In talking about the limitless potential for renewables last week, I mentioned the letter from three key ministers from France, Germany and the UK calling for more GHG reductions in Europe than are now in law. I also mentioned the backlash from some business interests. An article in the FT today describes a letter from a number of other prominent businesses fully in support of the ministers’ proposals. Top management from big companies as diverse as Tesco, Vodaphone, British Telecom, Lloyds Banking Group, Philips Electronics, Allianz and Acciona, among others, wrote to the FT to say:
By moving to a higher target, the European Union will have a direct impact on the carbon price through to 2020 and deliver the economic signals that companies need if they are to continue investing billions of euros in low-carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure. European leadership will also help rebuild the international momentum towards an ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change. The EU’s future competitive advantage lies in encouraging and enabling its businesses to help drive the transformational change that will occur in the world economy within the next couple of decades, not to hide from it.
The article quotes Neil Carson, chief executive of Johnson Matthey: “In these uncertain times, if industry is to risk investing in new low-carbon technologies, it’s even more important that governments show that reducing carbon emissions is a non-negotiable requirement and that it will be supported by strong policies.”
Business is, to a very great extent, on board. Many of the companies involved in the letter are members of the Corporate Leaders Group On Climate Change, an entity convened by the Prince of Wales. (See Bonnie Prince Charlie’s recent speech to this group. He notes the “…necessity of understanding the potential for genuinely sustainable practices both to provide resilience to our changing climate as well as delivering true economic development.”)
I’ve written about a number of these business coalitions working toward GHG reductions and sustainability, among them The °Climate Group, USCAP, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Climate change is bad business in its massive impacts, now and in the future, and there is growing recognition of the business opportunities in transformational change.
