Sunday, January 28, 2007

Davos and the colour Green

BBC Online business editor Tim Weber with his take on the bouyant enthusiasm for the climate change issue among the business elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

An excerpt:

... When hundreds of participants voted on what the world's most pressing issues were, a large majority said "climate change", and also found that the world was not ready to tackle it.

It's difficult to say what caused the change.

German supermodel Claudia Schiffer says that seeing Al Gore's film on climate change An Inconvenient Truth made her support the LOVE campaign, which hopes to do for climate change what Bono's Join Red initiative does for Aids in Africa.

Green issues for global leaders

As it happens, there are plenty of chief executives who also point to the former vice president's film as a turning point.

Others are more sober, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighting in her speech the Stern report on the economic impact of climate change, which was commissioned by the UK government.

"It's fascinating how green issues such as climate change have gone mainstream in the past six month," says Richard Punt, a managing partner at consulting firm Deloitte.

But he also has a word of caution: "I don't know whether the discussion here in Davos is actually moving forward or whether it is stagnating."

Regardless, "there is a spirit of enthusiasm across the business community, a sea change on green issues," says Daniel Esty, director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

But enthusiasm alone does not solve the problem, and the bosses know it.

"It is probably too late to counter climate change," say a number of corporate leaders.

With climate change inevitable, we have three options, they say: mitigate, adapt, or suffer.

When an environmental expert argues that we will have to face up to all three options, but that it is up to us to determine the mix, many heads in the room nod in agreement.

No comments: