The New Climate Denial Is About Cost, Not Science
I have sat down with Brian Kilkelly twice now, and both conversations pushed me to think differently about long-term leadership. This time we met in London, continuing from where we left off two years ago, when Brian was working on using data to predict droughts and extreme weather.
A lot has changed since then. Not in the science, but in the argument around it.
As Brian described, climate denialism has faded as the main position. The world has seen fires in California, floods across European cities, and storms arriving with greater regularity and cost. The physics, as Brian put it, does not negotiate.
But the opposition to action has not disappeared. It has changed shape. The new argument is not that climate change is fake. It is that net zero is too expensive. That the cost of living is too high. That green policy is being pushed onto ordinary people. It is a faster, more emotional story, and that makes it harder to counter.
For leaders, this matters. Our teams, boards, and stakeholders are all hearing this noise. Building sustainable businesses is now more politically charged than it was a few years ago.
What Brian keeps returning to is a simple but difficult question: why does this matter to you personally?
Not as a communications exercise. Not as something to say in front of a board. But genuinely, as the person leading an organization, what is the actual reason you care about this?
For Brian, that answer comes from his faith and his belief that we are stewards of this planet. His starting point does not need to be yours. It could be that you hate pollution, fear what your children will inherit, or have watched nature deteriorate in places you love. Whatever it is, knowing your own reason makes you a more authentic and resilient leader on this topic.
One story from our conversation stayed with me. Brian ran a workshop with the management team of a major housing association. He asked everyone to draw a circle and write inside it everything they loved and valued about life. Family. Their neighborhood. Nature. Sports. The things that give life meaning.
Then he showed them a photograph of Earth from space and said: everything inside your circle is sustained by that one planet.
That reframe does something strategy documents and sustainability reports often cannot. It makes the work personal. It connects decarbonization targets and net-zero commitments to something people can feel.
We also spoke about the economics of decarbonization. LED technology might pay back in a couple of years. Solar panels in seven or eight. A heat pump might take forty or fifty years. Under pressure, the instinct is to take the quick wins and delay the harder choices.
For me, that is a leadership question as much as a financial one. CEOs and business owners are often trained to think in quarters, annual cycles, and immediate accountability. But doing the right thing does not always pay back straight away.
The organizations that learn how to hold a long view while managing short-term pressure will be better positioned. Not only ethically, but commercially.
Technology can help, including AI, but it cannot provide the reason for doing the work. Purpose has to come first. The tools serve the purpose.
The work of restoring this planet is long. It will not pay back immediately. But that has never been a reason not to start.
Highlights:
00:00 Reunion in London
00:55 Climate impacts update
01:43 Net zero backlash
04:39 Short term politics
07:20 Finding your why
10:12 Broken systems and leadership
12:47 Faith and restoration
15:04 Building a community
17:32 Blue planet exercise
19:59 Tech payback and AI
22:44 Measuring culture shift
27:05 How to connect
27:51 Eternity and closing
https://www.jensheitland.com/links
Guest Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kilkelly/
