Ceres’ LEAD on Climate 2020

(Virtual, May 13)—Today, Full Harvest joins some of America’s biggest brands including Danone, General Mills, Microsoft, Salesforce and VISA, among others, to call on a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers to build back a better economy by infusing resilient, long-term climate solutions into future economic recovery plans. Collectively, today’s Lawmaker Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD on Climate 2020) is the largest ever virtual call to action from the business community on the ongoing climate crisis and the largest coordinated effort on the issue since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the U.S. 

The participating companies collectively represent combined annual revenues of more than $900 billion in revenue, a combined market valuation of nearly $11.3 trillion, and more than 2.5 million U.S. employees. The companies calling for climate action as part of economic recovery efforts span across the American economy, including retail giants, manufacturers, healthcare services, food and beverage companies, outdoors industries, technology companies and energy providers. 

“Now is the time to rebuild a resilient American economy that fuels growth and mitigates against climate risk.”

Said Christine Moseley, Founder and CEO of Full Harvest. “The companies standing together today have the ingenuity to address climate change and the urgency to act today.  We call on Congress to set policies that support immediate efforts to mitigate climate risk and invest in a net-zero emissions economy.”  

Building off last year’s LEAD on Carbon Pricing in-person event, which brought together 75 companies, this year’s virtual meetings feature three times as many companies and have greatly expanded the scope for strong and urgent climate action from Congress. Companies will urge House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to weigh in as Congress considers how future rounds of economic recovery spending should be allocated. Participating companies will stress the continued importance of investment in resilient infrastructure and the need to put Americans back to work with durable, clean energy jobs, and will call for Congress to consider longer-term sustainable solutions to strengthen the economy, such as a goal of reaching net-zero emissions economy by 2050 or sooner, as well as other policy mechanisms, like a price on carbon.

A recently updated report by Project Drawdown found that reducing food waste is the number one, most impactful solution to keeping the Earth below two degrees Celsius. Full Harvest is focused on rescuing the billions of pounds of imperfect and surplus produce -- one-third of all edible yields (ReFED) -- that go to waste at the farm level each year in the U.S. simply because they do not meet strict cosmetic retail standards. Through its online marketplace, the company helps growers capture new revenue opportunities by connecting them directly with processors and food and beverage brands who benefit from sourcing sustainable produce, often at a lower cost. 

This increased corporate policy engagement comes at a time when the consequences of the climate crisis have never been clearer or more dire. Last year, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were at their highest levels in at least the last 800,000 years, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently found that the last decade was the hottest on record. That is why, even amidst the current pandemic, Full Harvest is partnering with some of the largest food brands to reduce their agricultural carbon footprint and calling on Congress to take climate action as part of the economic recovery process.