It was a bit strange being at the Globe 2014 International Forum on Business and the Environment knowing that the governments of the provincial and federal jurisdictions hosting this eminent gathering are both focused on an expanding fossil fuel future.
At an off-the-record breakfast one oilsands executive told me how climate change deniers and political strategists in the prime minister’s office spiked a proposed way forward on carbon pricing agreed to by the oil industry and the province of Alberta.
A few days after the conference, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned again, in its most strident tone ever, that man-made climate change is upon us, and the risks are increasingly clear – lack of preparedness, people and assets in harm’s way, and “triggering climate events.” I think that means big storms.
Globe presenter John Englander, the author of High Tide on Main Street, wrote about a big storm just like Hurricane Sandy a week before it happened. He was on a panel with representatives from Copenhagen and Jakarta describing the billions those cities are spending on storm-proofing after recent devastating floods. Englander, an oceanographer and former CEO of the Cousteau Society, notes that sea levels are going to rise for the next 1,000 years, possibly reaching “catastrophic” levels this century.
Peter Bakker, CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, used an equally alarming tone.
“The world is in systemic crisis,” he said. “It’s no longer enough to make incremental improvements. We need to look for radical transformation.”
He challenged businesses to take the lead, starting with better risk management. He cited car factories in Thailand on flood plains that are losing their insurance.
“The cost of not investing is higher than the cost of action. If something is inevitable, learn to love it. Financial capitalism was fine in an era of unlimited resources. That time is over. We’re out of time. We need to talk about an integrated capital management system, where you can’t build a dam without assessing financial capital, natural capital (environmental profit and loss) and social capital. In 10 years, only if you optimize all three will your financial profit be recognized. If you don’t treat the health and safety of your Bangladesh workers properly, your company will be devalued.”
Nigel Topping, executive director of CDP (U.K.), also weighed in on behalf of the earth’s eroding natural capital.
“It’s the machinery of life on earth. We don’t pay for any of it. That’s fine if it’s infinite, but now we know we’re using resources at 1.5 times the rate of replacement.”
Thankfully, Globe featured a rising tide of businesses and countries racing to adapt to the planet’s physical constraints. Last year 60% of China’s newly added electrical capacity came from wind, water and solar sources, while just 40% came from fossil fuels or nuclear power. China has already reached its 2015 target of 30% renewables in its electric power generation.
The European Union has set its top priority for economic development as resource efficiency. One session on the “sharing economy” showed how rapidly this can happen. Airbnb, the online room booking service, is adding 1,200 rooms a day to its offerings, each one generating revenue for homeowners by making more efficient use of spaces already built that are otherwise unused.
Renault has a mission to “drive circular innovation” in the spirit of a circular (versus linear take-make-waste) economy. Its plant at Choisy-le-Roi remanufactures car parts using 80% less energy, 88% less water and 92% fewer chemical products than new parts. The factory doesn’t send any waste to the landfill.
And, unlike B.C. and Canada, it probably has greenhouse gas reduction targets that it intends to meet. •
