Climate change affects all of us.  The private sector can act faster than the public sector.  It shouldn't wait for legislation to force it to take action.
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By ​Sarah Stone, May 2019

Image:  Footage of walruses throwing themselves to their deaths because of overcrowding due to melting polar ice in Netflix's new series 'Our Planet' caused controversy and raised awareness of climate change.  Copyright: Netflix

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The Earth is in trouble.  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 it makes for frightening reading. Its findings paint an ominous picture of a planet that is rapidly deteriorating.   
   
The environment is facing 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.   More than 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.  

At the same time 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.  We now need to keep the temperature increase down to 1.5 degrees, the report found, 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 the years 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, a ten-fold increase in Arctic ice-free summers.  If you thought watching walruses throwing themselves off cliffs was unpleasant, just wait for what’s coming. 

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 very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide,” said the Chair of the IPBES. 

According to the world’s leading scientists and economists in order to stop the world 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.   

Photo by Giorgio Parravicini on Unsplash

​The scale of the challenge ahead of us is massive.

The only way we can do it is if we 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 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 in order 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 it will be expensive but the cost of doing nothing will be even higher.  There’s no way the kind of 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 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 degree we weren’t going to meet it.  A difficult job just became herculean.  We have 11 years left 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.  

Almost all the mechanisms that control the change we need are held by the private sector. 

CEOs and leaders of global giants have a huge amount of influence at their disposal.  They can reconsider their company's approach to carbon emissions and take significant action fast.  Implement initiatives which make obvious sense without waiting for legislation to force them to do it.     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 needs to be done to look at the carbon footprint of the whole supply chain.  
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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 the number of climate change lawsuits being brought against companies and you can expect many more.  Just as tobacco was once defeated by the courts so too will the law be used to force companies to stop destroying the planet.    The private sector can’t afford not to take action.

Trees remain the most powerful tool we have in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and we need to plant billions of them.  Photo by David Vig on Unsplash

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 it’s about looking at how your business operates and  then taking a holistic view of everything you could do to reduce your carbon footprint – both 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 policy makers in it.  Read them, and then consider which of them your business could realistically take action on.  
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Trees remain the most powerful tool we have in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  As well as ending 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 quality of the air 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 who are having 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 low carbon impact.  Chocolate sourced 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 time more greenhouse gas emissions than those reared on natural pastures. 

Fundamental changes are required to minimise the carbon emissions in the products we consume.  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 that is 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 on both suppliers and shoppers to be more efficient with food.  He’s published a package of pledges which he’s asking organisations to adopt.  Implement them.  

​Decarbonise the sources of heat in your buildings and use renewable energy to power your offices and infrastructure.  Turn down the thermostats in your buildings.  Install groundsource 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.  Not only do they guarantee you a reliable supply of clean energy for your business premises, 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 both your staff, and members of the public.  Actively phase out all non electric vehicles in your corporate fleet. 
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Invest in companies, technologies and industries like Crop One whose vertical farming system promises to revolutionise food production; Boston Metal, who have 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.

Image:  Crops grown in vertical farms require 70% less water than those grown in fields.  Vertical farming promises to transform the world's future food production.

There is no way we are going to 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.   Taking action will build trust with consumers, strengthen your brand, and help you attract and retain staff and customers alike.  ​

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 pretty serious things now to change our behaviour.” 

It’s clear legislation is on its way.  Voluntarily implementing changes to the way your business operates will give you the opportunity to do so on your terms rather than have them foisted on you and by showing leadership in your sector you will find government ministers, policy makers and key stakeholders will want to engage with you. 

Think of all the money that would save you on your public affairs bill. 

Sarah Stone is Director of Social Value creation agency Samtaler  www.samtaler.co.uk which helps businesses identify ways they can use their resources to address issues in the markets and places where they operate and create social, economic and environmental benefits for society.   

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