I was right earlier on when I stated that it was up to us after the Lima Minima. Companies, cities and communities need to act on climate change and luckily they do as the United Nations reported recently.
Here is what the press release had to say about this :
Initiatives by non-state actors to cut greenhouse gas emissions are becoming increasingly significant in fighting climate change, and could bring savings of close to 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) in 2020, according to a new study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
With the emission reduction impact of companies likely to reach 0.63 GtCO2e by 2020, phasing out inefficient lighting could save 0.05 GtCO2e in 2020 and initiatives by cities 1.08 GtCO2e in 2020.
The report, titled ‘Climate Commitments of Subnational Actors and Business’, looked at 15 major initiatives in the areas of cities, regions, business and sectors – such as energy efficiency, methane, agriculture and finance.
It finds that 180 initiatives, involving more than 20,000 participating organizations, were in place by April 2015, indicating even greater potential for emission cuts beyond those assessed. A significant number of these initiatives were launched at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in September, last year.
What a relief to know that climate change is being handled more and more by “non state” actors who see the benefits of energy efficiency and renewables. They see there a great opportunity to cut costs, improve their triple bottom line – Planet, People, Profit – improve their relations with local communities and so on and so forth.
One just had to read about the GE, Dupont, 3M of the world that cutting energy consumption and going sustainable is not only common sense but great business sense.
I have published recently articles on how large multinational companies like Ikea, Adidas, or Harley Davidson are putting huge amounts of money in such alternatives sources of energy or Corporate Social Responsibility. This is only the beginning.