November 24, 2021
“As the world leaves COP26, what happens next will be critical,” said Bloomberg Green General Manager Lauren Kiel in a recent ESG Explainer video. And for the first time in the history of COP events, that’s as true for companies as it is for governments. With hundreds of new companies making commitments every month and investing more deeply in decarbonization, the impact will be felt across the business world in everything from operations to financing to staffing and marketing.
Below, Kiel shares an inside look at how Bloomberg Green — a global multiplatform editorial brand focused on climate change news, analysis and solutions — is enabling action, collaboration and solutions towards a better future for us all.
Q: You just got back from Glasgow yourself. What were the most exciting moments for Bloomberg Green at COP26?
A: There were a lot! For starters, it was our first time doing in-person events since we launched Bloomberg Green at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, 2020. Seeing our team on stage across multiple events from morning briefings to our day-long Bloomberg Green Summit to the Bloomberg Green Dinner and the announcement of Bloomberg Green Docs was wonderful. And it was great to see our partners integrated into those events, and involved in person. It created a lot of momentum.
Next year we’re going to be doing more events in person. We’re very excited to see this coming back, and even more excited to be beginning a hybrid model that takes advantage of all the virtual streaming capabilities we have. We’ll be able to deliver the best of both worlds — making valuable connections in-person, and at the same time reaching broader audiences in 2022.
Another thrilling moment was hearing U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speak to a packed house at the Bloomberg Green Summit just a few days before the U.S.-China deal was announced. As Bloomberg Green Executive Editor Aaron Rutkoff observed, Kerry caused a lot of buzz among business leaders with talk about how solutions will be accelerated in the private sector.
Q: You just mentioned Green Docs — I bet announcing that was another exciting moment, with the exclusive advance screening of the award-winning Burning documentary.
A: Yes! Australian filmmaker Eva Orner, who directed Burning, is one of our jurors for our Bloomberg Green Docs documentary film contest. We are thrilled to be extending our solutions-oriented mission to this new platform, which is the first of its kind. We’re going to be showcasing original work from filmmakers around the world, and supporting their efforts to accelerate positive change for our planet.
The jury — which includes actors, filmmakers, climate scientists, sustainability leaders and our senior editors — will award a $25,000 grand prize. We’ll announce the winner, and screen the top five finalists, at our Bloomberg Green Docs Film Festival in April, 2022. We’re looking for short films that address the urgency of climate change, illuminate its impact and engage global change-makers. Submissions are open through March 25, 2022 and I can’t wait to see what comes in.
Q: Will Bloomberg Green be doing more video in general in 2022?
A. Absolutely. We’re making a bigger investment in video, with more news segments and more focused topics that are covered in a dedicated way, via our 24/7 global streaming network Bloomberg Quicktake.
And we’re doing more video storytelling for our partners, also. At COP26 we shot several custom video pieces for Bloomberg Green founding partner JLL. We filmed Guy Grainger, JLL’s Global Head of Sustainability Services and ESG, offering his perspective on the key themes coming out of COP26 — those videos are already up! Our team turned them around very quickly.
We were able to partner with JLL on other fronts as well. They participated in the Bloomberg Green Summit, and I moderated a webinar they hosted on ten green building principles to get to net zero. We both also participated in Count Us In’s Transport Revolution event in the Green Zone. With COP26 bringing more focus to the role of business in the climate fight, we were uniquely positioned to strategically amplify the climate work our Bloomberg Green partners like JLL are doing.
Q: How is what happened at COP26 resetting the business agenda?
A: The breadth of COP26 made it challenging to process everything that was happening each day. Our news team actually added a second daily newsletter to help people make sense of it all. They re-invented the newsletter format, sending a morning overview of everything that happened that day, and an evening recap that offered analysis, breaking everything down so audiences could understand what the day’s events meant for them.
Overall, we saw a major increase in corporate activity and involvement. It was clear that business leaders feel the need to be part of the conversation, and to show up and be part of the substance of change. We expect that to only grow. It was a particularly big and headline-grabbing COP, and we’re going to see that again next year; we’ve already heard from some partners that they’re thinking about how they will show up at COP27.
Q: How will Bloomberg Green reflect that new agenda in 2022?
A: Bloomberg’s Senior Executive Editor for Business, Finance and Climate Change John Fraher and I sat down for a post-COP26 debrief last week, where he shared insight on some of the stories he wants Bloomberg Green to lean into. He’s excited to dig into explaining what the carbon market is, and what it means; he’s looking at emissions and the importance of methane and climate justice.
He’s also focused on bringing to light where the next green boom is about to happen. With innovations happening in water, hydrogen, green steel and other areas, what do the energy companies of the future look like? Transportation is also part of that story, of course, and Bloomberg Green will cover that too.
His take was that governments are responding to the increasingly urgent need for climate solutions by putting additional pressure on businesses, and the message is getting through. Governments, investors, customers and talented workers are aligned in demanding that companies act.
Bloomberg Green has grown in response to this growing demand for ESG content, and we will continue to do that in 2022. In addition to events, video and other multiplatform content, for example, we’ll be building on our hugely successful green data dashboard with new visual data pieces that help leaders see important developments with speed and clarity. At Bloomberg Green, we’re ready to help our audiences and partners address the greatest challenge of our time — and capture the greatest opportunities.
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