Planet under Pressure

ECONOMIC LESSONS
with funding going toward things that
line up with our sustainability ambitions.
However, we need to be careful about
trying to remove, in one step, aspects
of our society that we don’t necessarily
agree with. The standard punching bag
for many is the airline industry, which
isn’t really that fair – their proportion
of global emissions is actually not that
enormous. WBCSD does not have any
airline members, so I’m not defending
the airline industry, but the global airline
industry employs about three and a half
million people and represents two or
three percentage points of global GDP.
I think we need to focus on generating
demand in service of our sustainability
goals, rather than destroying where we
don’t think it aligns. It would be cleverer
to link the outcome of what we were
working on to the kinds of things that
are required right now, like recovery,
stability, jobs, etc.
Maja Göpel: Julian, you put your finger
exactly on the wound: There is something
like a license to operate if business
practice is not helping us deliver on the
needs of the people in a sustainable way,
but increases the risks. We cannot say:
We can’t touch them. That is a failure
of the state, and I think it’s really helpful
to look at what Franklin Roosevelt
put forward in his New Deal: The state
needs to stop a race to the bottom and
thus support that the pioneers can up
the level of how business is performing
and not the laggards.
When I listen to European Commissioner Frans
Timmermans, the cure seems very clear: We invest
the money in climate-sensitive technologies,
in the Green Deal, and this will give us in Europe
a competitive advantage. That all sounds too
good. Pietro, does CDP share this view?
Pietro Bertazzi: I am glad that you
mentioned Timmermans because I was
thinking about referring to his recent
statements, where he talked about linking
the recovery to the European Green
Concretely,
we want to
see companies
that have been
beneficiaries
of economic
recovery
policies to
commit to
low-carbon
transition
plans.
Pietro Bertazzi
”
Deal. He was actually trying to push
environmental safeguards and the environmental
agenda forwards. Because
at the same time, some business associations
have been trying to push back on
this environmental agenda to put the
economic recovery in front. I fully agree
with Maja that we should be thinking
long-term, but unfortunately I believe at
the moment the thinking is still shortterm.
And that’s because we are governed
by fear. During the pandemic, which in
some sense is very similar to a war – you
try to fix just what you see in front of
you.
We do have a wish list at CDP, and of
course it won’t be a surprise to you that
we want to see the economic recovery
be linked to the climate agenda. We
believe in just transitions, and so all
industries should be helped and get recovery
support if the recovery package
is linked to long-term environmental
and climate goals. Concretely, we want
to see companies that have been beneficiaries
of economic recovery policies to
commit to low-carbon transition plans.
The second thing that we would like to
see is getting companies prepared for
the environmental and climate crisis.
How can we do that? We recommend
disclosure aligned with the TCFD recommendations,
which help companies
make assessments about the risks that
climate change poses to financial stability.
Emily, we talked a lot about the recovery of
the economy, but what about the recovery of
communities? >>
Global Goals Yearbook 2020
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