Meeting Jonathan Foley

Towards the beginning of my time working in climate, I sat for breakfast with Jerry Tinianow, then the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Denver. This was well before the investment boom in climate technology, and I was trying to convince people that you could restore western forests by planting trees for carbon offset production. At the time, most people thought I was either an idealist or a fool. Probably both.

The work I was doing resonated with Jerry because he was an acolyte of an organization named Project Drawdown. To Jerry, their work was “the Bible of climate action” and it was mainly because the Project Drawdown team was (correctly) stating that we already had all of the technologies that are needed to avoid climate destruction, but we needed the willpower to implement them. Forest restoration fit within that framework. If you have a chance, I encourage you to head over to Project Drawdown’s library of solutions.

Project Drawdown has been influential to my thinking for years now. What we need are implementation tools, not cold fusion, and that has been my work. I mention all of this because Project Drawdown is led by Dr. Jonathan Foley had the chance to meet him this morning. Bucket list item… checked.

He gave a great presentation and alluded to an announcement that he’ll be making at Climate Week in New York next week. Exciting stuff coming and I won’t steal his thunder.

But there are several, evergreen items that he emphasized and which I think should get broader audience, so here are ten themes worth remembering:

1. Remain a climate optimist. When new teammates join Aclymate, they’re often overwhelmed by the steady stream of grim climate news. It surprises them that I’m still optimistic. Dr. Foley reinforced that optimism. We need to give people a hopeful vision of the future - one that is worth striving for and believing in.

2. He doesn’t like “Sustainability”. New ideas often start in academia but need new language to reach the public. Dr. Foley believes the term “sustainability” undersells our goal. We’re not aiming merely to sustain; we’re aiming to thrive. Ironically, enabling “human flourishing” is part of the branding of fossil fuels, which is both correct in the present and disastrously misleading about our future.

3. Thriving is about investment, not sacrifice. There was a really compelling slide about how of all the levers to pull for a positive climate future, about 80% of them are solid investments that make money. That’s not to say that they’re free – most will require upfront capital – but grown-ups don’t operate under unreasonable expectations. He suggested that these opportunities are the biggest business opportunities available in history, because climate is the largest market-forcing event in history.

4. New tech is nice, but big tech isn’t. The primary problem of climate isn’t one of technology, but of time. We’re racing against the clock. And for whatever, lamentable reason, the United States no longer does big projects reliably. We definitely need to fix that, but that too takes time. Any big, complicated technology such as advanced nuclear will almost certainly come to maturity after our climate future has arrived.

5. Don’t wait for governments. “Would you bet your future on the U.S. House of Representatives or the United Nations?” Dr. Foley asked. The implication was clear: as climate citizens, we cannot wait for national governments or global institutions to lead. We must act.

6. One of the most underserved audiences in climate are small and mid-sized businesses. I raised this point, and Dr. Foley readily agreed. The challenge is making climate action accessible and affordable to SMBs/SMEs without oversimplifying it. Implementation at this scale is tough - but essential. (ahem… give us a call at Aclymate)

7. Small actions aren’t small thinking. These are my words, but one of Project Drawdown’s consistent themes is that lasting change starts from the bottom up. Big corporations and governments matter, but individuals and small organizations hold the most reliable power to create permanent change - and often at a profit, not a sacrifice.

8. Economic growth is legitimately decoupled from carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from the United States peaked in 2007 and has been declining ever since, but the economy has DOUBLED during the same timespan. This year – 2025 – the emissions of China started their decline, while their economy continues to grow. There’s no evidence that a future of human flourishing or thriving requires continued carbon emissions.

9. Modeling of future scenarios isn’t a big concern of his. Dr. Foley is skeptical of over-reliance on economic models like the UNCC’s SSPs/RCPs. They can be useful for planning, but their predictive track record is limited. Better to focus on doing the work now than to overanalyze possible futures. As Eisenhower said, “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

10. Spend less time on certifications and more time on getting stuff done. We know what we need to do, thanks in large part to Project Drawdown. Certification and reporting have their place, but nothing is a substitute for doing the work of emissions reductions.