Appealing to Self-Interest

When Barron Trump is his father's age, Mar-a-Lago will be intolerably hot.

Today — and every couple of weeks or so — another company joins the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a CEO-driven organization established in 1995 that recognizes three main challenges: climate emergency, nature loss, and mounting inequality.

What it would take to get the Mar-a-Lago Club to join?

An un-retouched photo from the Mar-a-Lago Club website.

Perhaps self-interest?

After all, by the time Barron Trump is his father’s age, Mar-a-Lago is predicted to be intolerably hot for at least half the year.

The number of days per year with peak temperature over 90ºF is expected to rise significantly, especially under a higher emissions scenario as shown in the map above. By the end of the century, projections indicate that North Florida will have more than 165 days (nearly six months) per year over 90ºF, up from roughly 60 days in the 1960s and 1970s. The increase in very hot days will have consequences for human health, drought, and wildfires. (Image and caption from: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, 2009) Note: Also mentioned in EPA’s Technical Support Document for the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases (i.e, backup for the “Endangerment Finding” that the EPA now appears ready to revoke).

Regarding the first of the three main challenges of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development — climate emergency — we’re already starting to see the effects of the warming climate. In 2024, the United Nations listed more than 150 “unprecedented” climate disasters. In the near future, the world also stands to lose many trillions of dollars of infrastructure. For example, maps that combine projections of sea-level rise with networks of internet infrastructure show extensive flooding within decades. We have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as disaster-specialist scientists have said for years, because we cannot adapt our way out out of it. So self-interest in the club’s future just might do the trick.

Self-interest may also help the CEO of the Mar-a-Lago Club to consider the second of the three main challenges of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, nature loss.

Mar-a-Lago is right at sea level, so under the greenhouse gas emissions scenario above, the club’s land would start to be inundated with salt water within Baron Trump’s lifetime.

NOAA Office for Coastal Management’s Sea Level Rise Viewer with the Mar-a-Lago club’s address (property just below Woodbridge Rd on map) with amount of sea level rise within the realm of possibility as projected by the NASA IPCC Sea Level Projection Tool.

Finally, regarding the third of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) three main challenges — mounting inequality — it seems unlikely the CEO of Mar-a-Lago would do anything to address that challenge given his long history (and there are so many examples).

But if he asked nicely, maybe the WBCSD would still allow the CEO of Mar-a-Lago’s Club to join if it met the full membership criteria, including:

1. Set an ambition to reach Net Zero GHG [GreenHouse Gas] emissions no later than 2050 and have a science-informed plan to achieve it, that can include Natural Climate Solutions and other carbon removal solutions. GHG emissions include Scope 1, 2 and most relevant and influenceable elements of Scope 3. Report progress annually in standard, external communication of the company;

“Overview of GHG Protocol scopes and emissions across the value chain” Source: WRI/WBCSD Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard

2. Set robust short and mid-term goals and targets, based on science, that contribute to halting and reversing nature loss by 2030, and full recovery by 2050. Report progress annually in standard, external communication of the company;

3. Support the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by having in place a policy to respect human rights, a human rights due diligence process and an approach to grievance and remediation. Report progress annually in standard, external communication of the company;

4. Support diversity, equity and inclusion and the elimination of any form of discrimination. Set robust goals and targets and report progress annually in standard, external communication of the company;

5. Operate at the highest level of transparency: Disclose material sustainability-related financial and impact information using applicable standards; including significant impacts, financial effects, and information on how sustainability is integrated into governance, strategy, and risk management, using relevant metrics and targets.

Of course, meeting that membership criteria would be a lot to ask for of the CEO of Mar-a-Lago given his ”siege” of science, disinterest in human rights, and legendary lack of transparency.

But that doesn’t mean other American companies’ CEOs can’t join in to support him in his application.

After all, WBCSD members include Amazon, Apple, Bloomberg, Chevron, Cisco Systems, Dow, Duke Energy, GE, Google, IBM, Johnson Controls, McDonald’s, Meta, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Target, Goodyear, Proctor&Gamble, Tyson Foods, Visa, WalMart, and Weyerhaeuser, among many others, and some of those CEOs are friendly with the CEO of the Mar-a-Lago Club. So maybe they could give him some pointers.

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Are you a customer or employee of any of the 200+ companies that are members of the WBCSD? Do you see them meeting the membership criteria of the organization, including the five criteria listed above? If not, what is missing?