WHAT CAN INDUSTRY DO ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?

While industries are mainly driven by the profit motive, there has been a growing inclination to look at strategies they can adopt to reduce global warming. Action improves corporate image and better aligns corporate actions with the environmental interests of owners, employees, suppliers, and customers. Action also occurs to reduce costs, increase return on investments, and to reduce dependency on uncontrollable costs.

The main strategies for industry to reduce its effect on climate change involve:

• Increase energy efficiency

• Use of renewable energies

• Use of carbon offsets.

Increased energy efficiency & climate change

For many companies, looking at more efficient usage of energy can pay off in the medium to long term; unfortunately, shareholders need to be satisfied in the short term, so regulatory intervention is often required, to encourage prudent conservation measures. However, as carbon intensity starts to show up on balance books through organizations such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, voluntary action is starting to take place.

Recently there has been a spate of companies acting to improve their energy efficiency. Possibly the most prominent of these companies is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the US, has announced specific environmental goals to reduce energy use in its stores and pressure its 60,000 suppliers in its worldwide supply chain to follow its lead. On energy efficiency, Wal-Mart wants to increase the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet by 25% over the next three years and double it within ten years, moving from 6.5 mpg. This seems an attainable goal, and by 2020, it is expected to save the company $494 million a year. The company also wants to build a store that is at least 25% more energy efficient within four years.

Use of renewable energies to reduce global warming

Renewable energies and renewable energy technologies have many advantages over their fossil fuel counterparts. These advantages include the absence of local pollution such as particulates, sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides. For the business community, the economic advantages are also becoming clearer. Numerous studies have shown that the working environment has a significant effect on workforce morale. Renewable energy solutions are a part of this, wind turbines in particular being seen by many as a potent symbol of a new modernity, where environmental considerations are taken seriously.

More directly, increasing oil and gas prices have only added to the attraction of renewable energy sources. Although most renewable energies are more expensive at current fuel prices, the difference is narrowing, and uncertainty in oil and gas markets is a factor worth considering for highly energy-intensive businesses.

Another factor affecting the uptake of renewable energies in Europe is the EU Energy Trading Scheme (ETS or EUTS). Many large businesses are fined for increases in emissions, but can sell any "excess" reductions they make.

Companies with high-profile renewable energy portfolios include an aluminum smelter (Alcan), a cement company (Lafarge), and a microchip manufacturer (Intel). Many examples of corporate leadership in this area can be found on the website of The Climate Group, an independent organization set up for promoting such action by business and government.

less use of climate control

Many offices set their air conditioning so high that some employees need to wear coats. In 2005, many Japanese businesses set their thermostats at 28 degrees celsius and wore lighter clothing, which saw a substantial drop in carbon emissions. Use less heating and cooling, while encouraging your employees to dress appropriately.

Carbon offsets and climate change

The principle of carbon offset is fairly simple: a business decides that it doesn't want to contribute further to global warming, and it has already made efforts to reduce its carbon (dioxide) emissions, so it decides to pay someone else to further reduce its net emissions by planting trees or by taking up low-carbon technologies. Every unit of carbon that is absorbed by trees -- or not emitted due to funding of renewable energy deployment – offsets the emissions from fossil fuel use. In many cases, funding of renewable energy, energy efficiency, or tree planting — particularly in developing nations — can be a relatively cheap way of making an event, project, or business "carbon neutral".

Many businesses are now looking to carbon offset all their work. An example of a business going carbon neutral is FIFA: their 2006 World Cup Final will be carbon neutral. FIFA estimate they are offsetting one hundred thousand tons of carbon dioxide created by the event, largely as a result of people traveling there. Other carbon neutral companies include the bank HSBC, the consumer staples manufacturer Annie's Homegrown, world leading society publisher Blackwell Publishing, and the publishing house New Society Publishers. The Guardian newspaper also offsets its carbon emissions resulting from international air travel.

turn off appliances over night

A walk through many offices at night will reveal that many lights, computers and electrical appliances are left on or in standby mode overnight which burns a massive amount of energy over a year and also adds many dollars to power bills. Where possible, have the last employee to leave roam the office and turn off all appliances.

flexibility for employees

Businesses can help employees to reduce greenhouse emissions in many ways:

• Allow employees to work from home and reduce commuting

• Flexible work houre ie. longer hours but work four instead of five days

• Where multiple offices exist, assign employees to the nearest office to reduce commuting.

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This information is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation. It is derivative of articles on Climate Change, Global Warming and related environmental issues at http://en.wikipedia.org