Of all the groups necessary in the effort to craft a diverse and effective solution to climate change, some of the most important players belong to private industry.
Big business, especially oil and energy companies, carry a notorious image of being power and money hungry, without regard to the environmental or social impacts of their actions. Thankfully, however, this fact appears to be fading.
In a recent Corporate Social Responsibility Survey by the RSM Erasmus University in Rotterdam, more than 200 companies in Europe have ranked climate change as their fourth most important consideration.
This is an improvement from the same survey conducted five years ago, when climate change was considered to be the eighth most important issue.
Additionally, last week, I had the opportunity of listening to Curtis Frasier (Vice President for the Americas for Shell) speak about the many technologies that Shell is investing in besides the behemoth of a money maker that is oil.
These examples provide hope that climate change is becoming important enough of an issue that everybody will contribute to finding a solution.
Even though the survey only included businesses in a predominantly liberal Europe �" an area that is traditionally more environmentally friendly than the rest of the world, the trend of the increasing importance of climate change is encouraging.
Businesses, of course, are an important component of the climate change solution. Corporations, especially oil conglomerates, possess significant resources and subsequent abilities to play a significant role in championing new technologies as well as controlling demand of products.
More importantly, corporations have an incentive in innovating renewable energy sources.
Because public perception is very quickly accepting climate change as a real problem, a company that can produce an environmentally friendly product will not only gain customers through the appearance of being socially responsible, but also a competitive advantage in creating that product first.
Therefore, it makes sense for a company to invest in environmentally friendly products.
Another important component is political cooperation.
Climate change, sadly, has become a controversial political issue divided by party lines. But similar to the corporate world, the tide is slowly turning in the political arena.
Two weeks ago, republican Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida held a two day summit where important political figures gathered to discuss climate change action.
In a state that voted for George W. Bush the past two presidential elections, one might expect Crist’s compassion for a traditionally Democratic issue to be political suicide.
However, Crist enjoys a 70 percent approval rating, the highest out of any major state governor. The important point is that even Republicans are beginning to take initiative to combat climate change.
This is very important because any viable action against climate change needs to include both Republicans and Democrats.
Climate change is an immensely complex issue. It is nice, however, to see signs of cooperation popping up everywhere.
Only through these relationships and combined efforts will a climate crisis be solved.
Reach the columnist at: uven.chong@asu.edu.
