Suzanne DiBianca is Chief Impact Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations at Salesforce, which in 2021 achieved net zero emissions across its value chain and 100% renewable energy in its operations. Under her leadership, this year Salesforce announced its Nature Positive Strategy, which includes goals such as investing in conserving and restoring 100 million trees by 2030 and expanding its Net Zero Cloud to help customers decarbonize.
(The CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, is also the owner and co-chair of TIME.)
What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?
Every company must understand the impact of AI on its climate goals. When harnessed responsibly, AI can serve as a powerful resource in our quest to mitigate emissions, accelerate climate solutions, and foster a more inclusive world.
What is a climate technology that isn’t getting the attention or funding it deserves?
One of our most powerful climate solutions is one of our oldest: trees. While trees aren’t a silver bullet for the climate crisis, they are a critical tool in climate mitigation and adaptation. They remove carbon from the atmosphere, reduce pollution, and provide relief to marginalized communities. However, trees and reforestation efforts only receive about 1% of climate finance. We must support organizations like The Mangrove Breakthrough and 1T.org that are working to conserve and restore ecosystems.
What’s the most important climate legislation that could pass in the next year?
To accelerate the U.S. energy transition, we are going to need a lot more physical infrastructure to bring clean energy to the grid. This could very well be the difference between decarbonizing the power sector by 2030 and not. In the next year, I hope to see Congressional action that accelerates the permitting process for transmission infrastructure so we can unlock the full potential of the Inflation Reduction Act.
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