the end was that I had sent Stone a note suggesting that Dan, who was our point of contact within ClimeCo and a guitar player, could play a song with him in the forest. Stone was polite, saying he typically doesn't like to perform in events like this, but if we played one of their core songs, he would play guitar with Dan.
My wife and I bought Dan an amazing acoustic guitar because he didn't have one like this. We got it from a silent auction at a Rotary event, with all the money going to support international projects through Rotary International. We brought that guitar with us. The whole story was that Stone was going to meet us in the forest, and Dan was going to play guitar with him while also getting his guitar signed.
Unfortunately, the night before, Stone's wife had a baby, and he texted us the next day with a photo of his daughter. We were probably among the first to see that photo. He told us that he wouldn't be able to hike into the forest with us, which was disappointing because my wife and I wanted to meet Stone in person and have him hike the forest with us while Dan played an acoustic version of one of the early Pearl Jam songs from their album, *Ten*.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I have to say that working with bands like that and following their passion has been genuinely rewarding. We've also worked with Third Eye Blind. We’ve been on stage with Third Eye Blind and Steven Jenkins to discuss how sustainability is important to that band.
It's really cool working with artists and realizing that they are incredibly passionate about the environment. Many of them are, and just trying to leverage and learn from them has been a ton of fun for us.
