Why the private sector holds the key to climate change
We need to keep the temperature increase down to 1.5 degrees if we want to have a planet our children can live on.
Photo By: Markus Spiske on Unsplash
The private sector can act faster than the public sector
The influential UN body, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), has just published the first detailed examination of the state of our planet’s biodiversity since 2005. It is the work of over 400 experts from over 50 countries and makes for frightening reading. Its findings paint an ominous picture of a planet that is rapidly deteriorating.
The environment faces a greater threat now than at any time in human history. Human activity has resulted in the severe alteration of more than 75% of Earth’s land areas. Over 1 million species of plants and animals are facing extinction. Over half a million land species have ‘insufficient habitat for long-term survival and will be extinct within decades unless their habitats are restored. 66% of the oceans which cover most of the planet’s surface have suffered significant human impacts, and there are more than 400 so-called ‘dead zones’ where virtually no life survives.
The planet is getting hotter
Multiple, independently observed data sets tell us it’s happening quickly, and it’s happening now. Since 1979 the rate of warming has roughly doubled, and the 20 warmest years on record have occurred during the last 22 years.
In October 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced that its previous target, set at Kyoto in 1997, of ensuring that average global temperatures do not exceed 2 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures wasn’t going to be enough. The report found that we need to keep the temperature increase down to 1.5 degrees if we want to have a planet our children can live on.
Given that the Earth is already 1 degree warmer than it was during 1850 -1900, that doesn’t give us much room for manoeuvre. If we carry on the way we are, the planet will be 3-5 degrees hotter by the end of the century. That might not sound like much, but a temperature rise of even half a degree would be catastrophic. Sea levels will rise, ocean temperatures and acidity will increase, and our ability to grow essential crops, such as rice, maize and wheat, will be in danger. Heat waves, increased water scarcity, a total wipe-out of the world’s coral reefs, species loss, and a ten-fold increase in Arctic ice-free summers. If you thought watching walruses throwing themselves off cliffs were unpleasant, just wait for what’s coming.
Trees remain the most powerful tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash
We are consuming the world’s resources and polluting the planet at an unsustainable rate
The causes and contributors of reduced biodiversity and climate change are multiple and complex, but the evidence (and there is a wealth of it) is clear that they are all man-made. Deforestation, agricultural and manufacturing processes, pollution.
“We are eroding the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide. ”
According to the world’s leading scientists and economists, to stop the world from warming up by more than 1.5 degrees, we need to cut carbon pollution by 45% by 2030 and get it down to Net Zero by 2050. 2030 is just 11 years away. After that, it will be too late.
The scale of the challenge ahead is massive
The only way we can do it is to make unprecedented changes in all aspects of society – especially in key sectors such as land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities. We need to end deforestation and plant billions of trees to absorb carbon in the atmosphere; drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels and phase out coal altogether; ramp up the installation of wind and solar power; invest in climate-friendly sustainable agriculture, and consider new technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
Massive funding and policy initiatives will be required to force necessary changes in consumer behaviour and stimulate new technologies. The way we live our lives must change significantly. It will be painful and expensive, but the cost of doing nothing will be even higher. There’s no way the systemic, large-scale industrial, and sector-wide change we need can be done without government intervention, but we can’t, and mustn’t, leave it all to the government. This requires urgent action from all of us.
We will fail if we leave it to Governments to take action on their own
It has been 22 years since the world’s governments first committed to meeting the 2-degree target at Kyoto. Even before we reduced that target to 1.5 degrees, we weren’t going to meet it. A difficult job just became herculean. We have 11 years to make the changes we need to save the world. It took the IPCC 3 years just to write their report. Intergovernmental bodies are slow; geopolitics gets in the way of progress, and policy-making and implementation take time the planet doesn’t have.
The private sector holds almost all the mechanisms that control the change we need
CEOs and leaders of global giants have a huge amount of influence. They can reconsider their company's approach to carbon emissions and take significant action fast. Implement initiatives that make obvious sense without waiting for legislation to force them. Some multinational companies are taking action, but we need to go further, faster. Bosch has committed to investing billions to ensure it becomes carbon neutral by 2020, but whilst energy efficiency and renewable energy consumption are important, more must be done to look at the carbon footprint of the whole supply chain.
It is what consumers want. Multiple studies show that consumers will have a more positive image of a company that supports social or environmental issues, will be more loyal to that company, and will be more likely to trust and buy from that company. There’s also the risk of a lawsuit. There has been a recent surge in climate change lawsuits against companies, and you can expect many more. Just as the courts defeated tobacco, so will the law be used to force companies to stop destroying the planet. The private sector can’t afford to take action.
So what can individual companies do to address climate change?
Well, a lot depends on what your business does. Putting aside those who belong to the key carbon-emitting industries is about looking at how your business operates and then taking a holistic view of everything you could do to reduce your carbon footprint – directly in terms of the carbon you consume and indirectly via your supply chain. Every single one of those reports that are issued by government bodies has ideas for policymakers in it. Read them, and then consider which of them your business could realistically take action on.
Trees remain the most powerful tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. To end deforestation, we need to plant billions of them. If you own land and property in the UK, get the Woodland Trust to help you plant trees around your offices, factories, shops and business premises. Not only will you be helping remove carbon from the atmosphere you will also be improving the air quality in the place where your business is located – making life better and healthier for your staff and customers. If your business operations are global, support social enterprises like One Tree Planted, which have a transformational impact in regions that have been badly impacted by deforestation.
Reduce the amount of meat and meat-related products you sell and supply. Have entirely meat-free days in your canteens. There is a massive variation in the environmental impact of the same food. Make sure your catering suppliers source food which has a low carbon impact. Chocolate from a deforested rainforest emits more carbon than a serving of low-impact beef. Beef cattle raised on land which was previously forests emits 12 times more greenhouse gas emissions than those reared on natural pastures.
Fundamental changes are required to minimise the carbon emissions in our products. Work with organisations like the Carbon Trust to reduce the carbon footprint of your supply chain.
Commercial recycling rates are still low. Work with charities like WasteAid and Wrap to improve your commercial recycling rate. Take action to reduce food waste – almost a quarter of the 10 million tonnes of food wasted in the UK each year comes from business. The UK government’s food surplus and waste champion, Ben Elliot, is leading an initiative calling suppliers and shoppers to be more efficient with food. He’s published a package of pledges that he’s asking organisations to adopt. Implement them.
Decarbonise the heat sources in your buildings and use renewable energy to power your offices and infrastructure. Turn down the thermostats in your buildings. Install ground source heat pumps. Put solar panels on your roofs and install battery storage to reduce your need for energy from the grid. Corporate Power Purchase Agreements guarantee a reliable supply of clean energy for your business, and they are being offered by renewable energy companies like Vattenfall in smaller and more accessible amounts. Buy them. They guarantee a reliable supply of clean energy for your business premises, and they also enable you to fix the price of your energy for up to 20 years out, saving you money in the long run. The UK’s national electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure isn’t as developed as it needs to be. Install EV charging points in your car parks, and make them available to your staff and public members. Actively phase out all non-electric vehicles in your corporate fleet.
Invest in companies, technologies and industries like Crop One, whose vertical farming system promises to revolutionise food production; Boston Metal, which has developed technology to electrify steelmaking and reduce carbon emissions in the process; and Eastman who are pioneering a chemical recycling process which returns old plastic into its original, virgin components.
There is no way we will be able to achieve the changes we need to make in the time we need to make them without the private sector stepping up
As well as helping ensure the survival of the only planet we can live on the commercial benefits are clear. Action will build consumer trust, strengthen your brand, and help attract and retain staff and customers.
It will also help you get ahead of the legislation which is coming. The UK Government has said it is "on a path to become the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to global warming entirely".
Ben Elliot, the Government’s waste tsar, told the BBC’s Today Programme on 13th May 2019, “The Government [is asking business to] pledge to commit to reducing [their] food waste by half by 2030.…. If organisations [don’t] do it, then we will advise Government to make it a mandatory thing…..We need to do some serious things to change our behaviour.”
Its clear legislation is on its way. Implementing changes to your business will allow you to do so on your terms rather than have them foisted on you. You will find that government ministers, policymakers, and key stakeholders want to engage with you by showing leadership in your sector.
Think of all the money that would save you on your public affairs bill.
How we can help
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