The Climate Crisis Demands Business Innovation, Not Just (Empty) Policy Pledges
Now Is the Time For Your Business to Adopt Climate Innovation and Make Your Own 'Quantum Leap'
So first, the (really) bad news:
UN Says Only a ‘Quantum Leap’ Can Keep Global Warming Goals Within Reach (Washington Post)
Or, from the NY Times, this (weirdly snarky) headline:
The U.N.’s Verdict on Climate Progress Over the Past Year: There Was None
The details?
The UN just released its annual Emissions Gap Report (pause to appreciate that reporting on the shortfall is such an routine occurrence that it has its own annual report) that says, effectively “Hey, remember all those pledges countries made that were themselves extremely contentious and hard to arrive at?
“Yeah, no one’s doing anything to meet them.”
We’re currently on pace for ~4.7 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.6-2.7 degrees Celsius) of warming by the end of the century, blowing past the current target of 1.5 degrees Celsius—the limit of what is considered bad, but not cataclysmic.
From the WaPo:
Many scientists say that the 1.5 goal — seen as a benchmark for limiting the most dire consequences of warming — has already been lost. Still, the ability to limit warming even beyond that mark is important, as cataclysms are projected to become more severe with every fractional rise in temperatures.
This shortly on the heels of two hurricanes decimating the US Southeast, record heat waves in the Middle East and massive flooding in Europe and Africa.
The Times adds this cheery tidbit:
“Theoretically, it’s still possible to stay below 1.5 degrees, but it’s not really feasible anymore,” said Christoph Bertram, an associate research professor at the University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability.
What does a 5-degree warmer world look like?
Think falling crop harvests, massive storms, sea-level rise threatening major global cities (looking at you, New York, Miami, London…) and the potential to trigger feedback loops (thawing permafrost, for example) that would release yet more carbon, raising the temperatures future, unlocking more thawing…
You get the idea: Bad.
Call For a Different Type of Action
Whenever dire news like this comes out, two things happen:
First, many people give up and tune out. The problem is massive on every dimension and doesn’t seem solvable—maybe it’s rational to just ignore it and pretend it’s not happening.
Second, people get mad at governments and call for action. This is a good thing! But even if our elected representatives listen and act—and depending on who wins the presidential election, in the US they may not—government action is slow and cumbersome.
What should be the answer?
There’s never been a time when we needed innovation at the business level more.
Think Big. Real Big.
Even just a few years ago, a marginal business change that resulted in decreasing a company’s carbon emissions by a few percent would have been enough. Your business could then have dialed down emissions a few percent each year until you got to zero (or something close to it) and, as a society, we’d have been fine. We could have tackled the problem incrementally and cheaply.
That opportunity is gone.
Now, due to our collective inaction, we need dramatic, systemic changes in the business sector. Massive shifts in processes, products and how we conduct business. Consumers are going to start demanding it and regulators will start mandating it.
Now is the time to act aggressively and pursue innovative climate solutions for your business. If you don’t act, your competitors may and overtake your business, new climate-friendly entrants will enter and steal share, or regulators will demand draconian solutions.
The good news?
Done right, climate-positive business practices and products are often cheaper than the status quo and perform better for your customers. Your company can be part of the ‘quantum leap’ the UN report calls for, while putting your business on firmer long-term footing in a changing world.
And the world is changing—as we’re seeing, it’s changing quickly. Isn’t it time for your business to get on the right side of the change?