The burden to improve the environment will fall in part on business, which must continue to invest ever more in bettering its operations. That's because developing nations will be demanding more, populations will be growing and emission rates will be rising. The result?There's just a 5% chance of reaching the goals set by the Paris agreement, or keeping temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by mid century. That's according to a research effort published in Nature Climate Change.
“We’re closer to the margin than we think,” said Adrian Raftery, a University of Washington academic who led the research, as referenced in the Guardian. “If we want to avoid 2C, we have very little time left. The public should be very concerned.”
The university adds that the odds are 90% such temperature increases will be between 2 degrees Celsius and 4.9 degrees Celsius by 2100. The Guardian notes that technological advances will curtail carbon intensity by 90%. But that won't be enough to stay within the dimensions of the Paris accord. While China and India will make significant improvements, much of the forthcoming impact will occur in sub-Saharan African, the story says.
“Even if the 2C target isn’t met, action is very important,” said Raftery in the Guardian piece. “The more the temperature increases, the worse the impacts will be. We would warn against any tendency to use our results to say that we won’t avoid 2C, and so it’s too late to do anything. On the contrary, avoiding the higher temperature increases that our model envisages is even more important, and also requires urgent action.”
Where does business fit in?
Consider Marriott International: It is embedding climate into its goals. The chain at the moment does not price carbon but that this is now “in the conversation,” as many of its customers set carbon pricing.
It’s outlook and approach on climate change is manifesting itself on the bottom line there. For example, major conferences may send out a “request for proposal” that seek to know exactly the tack they use to address climate change and water shortages. If a particular hotel is unable to account for such things, they will get passed over.
“Customers will tell us they didn’t pick us because they didn’t have visibility into our standards,” Denise Naguid, vice president of sustainability at Marriott International said. “There is high risk if we don’t do certain things. We would lose certain business.”
How will the change in presidential administration affect the company’s environmental approach? Marriott is a global company that operates in 122 countries. “121 of them are still in the same direction,” Naguid says.
“Our constituencies have not changed,” she adds. “Our guests still have expectations and they will not make a change because of the situation in Washington. There is a heightened focus on this and business needs to step in and step up. We are right there with our peers and competitors. Our hospitality industry is working on sustainability goals and it is not changing our approach. It is disheartening but not directly impacting us.”
Furthermore, United Technologies has 330 sites around the world from which it collects data. The company has an internal environmental reporting system for such things as greenhouse gases, chemical usage, fleet emissions and energy consumption.
It has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 34% and its water consumption by 60% since 1997. And its done all that as it has grown its revenues and expanded its operations, which consist of such businesses as Carrier, Pratt & Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems.
How has it achieved this success? Through data management, corporate policies, cross divisional training, energy management and online project tracking, says Matt Pekar of United Technologies.
“Sustainability is what we do and what it is we are working on,” says Pekar. “We will keep going.”
That's key. And it is even more crucial that the global community keep it going as well.
