While US president Barack Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao battled it out over emissions targets this past week - Yes, we can! Oh, no, we can't - the chairman of Combat Climate Change, a business coalition sporting members like BP, General Electric, Siemens and HP, called for a little less conversation and a little more action, please. Lars Josefsson said business was ready to act, but not without binding legislation.
It highlights a theme dominating events in the run-up to the Copenhagen Summit in December, where policymakers from 192 countries will hammer out the successor to Kyoto; that of leadership.
As the world faces a crisis unparalleled in its recent history, uncertainty clouds issues of global and national governance. Wars, famine, genocide, natural disasters - all these have a shade of familiarity partially diminishing their terror, a sense of, 'we've been here before'. But accelerating planetary-wide change on an environmental, social, and economical level? Unprecedented; for several million years at least.
While our brains struggle against the enormity of the task, the world's leaders have consistently failed to outline and implement a binding framework on emissions. Of course, there is merit in individual change, but problems affecting the planet on this scale require decisive, detailed and committed direction.
And this extends to the industries that make the world go round - the corporate sector responsible for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Twin influences
The traditional model will have to submit to a new master: corporate sustainability.
Lezette Engelbrecht, junior copy editor, ITWeb
The end of the decade sees a convergence of two major issues, the next chapter of the climate framework and the worst economic turmoil seen in years. But along with it comes the twin faces of business: risk and opportunity, which may just provide the impetus for a complete market overhaul.
Political leaders may be making the rules next month, but the game will be played out daily in the world's boardrooms, offices and shop floors. And this means the traditional model of quick profits and shareholder reward will have to submit to a new master: corporate sustainability.
In recent years there's been some progress on the corporate sustainability front, with several big-league organisations making more than a token effort to incorporate it across their operations.
Then came The Recession, with business leaders facing a crippled economy, dwindling sales and lay-offs. In this scenario, short-term fixes to stem financial haemorrhaging often trumped long-term changes that would transform organisations from the ground up.
An Economist report reveals two-thirds of companies polled agreed the current economic situation resulted in environmental issues dropping down their 'to do' lists. And herein lies the problem; sustainability cannot be seen as an exclusively 'environmental' concern, it must become an overarching strategy carried through from design to development to delivery.
Going forward, the corporate world will have to rethink its game plan; considering both the ravages of the downturn and potentially strict new limits on production, operation, and disposal.
And sustainability's draw card is exactly that it promises to both green practices and the bottom line. Trimming energy use, streamlining waste, and rethinking product design all contribute to the dual rewards of environmental and financial continuity.
First steps
Increasingly, businesses are catching on, and employing the very players once regarded as meddlers or overbearing finger-pointers, as helpmates. A Verdantix survey released last week named the World Wildlife Fund as one of the top NGOs advising UK firms on environmental issues. Some 57% of respondents intend to introduce NGO-related activities on climate change adaptation in 2010, compared to just 40% in 2009.
But as a certain frog knows, it ain't easy being green, and shareholders may be sceptical at first, balking at the thought of exhaustive energy audits or complex new strategies. But the payback is huge, and innovative thinking goes a long way.
Take the repositioning of General Electric, which was transformed by its CEO Jeffrey Immelt's vision and now plans its 'Ecomagination' environmental solutions programme to bring in revenue of $25 billion by 2010. Or Sony's Tokyo headquarters, which lowered carbon emissions by 70% by using heat from a nearby sewage treatment plant. Or telepresence technologies that allow global counterparts to hold meetings in real-time without having to leave the office.
Then there's the company that built an empire on forward thinking. Google's RE<C concept involves developing renewable energies that are cheaper than coal, while it has also set up a 1.6MW solar installation at its California headquarters and given $1 million in grants towards plug-in vehicles.
Sustainability shakes loose the very principles business is built on. There's more room for collaboration and community involvement, and it's about finding solutions rather than single-minded self-enrichment. The Carbon Disclosure Project has companies actually publicising how wasteful or efficient they are, by revealing their GHG emissions and strategies for change.
Given the likely effect Copenhagen will have on business, whether direct or indirect, some enterprising groups have rallied to create opportunities for corporates to get talking. Initiatives such as Climate Spark will gather financial gurus and industry's bright minds during evening sessions at the conference, to brainstorm a way forward.
After making these first steps, many businesses will look to the Copenhagen Summit to provide a compass as they embark on the long journey towards true corporate sustainability. But given the uncertainty of a decisive outcome, business cannot depend on policy alone. As Spanish poet Antonio Machado writes, there is no path; paths are made by walking.
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