Hi, and thank you everyone.
Just a little mechanics on how this time is going to run.
We want people to be in conversation like you are being,
so we'll be sort of a short panel
just to talk about kind of where this effort has gotten to.
There's no sort of buffet lunch, so.
And then we have sort of a short film to end it off.
But we want to, so just get everyone together,
We're really excited to be where we are with 1t.org.
Thanks to many of you that are here.
So, as Alexis says, I'm Suzanne DiBianca,
Chief Impact Officer at Salesforce.
We are focused on three things at Salesforce,
Our company as a Net Zero company,
helping to get all of our customers there,
specifically around 1t.org and ecopreneurs.
And we have many ecopreneur in this room
through Uplink and otherwise.
So anyway, thank you for taking time out of your week
to join us for the celebration today.
And I'm going to start with Nicole,
who is the leader of the 1t.org effort, fearless leader.
I will say I'm also very excited, by the way,
to have an all female panel,
Really doing some incredible work with my colleagues.
So Nicole, I'll start with you
and maybe you can just share with the group
where we are with the effort, what you're proud of,
and some sort of, you know, key moments
Thank you very much Suzanne.
And maybe I'll start by saying
that it's really wonderful to see all of you,
'cause this is a testament to how far we've come.
We were here three years ago when Mark Benioff,
along with the World Economic Forum
and others announced the launch of 1t.org,
the Trillion Trees Movement.
for our collaboration with Salesforce and Mark
to really scale the ambition and accelerate investment
in forest conservation and restoration.
that we have 81 companies that have made pledges of,
in total over 7 billion trees to be conserved
and restored in 65 countries.
And I'd like to particularly celebrate our latest pledge
from Adani group in India
who has pledged a hundred million trees
announcing it today and is our later pledges.
I think this really shows that a trillion trees,
it's ambitious but it's achievable.
And we really can step up
and engage business in making a contribution.
So second, we've had incredible momentum
around the world with our chapters.
The US chapter has been doing also fantastic work
We had USAID announcing the first federal level pledge
of conserving and restoring
and managing a hundred million hectares
of forests around the world,
which is a huge commitment.
with the Inflation Reduction Act last year,
also incredible commitment on trees
and climate vulnerable communities in the US.
So I think there's really lots of momentum.
China, last year pledged 70 billion trees
to be conserved and restored by 2030.
And then finally we have growing communities
working in India, in the Amazon Basin, in Mexico,
And in the Sahel, I also want to welcome some of our,
the members of our coalition
who are launching this week an alliance
backed by a catalytic facility that will invest
in small and medium enterprises
that are scaling value chains for the Great Green Wall.
I mean I don't want to take up too much time,
but just kind of to give you a sense
of the scale of this movement,
we now have 125 Uplink innovators in the community.
A few of them are in this room.
We have more than 70 members, 80 I think actually
of our global youth hub for Generation Restoration.
So really we are seeing the traction
and most importantly this is a year
where we're moving from commitment to implementation.
We've just published the first set of 30 impact reports
on the first pledges in partnership
with the IUCN Restoration Barometer,
which so far has been tracking government pledges.
But now through a collaboration with 1t.org,
we have launched a system for the private sector
to track the implementation of their commitments.
And of those 30 first companies, 89% are on track.
So I think this is also a testament
when we get questions around, you know,
oh this is great but is it really serious?
We can say yes and we have transparency
and we have these commitments to track our progress.
It's great, it's incredible.
And you know, when we did this sort of top level number,
we put a trillion trees out there
as a highly ambitious target,
knowing that, you know, we really needed
to have an air shot if you will,
around nature-based solution and reforestation
and conservation particularly.
And you know, 125 billion,
12% to that goal in three years
to a really ambitious target
is a phenomenal testament Nicole
to your leadership and to so many of you in the room.
And Karen and I were talking,
Jorn who's head of digital,
I don't know if you still hear from MasterCard.
There you are. Thank you.
There's been so much incredible corporate leadership
we met here, but then we spent some time
at the White House right before the pandemic
and we were just reminiscing about that.
It was, we sort of were the last humans
other than our family that we saw for a long time
and it created this really incredible bond
So I just really want to thank MasterCard,
Restore who's doing really a lot of the research
on where can we fit a trillion trees.
And just incredible partnership
just really represented in this room.
So I'm really grateful for that.
And Karen, your leadership has been incredible.
And Bank of America has been really leading
so many great efforts in this area
and I think you have a $1.5 trillion commitment
to invest in sustainable finance
and I'm wondering if you could talk about
that a little bit and how that relates to the 1t effort.
So I arrived this morning, I lost my voice,
so, which is why I'm holding a bottle of tea
Hope you can all hear me.
And I think as Suzanne and Nicole basically said,
it's been a really, really important effort.
That was the last January Doubles
that we all attended where we kicked this off
and then we had a lot of native
and we really kind of celebrated
the benefit of reforestation
and tree planting overall.
'cause it's not just an environmental benefit
that's a carbon sink, right?
It really increases biodiversity
and has a great social benefit including jobs.
So those are the triple benefit
that this effort really brings.
And when we think about a financial service institution,
whether it's MasterCard or Bank of America
or other financial service institutions,
we have to channel more capital into this as well.
Philanthropically we do that, right?
Because in the US for example,
we have this green initiative with Jad Daley
at American Forests on urban tree planting.
We plant trees in urban cities
that are usually in low and moderate income areas.
That tree coverage by the way is also income related,
believe it or not, right?
So we have those initiatives
that we reforest in the US and globally,
but we also have the responsibility as a bank
to make sure the carbon credit markets
rely on green carbon truly develops.
Not just developing some form
where people can attack you for greenwashing,
but it's really important that we have the guardrails
and that becomes something a sovereign,
a company, a country can really rely on.
So we are doing a lot in the Amazon right now
and we're doing some in Paraguay,
we're doing some in Africa,
and we're really looking at the debt crisis,
some of those emerging markets countries are facing
and it's a debt for nature swap.
Again, the naysayers like to say,
oh it's just another financial product.
Those countries are facing tremendous budget crisis
and they have a tremendous nature resource for carbon sink.
If you can utilize those,
whether it's green or blue carbon,
in this case we're really talking about reforestation,
You can utilize those and sell them
as legitimate carbon credits.
You can embed those into essentially a debt restructuring
and to help relieve the country's burden.
We think that's very important for the greater south.
It's very, very important for banks
and financial service institutions to be involved.
And we're also encouraging, you know,
whether it's Suzanne's company, my company,
to looking out to buy these carbon credits
from reforestation over a longer period of time.
'Cause if you can finance longer term
carbon credit purchase agreements, just like tow roads,
just like wind and solar power plants,
you have longer revenue commitments,
you can actually finance them much more easily upfront.
So we have a lot of room to play.
And Suzanne, you asked about the 1.5 trillion,
that is our overall sustainable finance commitment by 2030,
And proud to say we have already done close to 30%
in two years, starting from January 1st, 2021.
So we have a lot more to go,
but nature-based solutions has to be celebrated.
It's not just a new technologies at the IRA,
the Inflation Reduction Bill is really focused on.
including reforestation has to be, you know,
really kind of amplified and accelerated further.
So proud to be part of this community.
And when I sort of reflect on that,
it's been really interesting and humbling
not only coming together but using their superpower.
Bank of America's superpower is in their assets
and those of your clients.
And really sort of taking that lens
and you just made such a difference in that area.
And I'll turn to you, Gabby,
and so we'll go down and then we'll come back
and then I'll get you back to your food.
But Gabby is an incredible young activist.
She and I met actually for the first time last night.
She's studying at Stanford,
and is part of a number of groups,
the UN, you represent the Asia group for the UN.
You can tell us a little bit more about that
for the sort of youth climate activist.
Also has been involved in regeneration
booked by Paul Hawkin and done some interesting research
on nature-based solution.
And my first question was like,
how do you have time for all of this,
as you're also studying at Stanford.
So maybe you could tell us a little bit
about Earth Uprising, which is a group
that I'm deeply fond of and I know that you're part of
and also a little bit about your climate journey.
So I spend the, almost like six, seven years now
working on climate activism,
working with various policy initiatives,
research, business, and yeah,
it's been a really interesting and amazing journey.
I think a common theme has been
the lack of youth representation
at these important spaces,
so I'm really grateful to be here today.
On the point of juggling things,
my professors gave me five days off and no more.
So straight back to school in a couple of days.
But yeah, as you mentioned,
I'm part of Earth Uprisings Global Youth Leadership Council.
So it's a 12 strong group from six continents
and we're all leading projects
in our respective regions.
our latest campaign is called Seat at the Table.
I think, you know, funding is one part of the problem,
but formalizing youth opportunities
to get involved with decision making is another thing
So yeah, the latest project we're working on
is trying to get as many governments,
as many corporations to form youth advisory boards
and sort of provide a structured and formal process
where youth to engage with decision making
and planning and implementation of carbon projects.
So yeah, very excited to be here today
And we were talking last night,
this is something we're really committed to at Salesforce.
We're going to start a youth advisory board this year
and I want to do things like give you my business plan
for the year and say, you know, does this make sense?
How can we sort of incorporate thinking
And I'm wondering as we think about climate justice,
and I know this is something that you're committed to,
You know, how can we as in this room,
as as corporates, as NGOs, as government, but you know,
how can we be thinking more about inclusivity,
making sure that as we embark on the next,
what is it 80% of our goal, which we will get to,
that we do it in a really inclusive way
What would your advice to us be?
That's something I've been thinking out about a lot.
My dad and I are looking into
sort of nature-based solutions projects in Southeast Asia,
which is where I'm originally from, as you mentioned.
And I think we've been talking a lot with communities
and various organizations
and one thing we've learned is that
it's impossible to separate these nature projects
from the surrounding community.
And that also any investment you make in nature
is really a long-term one.
So I think, Karen, you mentioned this,
but there's immense social economic benefits
on top of environmental benefits
that come from working on these nature projects.
So I think really honing in on those
and investing into co-benefits,
such as educational opportunities
for the surrounding communities, access to healthcare,
job opportunities for women and other groups,
and really making sure there's an element
of community leadership and engagement at all times
to ensure that, you know,
these voices and communities are not being displaced.
And I mean, it's a win-win
by investing in these surrounding communities
on top of the nature projects,
they're actually co-benefit carbon credits
that you can quantify and, you know,
you're engaging the community
and fostering the foundation
for a really sustainable long-term project.
Thank you. It's great advice.
I think we all really need to heed.
So coming back down this direction
and then enabling you all to continue to eat and chat,
Karen, you know, we talked a little bit about
Bank of America's sort of meta commitment.
We talked about how 1t.org fits into that.
I wonder if you can, you know,
there's potential folks here that could join us
in our effort, you know, what would you say to them?
How has this helped the company?
You know, why would a corporation join us in this effort?
I think we all live in large, a lot of the,
I'm assuming, a lot of the large multinational companies
are in urban areas where we all could use better air
So first of all, just as a human being,
we want a cleaner and better environment.
So I think as a, you know, just immediate,
you can feel that, right?
So there's something, we start from.
From a corporate company standpoint,
over 7,000 large companies have pledged a Net Zero.
And when you think about Net Zero,
I don't want to get into carbon math,
especially my voice is so bad right now.
Suzanne said just be very, very concise.
So, but if you think about scope 1 and scope 2
is the emissions that you can control, right?
in your value chain and supply chain.
When Bank America became carbon neutral in 2019,
we actually used reforestation carbon credits
to offset that very last several hundred thousand tons
of emissions that we couldn't, you know,
avoid or couldn't really completely negate.
Even if we have bought zero, you know,
emissions electricity for our scope 2,
we have reduced resource usage as much as possible
for all of our banking operations.
We still have several hundred thousand tons.
We chose to use nature-based solutions
to offset our scope 1 and 2
to become carbon neutral.
And you know, Salesforce is Net Zero now.
We are Net Zero before 2050,
but our scope 3 is a hundred times
the size of our scope 1 and 2.
So for us, I think the first thing you want to do
as a company that you want to pledge to this
because it's good for your employees,
it's good for your stakeholders
just from an environment standpoint, a health standpoint.
that's probably the most respected,
validated carbon credit that you can buy, reforestation.
You know, to eliminate the unavoidable
last mile emissions in your scope 1 and 2
to become carbon neutral.
I think any company thinking about Net Zero
has to think about scope 1 and 2.
and that's how we are talking to our clients
about using nature-based solutions
to complement technology solutions
to neutralize their scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Obviously you could do that for scope 3,
and many companies scope 3 is, you know,
I think there is plenty of room for nature-based solutions.
I think the supplies has to grow as well,
that's what I was talking to Nicole about.
The guardrails have to be established better
for more nature-based solutions
related carbon credits to be established.
You know, we all met three years ago,
I think the market has grown probably 20, 25%,
but the market needs to be growing 200%.
Yeah, the supply side issue is massive and you know,
carbon offsets have gotten sort of a bad rap,
particularly in the last year.
And I think that one shouldn't be afraid
to continue to invest in nature
as you're at the same time
getting your emissions down.
So for me it's a yes and conversation.
It's not an either or conversation.
And so many of you in this room are doing such great work
on the ground in this area,
but when you're working in a unregulated voluntary market,
it's hard to know best investments.
So looking at co-benefits, like you said, Gabby,
I think is really, really critical.
And you know, we're all kind of
on this learning journey together.
So, you know, for Salesforce in addition to our offsets,
we have a hundred million tree commitment on top of that.
But it's all part really of the same effort.
And I think one other thing I'll just add
in terms of what we learned as a corporate is
the tree is also the great equalizer.
You know, it doesn't matter what your age or your race,
most country, states are affiliated
with a tree of some sort.
But in a moment of inequality globally,
for us it's been a really beautiful way
to bring our employees together
and our customers and our partners together
over something that everybody can appreciate
And in addition to the clean air and the equity,
which is really critical and hopefully Jad
will talk a little bit about what he's working on.
We've just, that was an unintended positive consequence
that we found as part of this effort.
So Nicole, I just thought you could maybe
in terms of a call to action for this group.
How can NGOs get involved?
How can corporate get involved
and like what's on your roadmap
for the next 12 to 24 months?
So I think, of course we encourage every company
to join us, to join this movement, to make a pledge.
And we're working very hard on the quality side.
We have a knowledge sharing series,
a knowledge hub where we try to provide the latest guidance.
Some relevant recent publications that we've done
in collaboration, for example,
with the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance
is a procurement guide for high integrity carbon credits.
We've been working also with the Mangroves Working Group
on the blue carbon principles.
So really a very strong focus on what is quality,
and we are going to continue to bring that
to our corporate alliance and our members
to really help inform their investment decisions
So we encourage everyone to make a pledge to 1t.org
to join the corporate alliance.
And of course if you're not a corporate,
there's many other opportunities to get involved.
We've been talking about youth,
we have the Global Youth Hub for Generation Restoration,
where we really try to bring
different opportunities to youth,
both in terms of getting engaged in terms of
we're launching a massive open online course
with the University of HEC Montreal on ecopreneurship.
So we're trying to really grow also the space
to be as inclusive as possible.
Our ecopreneurs, we're going to grow that.
And then finally, as an individual,
there are also ways that you can engage,
you can get, as an employee,
you can get your company to make a pledge
to pay more attention to this space.
And then as an individual,
there are also organizations
like Plant for the Planet, you know,
where individuals can contribute at a different level.
And maybe in closing, I will say that we need everyone.
I like to say that how much is a trillion trees,
if one person plants a tree a second,
it takes them 30 a tree a day a second.
Now I'm confusing my maths, but 30,000 years.
But if everyone on the planet today planted a tree a day,
it would take us four months.
So I think this, you know,
gives us an idea of this scale,
but also that it's achievable
and what's needed is for all of us to contribute.
I want to turn it over to my friend and colleague, Jad Daley,
who runs the 1t.org US chapter.
Who has been such an incredible,
one of my favorite ecopreneur.
So Jad, what would you like to share with the group?
Well first of all, I'd like to share,
it's just been such an incredible honor
to work with these four amazing women
and all of the leaders that we have
within the 1t.org movement.
It's been an incredible partnership.
That reflection back that moment three years ago
at the White House kind of brings it all back.
And I think it just shows the power
of when you bring all of our efforts together,
it unlocks something different.
And so I just wanted to talk about,
really take us out on an inspiring note
and talk about how the US chapter really aligns
with three critical things that you've heard
inspiration, inclusion, and innovation.
In the US we've had this incredible inspiration
going back and forth between the public sector
You know, those hundred plus pledges that we've had
in the US had a huge impact on the policy breakthroughs
that Nicole and Karen spoke about.
And in fact, I'm really proud
that 20 billion of public investment,
includes 1.5 billion dollars for tree equity in cities,
which is the largest urban forest investment
And you better believe that was impacted
by the fact that we had Bank of America
and Salesforce and others from the private sector saying,
this is really important.
This is a key part of Natural Climate Solutions.
Lawmakers were really inspired by that.
I'm also really proud that the US chapter,
those a hundred plus pledges,
they go from governments to Girl Scouts,
it's companies in every possible part of the economy.
It's all sorts of types of NGOs,
it's faith-based organizations
as well as youth organizations.
And we said, hey look, no contributions too small.
And if we're going to build the movement that we want,
we need all hands on deck and we need to show
that this is a societal movement.
This has the broad base that we need.
And then the third was inspiration.
it's not going to, or excuse me, innovation.
It's not going to be enough just to ask everyone to do more,
but we need to do it better.
We need to do this work more rigorously
in the technical aspects of forestry.
We need to find new efficiencies
for how we deliver nature-based solutions
and we need to reach a new scale.
And so the US chapter formed a community of practice
where all these organizations that have made pledges,
public and private sector alike,
have been showing up and working together
to learn from each other,
to identify where we need innovation,
and to co-create things together.
Like some new innovations in carbon finance
where Karen has been such a leader for us.
And so now I get to take us
on this really exciting closing note,
which is to tell you about the Uplink challenge
You know, Uplink is like a supercharging,
super collider for innovation.
It basically puts out a signal,
a call for where we need innovation.
And in the case of nature-based solutions,
it's on those aspects I talked about.
How do we do it more rigorously?
How do we leverage technology and finance
and even the old school technology of forestry
And so we put out the US a Trillion Trees Challenge
through the Uplink platform,
got back a tremendous response.
And so we're very excited
that we're going to show a film over there,
announcing the nine winners of the US Uplink challenge.
Now these winners are going to get really important support
to take their innovations from the drawing board
or from the start of stage, all the way to scale.
New exposure, further innovations,
new networking opportunities to meet other partners,
to meet financiers of this work.
And so we hope that you'll go over there
and learn more about the winners of the challenge
and see how you might be able
to get involved with their work.
That leads to the last call to action,
which is that 1t.org gives you a durable opportunity
to be part of this network,
to help support the ecopreneurial revolution
through Uplink challenges and through working
with these ecopreneur as we identify their work
on helping and lift it to new levels.
And so we really hope that you'll answer the call
that you've heard here today
about becoming part of 1t.org.
Help us think about the next Uplink challenges
that we need to create all around the world
to take this work to the next level.
And again, I really hope that you'll go
and see our film here right afterwards
and meet the nine winners of the US Uplink challenge.
and I just want to thank everyone for joining us today
for your incredible work in the world.
Sort of to create a movement,
it takes so many of us to come together to create vision,
to create inspiration, to create action.
