How Erb Changed My Life: A Seat at the Table

These remarks were prepared as part of Erb’s 30th Anniversary series, celebrating three decades of impact at the intersection of business and sustainability.

My time at Erb was the “unlock” of my core identity. It was 1998. I was in my first year post graduation, and on my second project at World Resources Institute (WRI).

I walked into General Motors headquarters and sat with GM, DuPont, and Monsanto to discuss the overlap between business and the emerging concerns over climate change—the Kyoto Protocol had been negotiated just over a year earlier.

As I looked across the table, I asked myself, “Why would business act?” There was no mandate in place and it was already clear that Congress would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. How would these business leaders react to my request to modify their business activities, when the government itself was unwilling to join other countries to tackle this? I decided this would come down to “risk vs. reward” for global businesses, something I’d never considered before my Erb education. 

That day, I made my case and looked for ways to advance a vision of a common agenda where they reduced their risk, and climate protection could advance. They said they’d work with WRI to create a pathway that could guide businesses—a “Safe Climate, Sound Business” agenda.

That was enough to start. Over the following months, I racked my brain for lessons from my policymaking and corporate strategy classes. Accounting, procurement, operations, corporate strategy, conflict negotiations, communications. I was grateful for the hours analyzing case studies and talking with Stu Hart and the business leaders he’d brought to Erb, and for Steve Yaffee and Julia Wondolleck and their careful tutelage in how to find common ground on environmental protection from disparate starting points.

When our business and NGO collaboration next convened, I was ready. And I listened intently to the 10 leaders assembled in the room. Over the next few days, we crafted a multipoint framework and my team took away two thorny issues that the businesses raised. We spent the next year addressing those:

• Businesses needed the tools to define and tackle the externalities problem. We outlined what became the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative.

• They had no direct control over electricity-related pollution. We crafted a vision for a Green Power Market Development Group (now the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance) to help companies negotiate new contracting approaches to procure renewable energy.

We found our common ground and together we built the future.

I saw the power of Erb. My identity as a changemaker was unlocked because of the training provided by University of Michigan’s Erb Institute. And in the end, GM and DuPont not only signed on to the framework, they also came forward and co-led the subsequent project efforts that have forever changed business practices.

And I am grateful to the Erb Institute and the University of Michigan each and every day.