🌍 The business case for the planet. 🌪 Recent storm damage in North Carolina and Florida will cost around $100-200bn. Climate change will make such costs more frequent and ever larger. 💵 These bills can be paid whenever they arise, including by providers of finance and insurance, or they can be mitigated by investment in decarbonising the economy. Either way, sustainability is an economic issue, creating risks for business resilience and opportunities from innovation. ✒ In this opinion piece, published in the Financial Times today, I argue that the business case for decarbonising arises because a sustainable economy is more valuable than one heading for collapse. 💥 Global economic activity has reached a scale where a stable climate and an abundance of natural resources can no longer be taken for granted. Climate change is only one of nine “planetary boundaries” that economic activity cannot sustainably exceed. Others include biodiversity loss, water use, change in land use and pollution. 🥇 Successful, valuable companies of the future will be those that respond to these challenges of sustainability. https://on.ft.com/4gWS3Hs Soumitra Dutta Juliane Reinecke Mary Johnstone-Louis Paul Polman Robert Eccles Peter Tufano Arunma (AEEM) Oteh Anette Mikes Amir Amel-Zadeh Rupert Younger Rasha Saїd Professor Mette Morsing Cameron Hepburn Dieter Helm Ben Caldecott Matt Scott Kaya Axelsson Ngaire Woods Arlo Brady Simon Learmount Gillian Tett Pim Valdre Harriet Waters Julie Baddeley Helen Slinger Nigel Topping, CMG Marcelo Behar Charmian (Char) Love Katell. Le Goulven, PhD André Hoffmann Knut Haanaes Prof. Dr. Rodney Irwin Paul Dickinson David Shukman Caty Batten Kat Bruce Peter Easton Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Catherine Perry
1mo
Great article. In particular, a single sentence 'Disruption of systems can have widespread consequences, many of them not immediately apparent,' immediately makes me think of tipping points that have been 'activated' via rapid climate change throughout geological history on numerous occasions, each time to the detriment of life on this planet. Economic stability, business profits, etc are all under threat with this new climate volatility we've created.
YES, Richard Barker! "a sustainable economy is more valuable than one heading for collapse" and I'd argue that "Successful, valuable companies of the future will be those that" prepare and make change now, given the inevitable challenges of sustainability. This is exactly why I focus so much of my advising and media/content work on the incredible Climate Influence opportunity in food systems shift - and how those leaders who have or are making changes in their food policies and in their own lives are the ones with stories we need to hear more of. Give us transparency and honesty in how you are making changes (!), inspire your peers and competitors, and be the CEO or founder, etc. who boldly makes this a bit more personal. Climate covering journalists, too, are looking for stories of authentic, bold shift - so stick your noses out, get more visible/public about personal climate values - and, when you are ready, your examples can shift our world quickly.
Rose S.
2mo
This post - about a debate over insurance payouts versus investment in mitigation and adaptation - is an easy way to publicly stand for something relatively non-controversial.
Richard Barker I very much look forward to reading your Financial Times article on such an important topic and given your wealth of experience. Well done on the pioneering work you and your colleagues at International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) have done in such a short time.
So true and the financial auditors are assessing climate action and climate change resiliency now more than ever. Good article, thanks for sharing
Marcelo Behar
2mo
Very good article setting well the future pathways for drama or tragedy without having to name them, Richard! Just by connecting the dots between how we produce, finance and determine risks. Once global full accounting make the dots into a line, the pathways will be clear.
Excellent piece. Thank you Richard for making the case so clear and compelling.
Thanks Richard for your article -- to the point and very clear -- all the more important that the first scenario already seems unlikely.
Jenni Rose
2mo
This is brilliantly explained. I’ll definitely use this in my teaching!
technology, ecology
2moI only got as far as the 2nd paragraph - we've already blazed past 1.5 degrees; the last 12 months were 1.64 degrees above pre-industrial levels. We *may* dip below 1.5 for a few months, but as far as I'm aware, every credible climate scientist now regards 1.5 degrees as a missed target. If you want to build a business case, surely you need to start with acknowledging that we have systemically - and catastrophically - failed to meet the 1.5 target?