Overwhelmed by the Climate Crisis? John Doerr’s New Book Will Give You Guidance
The OKR mastermind’s action plan for getting to net-zero by 2050
Solving the climate crisis is a massive challenge of historic dimension. For me, working on it or just thinking about it often feels overwhelming. Single contributions feel like a drop in the (rising) ocean. The more I learn about climate change, the more I realize its complexity.
Yet, some people manage to break down complexity without reducing its meaning. John Doerr’s action plan is one of my favorite examples. It helps to grasp the historical dimension of the challenge and offers measurable action points that help us realize where we stand now and what needs to be done.
As Doerr rightly points out,
“for the math to work at this titanic scale, we’ll need to get more people in motion and more technologies deployed and more new ones invented than at any time in human history. We’ll also need more money and so much more leadership and unity if we’re going to save a habitable planet.”
In his famous business book “Measure What Matters,” the venture capitalist Doerr outlined a revolutionary approach to goal-setting — Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Widely spread by now, OKRs encourage organizations to focus on a handful of essential targets and break them down to actionable results.
John Doerr now applied the OKR method to the most urgent and wicked problem of our time, the climate crisis. In his recently published book “Speed & Scale,” Doerr presents an action plan to reach the ambitious goal: global warming of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
His high-level action plan literally fits on a napkin:
Net-Zero by 2050 (halfway by 2030)
- Electrify Transportation
- Decarbonize the Grid
- Fix Food
- Protect Nature
- Clean Up Industry
- Remove Carbon
Tools: Policy & Politics, Movements, Innovation, Investment
John Doerr then breaks the first six objectives into actionable results. Objectives 7–10, Policy & Politics, Movements, Innovation, and Investment, are so-called “Accelerant Objectives.” They mark the tools to be used to solve the tremendous problem.
Here is a summary of his action plan, published in Speed & Scale.
John Doerr’s climate action plan — Net-Zero By 2050 (halfway by 2030)
Objective 1 — Electrify Transportation — Reduce eight gigatons of transportation emissions to two gigatons by 2050.
KR 1.1 Price: By 2024, EVs achieve price-performance parity with new combustion-engine vehicles in the U.S.($35K), and in India and China by 2030 ($11K).
KR 1.2 Cars: By 2030, one of two new personal vehicles purchased worldwide is an EV, and 95% by 2040.
KR 1.3 Buses and Trucks: By 2025, all new buses are electric and 30% of medium and heavy trucks purchased are zero-emission vehicles by 2030, while 95% of trucks are zero-emission by 2045.
KR 1.4 Miles: By 2040, 50% of the miles driven (2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, cars, buses, and trucks) on the world’s roads are electric and by 2050, 95% of miles driven are electric. ↓ 5 Gt
KR 1.5 Planes: By 2025, 20% of miles flown use low-carbon fuel and by 2040, 40% of miles flown are carbon-neutral. ↓ 0.3 Gt
KR 1.6 Maritime: By 2030, shift all new construction to “zero-ready”. ↓ 0.6 Gt
Objective 2 — Decarbonize the Grid — By 2050, reduce 24 gigatons of global electricity and heating emissions to 3 gigatons.
KR 2.1 Zero Emissions: By 2035, 50% of electricity worldwide comes from zero-emissions sources and by 2025, 90% comes from zero-emission sources (up from 38% in 2020).* ↓ 16.5 Gt
KR 2.2 Solar and Wind: By 2025, solar and wind are cheaper to build and operate than emitting sources in 100% of countries (up from 67% in 2020).
KR 2.3 Storage Electricity: By 2025, storage is below $50 per kWh for short duration (4–24 hours) and by 2030, $10 per kWh for long duration (14–30 days).
KR 2.4 Coal and Gas: No new coal or gas plants after 2021; existing plants to retire or zero out emissions by 2025 for coal and by 2035 for gas (timeline for developed countries, 5–10 years more for developing countries).
KR 2.5 Methane Emissions: By 2025, eliminate leaks, venting, and most flaring from coal, oil, and gas sites. ↓ 3 Gt
KR 2.6 Heating and Cooking: By 2040, cut gas and oil for heating and cooking in half (timeline for developed countries, 5–10 years more for developing countries).↓ 1.5 Gt
KR 2.7 Clean Economy: By 2035, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency to quadruple clean energy productivity rate (GDP ÷ fossil fuel consumption).
Objective 3 — Fix Food Reduce agricultural emissions — By 2050, go from 9 gigatons to 2 gigatons.
KR 3.1 Farm Soils: Improve soil health through practices that increase carbon content in topsoils to a minimum of 3%. ↓ 2 Gt
KR 3.2 Fertilizers: Stop the overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers and develop greener alternatives to cut emissions in half by 2050. ↓ 0.5 Gt
KR 3.3 Consumption: Promote lower-emissions proteins, cutting the annual consumption of beef and dairy by 25% by 2030, and 50% by 2050. ↓ 3 Gt
KR 3.4 Rice: By 2050, reduce methane and nitrous oxide from rice farming by 50%. ↓ 0.5 Gt
KR 3.5 Food Waste: Lower the food waste ratio from 33% of all food produced to 10%. ↓ 1 Gt
Objective 4 — Protect Nature — By 2050, go from 6 gigatons of emissions to -1 gigaton.
KR 4.1: Forests: By 2030, achieve net-zero deforestation; end destructive practices and logging in primary forests. ↓ 6 Gt
KR 4.2 Oceans: By 2030, eliminate deep-sea bottom trawling and protect at least 30% of oceans, by 2050 50% of the oceans. ↓ 1 Gt
KR 4.3 Lands: By 2030, expand protected land from 15% today to 30%, by 2050 to 50%.
Objective 5 — Clean Up Industry Reduce — By 2050, 12 gigatons of industrial emissions to 4 gigatons.
KR 5.1 Steel: By 2030, reduce the total carbon intensity of steel production 50% and by 2040 90%. ↓ 3 Gt
KR 5.2 Cement: By 2030, reduce the total carbon intensity of cement production 25% and by 2040 90% . ↓ 2 Gt
KR 5.3 Other Industries: By 2050, reduce emissions from other industrial sources (i.e., plastics, chemicals, paper, aluminum, glass, apparel) 80%. ↓ 2 Gt
Objective 6 — Remove Carbon — Remove 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year
KR 6.1 Nature-Based Removal: By 2025, remove at least 1 gigaton per year, 3 gigatons by 2030, and 5 gigatons by 2040. ↓ 5 Gt
KR 6.2 Engineered Removal: By 2030, remove at least 1 gigaton per year, 3 gigatons by 2040, and 5 gigatons by 2050. ↓ 5 Gt
Objective 7 — Win Politics and Policy
KR 7.1 Commitments: By 2050, each country enacts a national commitment to reach net-zero emissions and gets at least halfway there by 2030 (timeline for developed countries, 5–10 years more for developing countries).
KR 7.1.1 Power: Set an electricity sector requirement to cut emissions by 50% by 2025, 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
KR 7.1.2 Transportation: By 2035, decarbonize all new cars, buses, and trucks; freight ships by 2030; semi-trucks by 2045; and make 40% of flights carbon neutral by 2040.
KR 7.1.3 Buildings: Enforce zero-emissions building standards for new residentials by 2025, commercials by 2030, and prohibit sales of non-electrical equipment by 2030.
KR 7.1.4 Industry: Phase out fossil fuel use for industrial processes at least halfway by 2040, and completely by 2050.
KR 7.1.5 Carbon Labeling: Require emissions-footprint labels on all goods.
KR 7.1.6 Leaks: Control flaring, prohibit venting, and mandate prompt capping of methane leaks.
KR 7.2 Subsidies: End direct and indirect subsidies to fossil fuel companies and for harmful agricultural practices.
KR 7.3 Price on Carbon: Set national prices on greenhouse gases at a minimum of $55 per ton, rising 5% annually (timeline for developed countries, 5–10 years more for developing countries).
KR 7.4 Global Bans: Prohibit HFCs as refrigerants and ban single-use plastics for all nonmedical purposes.
KR 7.5 Government R&D: Double (at minimum) public investment into research and development; increase it fivefold in the United States.
Accelerant Objective 8 — Turn Movements into Action
KR 8.1 Voters: By 2025, the climate crisis is a top-two voting issue in the twenty top-emitting countries.
KR 8.2 Government: A majority of government officials — elected or appointed — will support the drive to net-zero.
KR 8.3 Business: By 2040, 100% of Fortune Global 500 companies commit immediately to reaching net-zero.
KR 8.3.1 Transparency: By 2022, 100% of these companies publish transparency reports of their emissions.
KR 8.3.2 Operations: By 2030, 100% of these companies achieve net zero in their operations (electricity, vehicles, and buildings).
KR 8.4 Education Equity: By 2040, the world achieves universal primary and secondary education.
KR 8.5 Health Equity: By 2040, eliminate the gaps among racial and socio-economic groups in greenhouse gas-related mortality rates.
KR 8.6 Economic Equity: The global clean energy transition creates 65 million new jobs, equitably distributed and outpacing the loss of fossil-fuel jobs.
Accelerant Objective 9 — Innovate!
KR 9.1 Batteries: By 2035, produce 10,000 GWh of batteries yearly at less than $80 per kWh.
KR 9.2 Electricity: By 2030, the cost of zero-emission baseload power reaches $0.02 per kWh, with peak-demand power reaching $0.08 per kWh.
KR 9.3 Green Hydrogen: The cost of producing hydrogen from zero-emissions sources drops to $2.0 per kg by 2030, $1.0 per kg by 2040.
KR 9.4 Carbon Removal: By 2040, the cost of engineered carbon dioxide removal falls to $100 per ton and by 2030, to $50 per ton.
KR 9.5 Carbon-Neutral Fuels: By 2035, the cost of synthetic fuel drops to $2.50 per gallon for jet fuel and $3.50 for gasoline.
Accelerant Objective 10 — Invest!
KR 10.1 Financial Incentives: Increase global government subsidies and support for clean energy from $128 billion to $600 billion.
KR 10.2 Government R&D: Increase public-sector funding of energy R&D from $7.8 billion to $40 billion a year in the U.S.; other countries should aim to triple current funding.
KR 10.3 Venture Capital: Expand investment of capital into private companies from $13.6 billion to $50 billion per year.
KR 10.4 Project Financing: Increase zero-emissions project financing from $300 billion to $1 trillion per year.
KR 10.5 Philanthropic Investing: Increase philanthropic dollars from $10 billion to $30 billion per year.
One of my main takeaways from the book was that climate action requires an umbrella of immediate actions: From politics to innovation and business to every single one of us. Check out Speed & Scale’s Website to learn more about the book and how you or your organization can contribute to solving the climate crisis.
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