Bonn talks are a recipe for inaction
Last week, UN representatives (not leaders, though) met in Bonn to progress the on-going climate change talks that will culminate in the Copenhagen conference at the end of this year. If members of the business community were hoping to derive guidance from the political arena, they got it, but not in the way that they might have thought and certainly not the guidance that the educated majority were hopeful would emerge.
Despite the weight of scientific evidence that has been published, argued over and finally accepted as valid, the push from Bonn centred on further discussions and horse-trading over offsetting. This is akin to swapping ‘employee of the month’ stars whilst the store burns to the ground around you – you might buy everyone’s stars, but you’re still history and if there is no-one left to write a good word about you, what is the point; better to get together and unfurl the fire hose!
The issues that need to be addressed by those who claim to represent us are simple; we need to reduce our reliance on, and usage of, carbon-based fuels, we need to act more sustainably in order to reduce the very real and predicted impact of accelerating climate change on the planet and our ability to survive and thrive in the changed environment and we need to put our hands in our pocket and get actively involved in helping the developing nations execute their development in a sustainable way, using our experience to help them leapfrog the mistakes we have made in the developed world in the field of carbon use/abuse.
Failure to address these issues in a pragmatic fashion has consequences for the business community globally and no amount of carbon-offsetting can detract from this reality. The biggest disappointment is that most of the global business community is still using the political arena as an excuse not to act (with a few memorable and laudable exceptions) and a small sector of the business community is rubbing its hands with glee at the prospect of what will probably eventually come out of Copenhagen at the end of the year; yes, the carbon traders can look forward to substantial bonuses over the coming years and will likely be plucking away at diamond encrusted-fiddles as Rome burns in the years to come.
So, are there heroes at a time like this? Well, the political arena appears somewhat bereft of one at the moment. Most of us have high hopes for Obama but he’s fighting for his life at the moment, being branded a Nazi by his own electorate for trying to bring in healthcare that is free at the point of care. Until Clinton turned his Foundation into a gentleman’s smoking club (the list of the Foundation’s achievements is hardly inspiring) and he starting spending more time embarrassing his wife by centre-staging rescues of young ladies from the Far East, we thought he might be the hero of the hour.
No heroes in the political corridors, then. There are some, though, and they can be found in the commercial sector. People like Bob Hertzberg (financier), Andrew Kimbrell (lawyer), Ken Yeang (architect); even Leonardo DiCaprio (actor) is making inroads into social and business conscience… and there hundreds more of these heroes.
There are people that the business community can look to, get guidance from and whose paths they can follow to a sound commercial future that does not burn every bridge… you just need to look further than the political conferences and perhaps divert the attention of your political lobbyists away from the false promise inherent in offsetting and redirect it to the business case for action on sustainability.
