Subject: memo on possible WJC meetings on energy / efficiency / climate
From: Amitabh Desai <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 11:28:45 -0400

Not sure what you think about this memo from about a year ago - and somewhat OBE - but would welcome your feedback when we talk:

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  President Clinton

FROM:            Ami Desai

CC:                  Bruce Lindsey, Laura Graham, Doug Band, Justin Cooper

RE:                  YOUR leadership on climate change

DATE:            December 3, 2010

Mr. President:

As we look ahead to next year, below for your consideration is a possible mechanism for you to continue to lead climate change efforts, via the Clinton Foundation.

The idea would be for YOU to convene a few climate-specific meetings with different groups of CEOs, and to use these meetings in advance as opportunities to incentivize the CEOs to come to the table with their best ideas on climate issues and also their perspectives on the challenges. This would enable YOU to connect the dots and better organize and advance these efforts.

Currently there is a vacuum in this space and a lot of people and organizations are spinning their wheels, but no one has had the vision or capacity to pull together the key folks to drive forward on solutions. This process would put YOU into a central leadership role in this space, and position YOU as a leader continuing to drive forward toward solutions.

We could structure this either as multiple meetings with groups of CEOs in different sectors (details below), or we could structure it is as one large meeting with CEOs from multiple sectors. Either approach would require significant advance staff work.

If you so desire, this needn't be just about policy; it also could be about specific projects; and about city- or state-level programs that could be advanced even in the absence of federal policy improvements.

As a new endeavor, it probably would be more manageable to focus this process on enhancing the leadership of US corporations, organizations, and governments on climate issues, rather than tackling global issues, although the companies involved certainly would be able to share multi-national perspectives and comparisons. This process would position YOU on the world stage as attempting to lead the US in the right direction.

We could choose to announce and market this process to the media, or we could do it behind the scenes. I would recommend behind the scenes until we have meaningful deliverables.

At best, this process could help to identify specific policies that could be "models"; specific projects and business models that could be advanced; and some ways to start showing, cohesively and compellingly, that investments in energy efficiency and clean energy actually are good for both economic growth - and job creation.

At a minimum, this process would help us to better understand the key challenges and opportunities, from the perspectives of the corporations and organizations that have the capacity to help effect the most change.

Part of the reasoning behind this idea is that we have had a series of interesting meetings with private companies - Honeywell and Owens Corning, for example - and they appear genuinely committed to expanding the market for energy efficiency, but as you know are encumbered by a variety of constraints.  Also, there already are industry-specific groups that are doing work to identify the needed next steps, but they seem frustrated that no one in a senior leadership position is listening to them or advocating for solutions in ways that resonate with the public, the government, the media, the business community, etc.

The objectives of the meetings would be to spur private sector leadership, distill a consensus around specific goals, establish timelines for next steps, and develop mechanisms to scale-up successful models.

Below are possible groups of CEOs with whom we could convene meetings:

*         Labor unions

*         Real estate developers

*         Transportation companies

*         Large manufacturers

*         Banks

*         Foundations

*         Sovereign wealth funds

*         Private for-profit investors

*         ESCOs

*         Energy efficiency products

*         Cutting-edge technologies

*         Clean tech / renewable energy companies

*         Environmental groups

We'd welcome your feedback. Is this something that we should explore further? Under the construct outlined above, some next steps would include selecting the sectors to begin with (from above, or others), identifying the appropriate companies or organizations in those sectors, issuing invitations and conducting pre-meeting discussions to determine the CEOs' perspectives on key challenges and opportunities.