Whirlpool – Barbara S. dos Santos – 2021
Goals
As a global company, Whirlpool Corporation is likely to be affected by a variety of upcoming climate policies. Whirlpool Corporation’s 2021 Climate Corps fellow, Dr. Barbara dos Santos, set out to identify those policies and develop scenario analysis considering their likely evolution and associated carbon prices, and to recommend strategies to support the company’s climate mitigation goals.
Solutions
Dr. dos Santos developed a three-phased approach to the challenge:
- Identify policy trends: Dr. dos Santos identified seventeen global climate and sustainability policy trends that were highly likely to be adopted and highly impactful to Whirlpool Corporation’s operations and products.
- Narrow down to carbon pricing: Dr. dos Santos then focused on the policies identified, estimating carbon pricing, and developing a forecast analysis detailing the company’s global exposure to carbon taxes until 2050.
- Climate risk strategy: Next, Dr. dos Santos developed a climate disclosure gap assessment and peer benchmarking where climate risk strategy trends and best practices were identified. Based on the benchmark, trends and strategies, Dr. dos Santos developed a set of climate risk strategy recommendations crafted exclusively for Whirlpool Corporation.
Potential Impact
Dr. dos Santos identified climate risk mitigation and adaptation strategies in four categories: products and services, supply/value chain, operations, and physical. If adopted, those strategies will support mitigating the company’s exposure to climate policy risks, and to reach their net zero goal by 2030.
