Most corporations are primarily concerned with their bottom line. Even companies with good values must protect their interests and their profits. So at first, many corporations were less concerned with climate change than with keeping their costs down.
But now, more and more business leaders are acknowledging what economists already know: the destructive forces of climate change are bad for business. Last month, Coca-Cola joined the bandwagon. Over the past several years, unpredictable droughts and floods have affected the company’s water, sugar, and citrus supplies. Now Coke is responding by implementing water-conservation technologies.
Other big companies are also paying attention to what climate change could mean for their bottom line. Nike has seen its factories in Thailand temporarily shut down due to flooding and knows that drought could threaten its supply of cotton. The company has responded by moving toward more synthetic materials, which are less vulnerable to weather.
Governments and influential individuals are also weighing in. California billionaire Thomas Steyer is working with Michael Bloomberg and officials from the Bush and Clinton administrations to produce a report analyzing the impact of climate change on different economic sectors. And the governments of seven countries, including Britain and South Korea, have created the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.
Hopefully, these efforts will bring more attention to the harmful economic impacts of climate change. If we don’t conserve our natural resources and enact smarter energy policies worldwide, businesses and their bottom lines will ultimately suffer.
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Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change
Photo, taken February 14, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.