zonzoo Blog

Stop the Horse Trading Over Climate Protection

Today I was a panellist at a seminar on Cleantech issues and how they would affect business post the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

I was the guest of the law firm Charles Russell and the focus was on how the European Union will react to the hopes and ambitions which came out of Copenhagen. More particularly, will current and future carbon reduction measures be an additional driver to innovation and the development of new technologies, or just another load of paperwork resulting in increased regulatory compliance cost?

But this platform also gave me an opportunity to voice my opinion that when it comes to climate protection, we have to stop horse trading and playing short term political games. We have to stand tall and agree a definite global emissions cap.

If we did this, then the targets would be met and in all probability, global warning would be limited to two degrees Celsius, which is far safer than the current direction we’re heading in.

And this depends on a high degree of fairness when it comes to distributing emissions levels amongst countries. And I feel a simple way would be to evenly distribute these rights to each person on the planet; for example, two tons per person per year.

Some people debate whether it is short sightedness in humans, or short sightedness in institutions and companies, that feed the environmental crisis, and at the same time the economic crisis.

I believe it is the lack of collective will in humans, institutions, companies and governments that feed the present crisis. And I do believe it is exactly that, a crisis,  needing strong coordinated action and leadership, on all levels, from all levels, to collectively change the situation of our planet by cutting emissions from greenhouse gases by 50% below the 1990 level by at least 2050.

But to reach that target requires a concerted effort.

As well as policy makers and governments needing to see this as a negotiating battlefield, individuals also have to act appropriately.

As much as we look for leadership and guidance from our governments, we cannot duck the responsibility of taking action within our own lives. The collective benefits of doing so are huge. This may be cutting our own energy consumptions, turning the lights in our houses off when not in use, changing to renewable energy, recycling according to best practice, driving only when needed rather than out of laziness. Whatever the variety of self help that we can do, we must stop talking and start doing them. It is no use saying, “…I will do this and that…” We must change our actions and mind-sets to say, “…I did, and I am doing this and that…”

Our environmental mission as individuals must be to become carbon free. And to coincide with this, policy makers regulating the top end industries and institutions have to be doing their bit and severely lowering their emissions.

This does not mean we cannot grow globally. We must however decouple the relationship between economic growth and emissions. In the last 150 years, labour productivity has risen faster than energy productivity. We must reverse this relationship as there is no reason why economies should be dependent on increased energy use to grow.

27th January 2010

Colin Armstrong-Bell
CEO