By – Olusegun Ehinfun
Greta Thornberg, Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate change advocate and other climate activists have changed the game on climate change. There exists an inter generational challenge, which was clearly seen played out at the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos, Switzerland, through the dueling and varying approaches between President Donald Trump and the Swedish Climate Change Activist and campaigner Greta Thornberg.
Runaway climate change affects everyone. However, it is going to impact younger people and those living in developing economies (in the Global South) much more, in the years to come. Although, other developing countries (China, India) are making a lot of progress in their attempts to really care about Global Warming and Climate Change, relative to a decade ago, it is still not enough. It is a fact that developed nations in the West and the USA & China are historically the largest emitters and polluters of the climate. It must be acknowledged that, in the West (and increasingly more so in China), the private sector, municipal governments & regional governments are (progressively) at the forefront of reducing emissions.
However, to solve this challenge a more collaborative approach is required by the more developed economies; and the emerging market ones must also be amenable to radical, bold proposals. Emerging and frontiers market economies must also be treated as veritable and long-term partners in the evolution of green & climate change policies. Developing countries also ought to get on board with sustainable and concrete actions through a public- private sector partnerships (PPP) model. (To tackle climate change, developing countries have to get on board)
Concrete Actions
People who are in their teens like Greta Thornberg, Vanessa Nakate and the young population living especially in developing economies of the emerging and frontiers markets, are going to be disproportionately affected by the externalities associated with Climate Change and especially global Warming. They have been successful in their advocacy efforts to encourage movements towards better ‘green policies’ so far. However, this needs to be translated into concrete actions. For instance, in Wales, the appointment of the first ‘Future Generations Commissioner’ (the first in the world), Ms. Sophie Howe, with statutory powers to represent the ‘unborn’ citizens of Wales is a ground-breaking development. Canada, Israel and Hungary are other countries trying to adopt this model. (Meet the world’s first ‘minister for future generations’)
However, on the governance and policy levels, it is important that all the stakeholders – the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [the United Nations – UN], multilateral development, trade and economic bodies/ groupings, and the World Economic Forum (WEF 2020) – discuss solutions to climate change in a holistic manner. To this end, the private sector (with various proposed partnerships with third party Organisations popping up here and there) are ‘seeing the light’.
It is also noteworthy that Multinational companies (MNCs), Investment Banks (BlackRock, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs – BlackRock C.E.O. Larry Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance) and even Oil companies (Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron- Texaco), Tech Firms (especially Microsoft – Microsoft will be carbon negative by 2030) have all undertaken to be carbon negative by a certain period. Laudable. Wise. Perhaps strategic in the short term, however it must be sustainable in order for it not to be perceived as ‘greenwashing’. The ‘kids’ are ahead of the ‘adults’ in this regard.
For instance, Starbucks is aiming to make its packaging reusable and invest in better waste-management, as part of the company’s latest plan to become more environmentally friendly. (Starbucks is looking into alternative dairy as a way to reduce its carbon footprint). This efforts of Starbucks in looking into alternative dairy as a way to reduce its carbon footprint is commendable and perhaps impactful in the short run. However, the model has to be modified and fine-tuned to deliver a holistic and more sustainable solutions.
Public-Private Sector Partnerships (PPP), Participation & Investments
Getting Business and citizens together, in moderate, thoughtful discussions, and partnerships helps get the needed financing, goodwill and political will to solve the climate emergency.
It is the investments in research and development, in Green energy innovations, that are driven (coupled with) in part by a well-regulated market economy, which can enable the world to create the science that will ultimately help us to prevent dangerous and debilitating climate change.
To this end, it is important that a proper market economy ought to be able to evolve and capture the costs of externalities (when businesses have a negative or deleterious effects on the future). Policy action plans, which currently does not have the costing and estimation of risks are not in place in most countries. There is an absence of holistic policies for the efficient taxation of aviation fuel, and a lack of efficient ways/methods of really taxing carbon and pollution/pollutants. Costs which are actually passed unto the consumers, as ‘Air Passenger Duties’, really inefficient and are lumpy ways of implementing a sustainable emissions management system.
Actually, there exists an opportunity to genuinely harness market forces also, in order to make businesses pay for the costs of the afore-mentioned externalities. Consequently, this would enable the efficient dealing – among countries, multilateral bodies/groupings) – with climate change issues, effectively. This would enable the current generation not to pass on undue risks to future generations.
Risks & Challenges
We are getting to the stage where catastrophic climate change is doing almost irreparable damage, as evidenced by the recent Australian Wild fires, the February 2020 heavy flooding in the UK: These are externalities that are hard to prevent and reverse entirely in a short-to-medium span of time. It will be a long, grinding, difficult and persistent process. The various attempts by the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to keep climate change at under one and a half degrees (1.5*) of temperature rising is looking incredibly difficult, according to respected climate scientists.
Solutions
The Challenge has to be confronted head-on, through various innovations of the science of green energy, climate carbon capture and storage, proven (unproven) innovations around geo-engineering solutions. Not to mention the immensely helpful policy of planting over 350 million trees by the government and Prime Minister of Ethiopia in a day. Ethiopia ‘plants more than 350 million trees’ in one day
A lot of culture change has to be encouraged, lifestyle changes and new habits ingrained. With regard to sustainable green practices, this culture has to be imbibed and learned by whole segments of populations across the world. Heating sources in the developed and underdeveloped economies will be modernized, travel habits have to probably change over a period of time o and concrete solutions via cleaner innovations will have to be scaled to a wider population around the world.
The Governments of the world, in terms of emplacing effective regulations and private sector business participation, all have to think about the long- term consequences of their collective decisions. In sum, they all need to harness government resources, business forces, 3rd part & community organisations, market forces, the investment economy, community and societal goodwill and sustainable concrete actions in order to make a step-change and radical progress at tackling climate change effectively.
One of the most vital solutions advocated by the former Treasury Secretary of the United States, and Professor at Harvard University, Lawrence (Larry) H. Summers involves carbon pricing and the removal of subsidies by governments around the world. Climate comes into focus at Davos He believes that the climate discussions at the WEF, Davos in 2020 betrayed a total avoidance of the problem. He said this during a panel discussion on Bloomberg TV, when asked if private investments could make the difference in climate change. He averred;
“I think most of what you heard (at Davos) is a pretty total avoidance of the real problem, and if this kind of thing is the focus, the problem is going to get worse. Three things need to happen, if the world is going to make progress (on climate) none of which was mentioned by any of those people (the participants at Davos).” He continues, (1.) “We need to scale back the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on fossil fuels, and fossil fuels subsidies; we (also) need to have governments (around the world) stop subsidising fossil fuels, and their ability, and their use. (2.) We need much more invested by governments in clean energies, and the way governments need to get revenues to make that investment is by levying taxes and having the people of such organizations represented … (at Davos), paying more taxes, and (however) none of them are willing to say that. They will all say how they’ve got a ‘Chief Green Officer’, and how they are using solar powered plants (fixing solar something or other on their roof) rather than recognise that they needed to pay more taxes.
(3.) The third thing is we need to tax things that are bad. Right now we have a world that are more oriented towards taxing things that are good, like work and savings; and we need to tax the things that are bad. Like putting emissions into the air. So as long as the word, tax and subsidies are outside the conversation, and it’s all just (that) we will feel better if we do this, the world’s not going to make progress in solving this problem. (Especially) regarding the President (Trump) not withstanding (with regard to emissions). The idea is that in the 20 or 30 years we are supposed to get the (current) levels of emissions to zero. We haven’t even achieved the modest goal of stopping emissions from growing year after year. So we need to get serious, not rhetorical about this.”
At Davos, analysts were palpably surprised that one of the issues that did not even make it unto the agenda was carbon pricing. Often, most economists would posit on ways of putting a price on emissions. Across governmental levels however, international climate change experts and national economic policy planners are having a big debate about carbon pricing and carbon tax.
Larry Summers believes that:
“With carbon pricing, there’s a different way of doing it: You can sell the rights to emit and government can collect the revenues that way, either way we need the government doing something that puts the price of carbon substantially higher. And as long as the United States doesn’t increase gasoline taxes from where they were a generation ago, then we are fundamentally not serious as a country on this issue and it doesn’t matter much what Larry thinks or says in a letter to the corporations.”
Therein lies the challenge for advocates of market-based solutions on climate change policy. How to balance the demanding needs of growth (even) within western economies, and especially the developing economies of emerging market countries, which are largely heavily dependent on the burning of fossil fuels, thereby most susceptible to undercutting the climate targets set at international forums of the UN and other multilateral bodies or COP conferences. President Macron of France found out all too well after he implemented onerous carbon taxing/pricing measures, ultimately led to months of intense riots and protests by the gilets jaune. This is a generational challenge that has to be tackled with bold, new, innovative and radical solutions. Globally, the young are no longer waiting for the ‘men in suits’. Who are the gilets jaune and what do they want? (Who are the gilets jaunes and what do they want?)
Olusegun Ehinfun
Olusegun Ehinfun is a management consultant with Global Business Dynamics Consultancy and the author of : ‘Oil & Water: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – An Elixir for solving societal challenges.’
He can be reached on: @globalbizdynam1
olusegunehinfun@globalbusinessdynamics.com
Sources:
- To tackle climate change, developing countries have to get on board. Emerging economies need to be treated as partners for real progress be made in curbing global emission. Majid Jafar – To tackle climate change, developing countries have to get on board
- Meet the World’s First Minister for Future Generations. By Oliver Balch, 2 March 2019. Meet the world’s first ‘minister for future generations’
- DEALBOOK|| BlackRock C.E.O. Larry ‘Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance.’ In his influential annual letter to chief executives, Mr. Fink said his firm would avoid investments in companies that “present a high sustainability-related risk.” BlackRock C.E.O. Larry Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance
- Microsoft Will be Carbon Negative by 2030, Jan 16, 2020 Brad Smith – President Microsoft will be carbon negative by 2030
- Starbucks is aiming to make its packaging reusable and invest in better waste-management, as part of the company’s latest plan to become more environmentally friendly. Ethiopia ‘plants more than 350 million trees’ in one day, By Samuel Osborne, The Independent; 29 July, 2019. Ethiopia ‘plants more than 350 million trees’ in one day
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