Climate Action 2010-2011
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Finance and Markets<br />
Bold new business models need to be created to meet the complex and interlinked challenges of resource scarcity.<br />
© iStockphoto<br />
Malini Mehra<br />
Founder of the Centre for Social Markets (CSM)<br />
Why business is buzzing<br />
on climate change<br />
Setting tighter carbon emissions, leading the switch<br />
to low-carbon energies and anticipating future<br />
climate change legislation – some of the world’s biggest<br />
businesses are not only engaging with the issue of<br />
climate change but are increasingly leading the way<br />
in implementing low-carbon solutions across their<br />
operations. For Malini Mehra, business has moved<br />
from bystander to trendsetter on sustainability and<br />
climate change.<br />
With the advent of ‘green giants’ such as Walmart,<br />
Unilever and Marks & Spencer taking the lead on<br />
sustainability, what would once have been regarded as<br />
wishful thinking is now taking place. Business, long<br />
criticised for standing on the sidelines of the debate has<br />
now entered the fray as a vocal advocate for action on<br />
climate change.<br />
In the last two years we have seen the rise of global<br />
business summits on climate change – firstly in<br />
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Copenhagen and now in Mexico City. ‘<strong>Climate</strong> Week’<br />
in September in New York brought together powerful<br />
business leaders, government officials and others in<br />
an exploration of the subject ‘<strong>Climate</strong> Innovation =<br />
Commercial Opportunity’.<br />
Speaking at the launch of a major global report on<br />
corporate climate leadership, Dennis Nally, global<br />
chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said,<br />
“As companies evaluate sustainability trends – such<br />
as competition for natural resources, economic<br />
globalisation and climate change – the likely outcome is<br />
a fundamental shift in business strategy ...We are finding<br />
that leaders in this area design corporate-level objectives<br />
to aggressively pursue growth while simultaneously<br />
reducing emissions.”<br />
The <strong>2010</strong> Global 500* Report and leadership index<br />
issued by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and PwC<br />
found that carbon management is becoming a strategic<br />
business priority and competitive driver for the largest<br />
www.climateactionprogramme.org
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