Legislation is not the (only) answer
Speaking recently at Sustainabilitylive!, Vanessa Harvard-Williams, global head of environment with legal firm Linklaters, discussed the 2020 and 2050 targets of reducing carbon emissions by (eventually) 80% and stated that she wants to see governments cascade their commitments down as hard regulations in order to help business.
Whilst this is not an unsurprising statement coming from a lawyer, especially one whose bread and butter future income will be derived from charging clients to challenge the application of any future such legislation, there are a few obvious flaws with her argument.
Firstly, the patent inability of governments (of all colours and across the globe) to agree to any commitments in a tangible, measurable and, more importantly, accountable fashion, makes this whole idea less than a workable proposition. Earlier this year we witnessed Gordon Brown hosting a summit that theoretically delivered further commitments from world leaders which, in fact, turned out to be a bit of a superficial show to parade the outcome of many months of horse trading between nations, the outcome of which is yet to be seen in action from any government, not just that of the UK.
With the Copenhagen Climate Conference due in December, we hope desperately that some of the earlier platitudes will be turned into real commitments that can be measured and that governments can be held accountable for delivering – and that Ms Harvard-Williams can hang her professional hat on – but I’m not convinced, based on the track record of governments to date.
Secondly, all these commitments are based on achieving, ultimately, a carbon emissions reduction of 80% by 2050. Unfortunately, if you care to read all the sound science and the less than positive predictions made by recognised and respected experts in this field, assuming that the target is reached (and it’s a BIG assume based on governments’ track records to date), it’ll still be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s a bit like enacting a law that requires sufficient lifeboats to accommodate all passengers whilst the Titanic is starting to sink – a bit late, really!
And finally, beating the business sector with yet more (environmental) sticks has already been proven to be an ineffective means of creating positive change; otherwise, why has there been such an exponential growth in the environmental consultancy and law sectors? The nature of the beast is that if you legislate it into a corner, it will eventually turn on you and, in the meantime, you will see an increase in things like illegal fly-tipping (to avoid paying disposal taxes).
It is an avoidance of responsibility (likely very welcome in some quarters) and a blatant abdication or responsibility to rely on governments to legislate us out of the environmental crisis we are facing - and the more we give in to waiting for someone else to do something, the sooner we will lose our ability to do business, not just sustainably, but practically and profitably. At a time when governments need desperately to generate revenue to pay off their gigantic national debt, don’t give them the excuse to use carbon reduction to do it with.
