Climate change will be expensive. Who should pay?

Among U.S. respondents, 41 percent said corporations should fund “a lot” of the costs associated with combating global warming. Nearly 70 percent of people said the private sector should pay “a lot” or “some.” No other group came close.

The sentiment was particularly marked among high earners, 54 percent of whom said companies should shoulder a lot of the burden.

And while it might be no surprise that a majority of adults who identified as Democrats — 56 percent — wanted corporations to pony up, 30 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents agreed with them. Two-thirds of Republicans said companies should pay a lot or some of the cost.

It’s not just money

In a separate question, adults surveyed faulted companies for doing too little on climate, ranking them below governments and international organizations. Banks and other financial institutions fared particularly poorly.

In the U.S., only 5 percent of respondents said corporations were stepping up to address climate change; only 4 percent said Wall Street was doing all it could.

Change is coming

Companies are huge players in the climate fight, and not only because they’re big polluters. Large businesses alone are worth a combined $59 trillion. As of 2020, investors held a record $115 trillion in assets.

That’s a lot of capital that can be directed toward solutions. For context, the entire output of the U.S. economy is about $24 trillion.

Many corporations, under pressure from customers, employees, and shareholders, have begun changing their behavior. They’re establishing voluntary standards on climate disclosure, sustainable accounting and emissions reduction. They’re switching to renewable energy and greening their vehicle fleets. Some large banks are experimenting with loans keyed to positive environmental outcomes.

An influential coalition of large companies is using its political clout to push for policy change in Washington. Others are naming and shaming their polluting peers to spur them to action. The CDP, a central repository of corporate environmental data, has enlisted financial institutions to lobby their own customers to report on emissions, water use and other environmental metrics.

But progress remains slow. Tens of thousands of companies don’t report emissions data. Companies are complaining about a proposed U.S. rule on environmental, social, and governance investing, and corporate lobbyists are expected to mount a fight against President Joe Biden’s plans to recalculate carbon’s economic costs.