JUSTIN WORLAND,  Senior Correspondent  -  Time Stephan: This is sort of semi-good news because it reports that corporations are slowly beginning to accept and operate on the need to exit the carbon power era. Not fast enough, but at least in the right direction. In an aerial view, solar panels are seen at MCE Solar One solar farm in Richmond, California. Getty This Climate Week, I did something crazy. In the middle of a packed week of panels, roundtables, and interviews in New York, I hopped on a plane across the country and spent a day at the MINExpo conference in Las Vegas for a forthcoming story. In the giant halls, alongside trucks the size of jet planes, companies gathered at the mining equipment conference promised to decrease their customers’ carbon footprints and allow them to operate their mines more sustainably. The public narrative around private sector climate action is one of deep skepticism. Many advocates have decried it as greenwashing, claiming that companies are using climate goals as a branding exercise. Many companies have pulled back their commitments, saying they no longer feel they are feasible. And businesses have grown reluctant to talk about their environmental work—fearful that it might cause backlash in conservative states and with a potential future Republican president. In [...]

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