Your action guide
for climate impact

Speed & Scale is written for the leader in you. See what you can do at home and in the workplace to accelerate the shift to a decarbonized future.

As an individual, you can:

Switch to an electric vehicle:

If you can’t afford one right now, commit to making the vehicle you drive today the last fossil fuel vehicle you will own or lease. (On average, gasoline accounts for 25 percent of a household’s carbon footprint.)

Power your home with clean energy:

Sign up for a clean(er) energy plan from your utility. Or add solar panels and a battery to reduce your reliance on the local grid–and, by extension, on fossil fuels. Replace your gas appliances with electric heat pumps and an electric or induction stove. Install a smart thermostat and insulate your home. (On average, electricity and heating account for 14 percent of a household’s carbon footprint.)

Eat less beef and waste less food:

Consume lower-emissions proteins such as pork, chicken, or fish, or one of the many new plant-based proteins. Throw out less food, and compost what you don’t eat. (On average, food accounts for 19 percent of a household’s carbon footprint, with nearly half of that from dairy and beef.)

As an executive or manager, you can:

Switch to clean energy:

Call your utility to identify your options to convert your business to carbon-free electricity. Deploy solar and batteries onsite. To reduce fossil fuel consumption, replace gas appliances with electric heat pumps, boilers, and stoves.

Decarbonize your transport of people and goods:

For companies with their own vehicle fleets, now is the time to plan to electrify them. Set a progressive, year-by-year procurement target to get to 100 percent electricity-powered cars by 2030 and electricity-powered trucks by 2035. Capitalize on the efficiencies and flexibility of virtual meetings instead of sending people on business flights. Set a higher bar for stepping on a plane.

Shrink the carbon footprint of the goods you manufacture:

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Start by tracking and cutting emissions for anything you produce. A few practical options: Seek out new suppliers. Use cleaner heat sources in your production processes. Move to climate-friendly materials and packaging. Label your goods with clear recycling and composting instructions.

Purchase high-quality carbon removal:

As outlined in Speed & Scale, your first priority is to cut your emissions by finding cleaner alternatives. Your next challenge is to conserve energy with greater efficiency. Finally, you’ll need to remove and sequester your remaining CO2 emissions from the atmosphere–either through reforestation and other nature-based options or with engineered removal.

As a local elected or appointed official, you can:

Work with your electric utility to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2035:

Since cities are often their local utilities’ partners and largest customers, see to it that new investments in the power grid are channeled toward carbon-free energy sources. Create a plan that cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2035.

Update building codes to end the use of natural gas and consume less energy:

Following the lead of New York City and Denver, tighten rules to prohibit natural gas in new construction. For heating, cooling, and cooking, the climate-friendly alternatives are energy-saving electric heat pumps, electric boilers, and induction stoves. When gas-powered appliances break, codes should mandate their replacement with electric equivalents.

Build out a citywide network of protected bike lanes:

Bike lanes offer the highest return on infrastructure investment for speeding commutes, reducing congestion, and cutting emissions. By making cycling safer, protected lanes expand its adoption. By making cycling safer, protected lanes will broaden its adoption.

As a state elected or appointed official, you can:

Finance large energy projects:

To stay on pace to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2035, pass legislation to finance grid improvements, electricity storage, and new solar, wind, nuclear, and geothermal energy projects. Given that demand for electricity will keep rising as we’re cleaning our grids, utilities cannot do this alone.

Unblock and accelerate electrification:

Red tape is slowing the deployment of solar, battery, and charging projects that need to be built today. Pass statewide policy to address permitting issues. Incentivize consumer purchase of EVs, adoption of solar, and electrified mass transit and school buses. Deploy charging infrastructure.

Require private planes to use sustainable jet fuel:

There is no existing market for sustainably produced jet fuel, which would cut aviation emissions up to 80 percent. At present, the technology is new and the volume of production is low, making the fuel too expensive for commercial air travel without regulation. But action on the state level can begin to shift that equation. To lower the price and increase availability, states can require private planes to use a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blend for trips to and from their airports.

As a federal elected or appointed official, you can:

Pay for innovation:

Governments can catalyze research, development, and deployment of clean energy. Countries should aim to triple their R&D funding. Even more directly, governments are significant purchasers of energy, vehicles, and heating and cooling. It can use its procurement power to purchase the cleaner, greener alternative.