Dear changemakers and leaders everywhere.
We can do it!
We, the undersigned, are the impatient optimists among business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, disruptors, innovators, scientists, influencers and policymakers worldwide.
We believe that our destiny is still in our hands. We believe that we need to get away from the blame game and the narrative of doom and gloom, and understand that we still hold in our grasp the power to create a greener, cleaner, and brighter tomorrow.
During the Second World War, people rose to the challenge to secure their freedom and future. We can do it was a campaign originally aimed at a group of female factory workers during that difficult period. Decades later the campaign took the form of a uniting slogan, encouraging everyone to step up and do their part to tackle difficult challenges – and to show that with grit, determination, and teamwork, it can be done.
Now, we will do the same. We will rise to the challenge to secure our own future, and the future of the generations to come.
We can do it!
There are those that still believe that moving away from a fossil-driven economy would put societies through pain, sacrifices, and poverty. In fact, the opposite is true. Just look at the current energy crisis in Europe. With a faster shift away from fossil-based energy, we could have avoided this costly disaster.
The benefits of accelerating the green transition are simply mind-blowing. It will create millions of new jobs, reduce pollution, improve our health and help create thriving ecosystems, which in turn will make our societies more resilient to an increasingly unstable climate.
We would even argue that we can’t afford NOT to make this transition happen. Why? Because we know by now that investing in a fossil-free future is far cheaper than handling the consequences of not doing so. Decarbonizing the energy system alone is expected to save us at least $12 trillion. And that is just one piece of the puzzle.
We, the undersigned, are ready and willing to walk the talk. We are not perfect, but we are committed to being bold and pushing the boundaries to make this shift happen. And we are not alone. Already today, a substantial part of the world’s combined GDP originates from companies, investors, cities and regions that have voluntarily joined the 'Race to Zero', led by the UN Climate Change High-level Champions, committing to leaving fossil fuels behind.
A massive shift is happening. In every country, on every continent. There is no way of stopping this movement.
But we don’t have time on our side. To have a chance of keeping global warming close to 1,5°C, we need to halve global emissions by 2030. We can do it – but we need to speed up and scale up solutions much faster. Unfortunately, our current policies are slowing us down by putting hurdles in our way. To succeed in time, we acknowledge that we collectively need to pull down those barriers.
We, the undersigned, hereby push for rapidly phasing out global fossil-fuel subsidies, and for re-directing those trillions of dollars to investments that will benefit people and help green solutions scale faster.
We embrace tougher regulations, smarter incentives and sharper climate goals. And we advocate for accelerating investments in the next generation's green infrastructure, and for letting sustainable public procurement actions speed up this change.
We realize our influential power as leaders, and we therefore commit to do everything we can to make sure all policy influencing within our organizations promotes a rapid shift to a fossil-free economy.
Simply put, we are pushing for a system that makes it more profitable to help design a sustainable world than to ruin it.
And we won’t sit back and wait for those systemic changes to happen. We will do our part no matter what, and continue to raise our ambitions and deliver results.
Dear changemakers of every kind, this is our defining moment.
This is our big chance to co-create a brighter, better and more exciting tomorrow for all.
We have the will. We have the solutions.
We can do it! 💪
(Asset Managers, VCs, Family Offices, Business Angels, Financial Advisors, etc)
(Artists, Musicians, Authors, Creatives, Journalists, Social Media Influencers, etc)
Everyone can support this campaign! Take a selfie doing 💪, the Rosie pose, and post on social media using the hashtags #WeCanDoIt together with #COP27 or #WeDontHaveTime to show your support and automatically get published on this site.
We Don't Have Time has together with its partners UNDP, The Exponential Roadmap Initiative, and GoClimate initiated the #WeCanDoIt campaign to create a new narrative in the climate debate.
We believe, that to accelerate global climate action in time – and get enough people on board to make a difference – we need to focus more on the solutions than on the problem.
We believe we need to start telling the story of the tomorrow we want to create, and to spread the word on the enormous benefits this green shift will bring in terms of new jobs, increased health, restored ecosystems, and limited global warming
This initiative has been created without any financial purposes. You are free to use, reuse and republish it as you wish, as long as you stay true to its original purpose.
For practical purposes we have used We Don’t Have Time’s privacy policies and web hosting when creating the campaign platform.
We have the solutions, we have the will, we have the money, and together we have the power.
We Can Do It!
Sign the campaign and we will send you our social media kit, which you can use to help share and spread the campaign within your own network. There are many who believe We Can Do It!, see the list.
For questions and interview requests, please contact;
Ingmar Rentzhog, CEO and Founder, We Don’t Have Time
Sweta Chakraborty, PhD, Climate Behavioral Scientist, President We Don’t Have Time US
Boaz Paldi, Chief Creative Officer, UNDP
Johan Falk, CEO and Co-founder, The Exponential Roadmap Initiative
Kalle Nilver, Co-founder, GoClimate
Rosie, the woman in the We Can Do It campaign, first appeared on J Howard Millers ”We Can Do It” poster from 1943. The poster was produced for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost female worker morale during World War II. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster in later year has become one of the most famous icons of World War II. The copyright has expired and the image is in the public domain.