Low Carbon Life

national | environment | other press Thursday March 22, 2007 11:50 by maire - CHASE

climate change

Low Carbon Life.

“low carbon” life will require changes in how we live. It will require a shift in public consciousness, as well as a willingness to do without conveniences that may now seem essential. Energy inefficiency and waste are so woven into the fabric of life that it is both very easy for some and very hard for others to change.
The business of climate change will create demand for innovation, and will change and reshape markets immediately. Investors will be asking questions to identify companies that will succeed or fail in an environment of increased climate change risk.

Our government’s policy of commercially burning our waste by incineration, will fail in an environment of increased climate change risk.
Questions that will have to be asked by everyone including investors, and that includes the government:-.
Has the company been evaluated to operate in a regulatory environment , where greenhouse gas emissions are restricted?
If not, when is regulation expected?
Has the company’s top management acknowledged that climate change is a fact and a risk?
Has the state and management assessed the link between climate change and its business?
Does the company track indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the use of its products and its supply chain? Has this been evaluated by the EPA and the state.
If we are really honest about the hierarchy of the management of our waste with prevention first, then reuse, recycle, and reduce, with finally incineration and landfill at the bottom, and if we succeed in this aim, we must have diminishing supply chain, over the life time of this industry 20 to 30 years. .

If we don’t have incineration as a policy, or can have a moratorium for 10 years we will have the competitive advantage on a warming planet. For instance insurance, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, property and tourism industries have special risks because of their dependence on the physical environment.

With so much alerting information, we will be held accountable in the future.