29 Apr Call to action for Australian businesses

More than 450 delegates from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) met this week in Montreux Switzerland to develop emissions reduction targets that will be announced in Paris in December this year. Representatives from companies worldwide attended with a notable exception- Australia.

Delegates met to discuss 7 key themes- renewable energy, forests, agriculture, carbon capture and storage, biofuels, energy efficient buildings and materials- under the new Low Carbon Technologies Partnerships Initiative. Increasing numbers of businesses in Europe are seeing that they must be part of the climate change solution, are accepting the science and see the business opportunities that are arising from positive action on climate change. They also know that they can’t wait for Governments to act.

The WBCSD is considering targets that are indeed consistent with meeting the international goal of limiting global warming to 2°C and could achieve 3 Gigatonnes (3 billion tonnes) of emissions reductions by 2030. In order to achieve such dramatic reductions, barriers to greater market penetration of renewable energy (including regulatory barriers) will need to be addressed.

The WBCSD Low Carbon Technologies Partnership initiative shows that leading companies worldwide are willing to move on climate change and won’t wait for Governments to act. From the perspective of Australian businesses, it is reasonable to ask what their absence from this roundtable may mean. Australia may be geographically distant from many countries, however the question should be asked as to whether Australian businesses (and the Government) can afford not to be part of the climate change conversation. I think that if we are honest with ourselves, the answer to that question would be fairly obvious.

See more information here

If you are the owner of an Australian business and believe you should be part of the climate change conversation, or know someone who is, please share this with as many of your social media contacts or with as many of your fellow business owners as possible via Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter and start a conversation.