00:00 As we recognize the incredible innovators
00:03 and change makers who are gathered here tonight,
00:06 it is also important to acknowledge that the future
00:10 that everybody here is creating
00:13 isn't something that we can take for granted.
00:16 In fact, the next few years are quite possibly
00:20 going to be the most important in any of our lives
00:23 as we confront what it's going to take
00:25 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change,
00:28 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss,
00:31 and to advance a just and equitable climate transition.
00:36 At time, we've been reporting on climate change for decades
00:40 and we've really seen an incredible amount of progress
00:43 within that time, but while we've seen that progress
00:47 and we've seen what we're capable of,
00:49 we also know that there's a lot more work left to be done
00:53 and more leadership, more action and determination
00:56 that is going to be necessary for us to be able
00:59 to address the extent of this crisis.
01:02 The question of if or when we need to do something
01:06 about climate change is now obsolete.
01:08 Climate change is here and it's now.
01:11 The question actually right now is can we move fast enough
01:16 to really implement the solutions that already exist
01:20 and that we know are going to be necessary?
01:23 And time has risen to that challenge.
01:26 Earlier this year, Time CO2, which is the Time's climate arm
01:31 celebrated the climate heroes who are tackling
01:35 this urgent global issue head on,
01:37 recognizing them during our first ever Earth Awards Gala.
01:41 And so it feels fitting to honor a climate leader tonight,
01:46 a man who was instrumental in the very creation
01:49 of this award and who himself personally
01:53 has helped enable and empower a whole generation
01:56 of climate leaders.
01:57 After 26 years in finance, Tom Steyer sold his stake
02:03 in a hedge fund and dove straight into the fight
02:06 of his life, pursuing his goal of solving
02:09 the climate emergency with the same passion and tenacity
02:13 that made him successful in the business world.
02:16 He's also been a vocal champion of clean energy
02:19 and he's helped create laws to keep our air clean.
02:23 He started an organization to promote youth voter turnout,
02:27 which has really been the most successful initiative
02:30 and campaign of its kind.
02:32 He's donated significant amounts of funding
02:34 to his Alma Matters to advance clean energy research.
02:39 And he also started a climate investment platform
02:41 to accelerate climate solutions
02:44 and to stimulate entrepreneurship.
02:46 Now he hasn't just given his time, his money and his effort.
02:50 He's also gifted us with something perhaps
02:52 even more powerful, inspiration.
02:55 So please join me in welcoming 2023
02:59 Earth Award recipient, Tom Steyer.
03:02 (audience applauding)
03:15 - So as a very imperfect person,
03:19 I would like to say thank you.
03:21 And I would also like to say that listening
03:23 to the Time 100 Next, I'd like to thank you
03:28 for what you've done, what you're doing
03:30 and what you're going to do,
03:32 because I can tell you that the rest of us
03:34 are absolutely counting on you going forward
03:38 to do the amazing things that you've been doing so far.
03:43 Let me say, I am obsessed with climate statistics
03:48 and I'll try and keep it to a minimum
03:51 just to give you guys a sense of where we are
03:53 about the race that Shiloh was talking about.
03:56 So one of the big things that people say all the time
03:58 about climate is we can't go through 1.5 C.
04:01 Now no one in the world, or at least in the United States
04:04 knows what 1.5 C is 'cause we deal in Fahrenheit,
04:06 not Celsius.
04:08 And really it makes no sense,
04:10 but trust me, that's the big bogey.
04:14 Just so you know, in September, 2023,
04:18 which was last month, we were 1.75 C above pre-industrial.
04:23 So the thing that everyone's telling you,
04:27 we can't go through this, we are well through it.
04:31 So the numbers from the natural world,
04:34 when we think about climate,
04:35 all we're talking about is destroying the natural world
04:37 and trying to measure it.
04:38 We are through the measure of what the UN said
04:42 we can't go through.
04:43 So let's, not good.
04:47 However, let me say this too.
04:50 Most of the people in this room, I would bet,
04:53 do not know that the transition
04:56 to a more sustainable economy and a more sustainable world
05:00 is going much faster and much better
05:04 than you ever read in a paper.
05:06 Just so you know, the way that revolutions happen
05:11 in the economy, it looks like an S.
05:14 It takes a long time of slow growth,
05:16 and then it kind of goes vertical
05:19 until you get to about 80%.
05:20 So I'll give you one other statistic tonight.
05:23 People believe that in 2030, seven years from now,
05:29 80% of the cars sold globally will be EVs.
05:33 80%.
05:36 So when you think about how this is going,
05:40 that is going so much better in terms of deployment
05:44 and new technologies.
05:45 I was listening to a new technology today
05:47 that can absolutely change the world.
05:49 The thing that we all have to realize in this room is
05:54 people are going to determine the outcome.
06:01 Our choices, our behaviors, our values
06:05 are gonna determine what happens going forward.
06:08 And let me just say, I personally believe
06:11 we're in trouble and we're absolutely gonna win.
06:14 It's not gonna be pretty.
06:16 You know, I always say to people,
06:17 it's like winning a boxing match.
06:18 They hold your hand up at the end of 15 rounds
06:21 and you've won except you have no teeth left
06:23 and there's blood all over your face.
06:25 But we are gonna win.
06:26 But let me say this.
06:28 There are a bunch of people in this world who don't agree.
06:31 This is not like a kumbaya moment.
06:35 In the last two weeks, two American oil companies
06:39 have spent $112 billion betting
06:43 that the transition in energy is to oil and gas.
06:47 That's what those takeovers mean.
06:49 That's 20 to 30 years where they believe
06:52 we won't just be using oil and gas.
06:54 We'll be using more oil and gas.
06:57 And that the people who are trying to change
06:59 the trajectory of our economy and our world
07:01 are gonna fail.
07:03 That is exactly what they're saying.
07:06 So my hope tonight, look,
07:09 I loved looking around this room at people
07:11 from such different backgrounds, such different talents,
07:15 such different experience and knowledge bases
07:18 getting to know each other
07:19 because this is an all of society answer.
07:22 And so my hope is that you meet people
07:25 and are inspired by people
07:26 so that we can pull together all of society
07:30 to answer this question in a good way.
07:32 That is the only way that we're gonna,
07:36 that is the only way we're gonna win.
07:38 And let me say, I want the people in this room
07:42 to be the ones who decide the future.
07:44 I don't want it to be some oil man from Houston, Texas.
07:48 So as far as I'm concerned for tonight,
07:51 thank you very much to Time, I'm very appreciative.
07:54 Thank you to the people in this room
07:55 who are doing so much in so many different ways.
07:58 I just absolutely love it.
08:00 But one other thing, let's kick their ass.
08:03 Thank you.
08:04 (audience applauding)
