Climate Champion Tom Steyer on the Rocky Path to a Sustainable Future

At Tuesday’s TIME100 Next Gala in New York, Tom Steyer, an investor and philanthropist and recipient of TIME’s Earth Award—a new initiative by TIME and TIME C02 honoring leaders addressing the climate crisis—spoke on both the biggest roadblocks impeding goals for lower global emissions as well as why, despite these challenges, he hasn’t lost hope in humanity’s ability to address the climate crisis.

In 2013, Steyer abandoned a decades-spanning finance career and sold his stake in a hedge fund to focus his attention on solving the climate crisis. In the years since, he has spearheaded initiatives such as an investment platform focused on accelerating climate solutions and an organization to promote youth voter turnout.

During his toast, Steyer reminded the crowd that, in September 2023, the planet surpassed the key 1.5°C amount of warming above preindustrial levels. “We are well through the measure of what the U.N. said we can use. So that’s not good,” he said.

That, coupled with large oil companies continuing to consolidate power, presents a seemingly dire prognostication. “In the last two weeks, two American oil companies have spent $112 billion betting that the transition in energy is to oil and gas,” he said, adding that the companies were betting big on an unsustainable future. “They believe we won’t just be using oil and gas, we’ll be using more oil and gas.”

But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost, Steyer said, noting that the future is far more sustainable than many believe. “Most of the people in this room I would bet, do not know that the transition to a more sustainable economy and a more sustainable world is going much faster and much better than you ever read in the paper.”

He added that in the face of human-caused climate destruction, the responsibility also rests on humans to come up with solutions. “The thing that we all have to realize in this room, is that people are going to determine the outcome,” Steyer said. “Our choices, our behaviors, our values are going to determine what happens going forward.”

The original version of this story stated Tom Steyer was an inaugural TIME Earth Awards recipient. Steyer received his Earth Award at the TIME100 Next Gala 2023.

Write to Simmone Shah at simmone.shah@time.com.