American Sustainable Business Council and Social Venture Circle Launch Campaign for Business Support of Build Back Better

Washington, D.C. — With markup by the Ways & Means Committee scheduled to begin on September 14 of the proposed $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill before it, the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) and Social Venture Circle (SVC) initiated a campaign to demonstrate support from American businesses. Within the first hours of the campaign more than 100 businesses had signed on signaling strong endorsement of the necessary investments in America’s infrastructure.

“Companies are or should be seriously concerned about climate change and its impact on American businesses and those which signed on within minutes of our announcing it recognize the necessity and urgency of this bill.  With it will come the investments needed to build back better, and it includes adequate and appropriate means to fund it as proposed,” said Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder and CEO of ASBC. “It’s absurd that any group which purports to represent the interests of American businesses would not be unequivocally supportive unless they were more concerned with their own short-term gains than the survival of our planet and future generations.”

American businesses and communities are threatened, whether they are underwater in New Jersey or New Orleans, burning in the West, or experiencing weather disasters destroying Midwest and Southern farms. The reality of climate change is an existential threat, not sometime in the future, but today. This may be the last moment to reverse the worst consequences of climate change and American businesses can’t afford to wait or take half measures.

President Biden’s Build Back Better plan combines concrete actions to mitigate against climate change and rebuild our economy with the means to pay for those actions. But many of those who helped create this climate crisis, like the fossil fuel industry, and even some who claim to be concerned about climate change, are spending millions lobbying to block this plan. Today, The New York Times published an article summarizing the situation: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/politics/businesses-social-policy.html?referringSource=articleShare.

“As responsible businesses, we are standing up and speaking out to endorse both the investments against climate change and rebuilding our economy, along with the revenue measures needed to pay for those investments,” said David Levine, co-founder and president of ASBC. “It is time to draw a clear line between those truly committed to real action and those who only pretend, but selfishly act to block necessary steps to meet this existential challenge that will impact all of us, including the business community.”

The CEOs of business which signed on unanimously agree that there are no businesses and no jobs on a dead planet. That is why they support both the investments and the means to pay for them in Build Back Better.  To learn more and to sign on in support please visit: https://www.asbcouncil.org/support-investments-build-back-better.

ASBC partners with business organizations and companies to advocate for solutions and policies that support an equitable, sustainable, stakeholder economy. We are a multi-issue, business organization advocating on behalf of all sectors, sizes, and geographies of industry. ASBC and our association members collectively represent over 250,000 businesses across our networks. We are coalition-focused in our approach to solving the pervasive and systemic issues of climate and energy, infrastructure, circular economy, and creating an inclusive stakeholder economy, all seen through the lens of racial equity and justice. We are changing the rules by which business is done so it is better for all people and the environment.

The mission of Social Venture Circle (SVC) is to pull together money, expertise, and connections for the people creating a better economy—for our society and the environment—in a powerful, diverse, and inclusive network. SVC’s purpose is to lead the way for impact investors, entrepreneurs, and capacity-builders and catalyze the NEXT economy; a global economy that is regenerative, just, and prosperous for everyone. SVC believes justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion must be at the foundation for how we conduct ourselves, our businesses, and our investments, as we cultivate and grow our community.