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SINGAPORE—The
world will see a new protocol to combat global warming
two years before its scheduled passage in 2012,
according to former
US
vice president Al Gore.
Gore
urged participants of the Global Brand Forum here to
start retooling manufacturing and other activities to
halt climate change.
He
forecast “more forceful action” from governments, even
those that have been reluctant to address the problem.
Aside
from improving brand values by showing concern for the
global village, Gore said political trends show the
financial benefits of environmental reforms across
industry.
“Anticipate that governments are going to act,” said the
Oscar winner for the documentary An Inconvenient
Truth. While some polluters still wring their hands
at the cost of limiting carbon emissions, Gore said
other business leaders have shown that environmental
concern can have positive effects on the bottom line.
Norway,
he pointed out, has shown the benefits of taxing carbon
emissions. Faced with no options, that country’s oil
drillers innovated and introduced technology that has
brought that activity to zero-emission levels.
The
United States refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol
addressing the need to lower carbon-dioxide emissions,
but Gore said many state governments are acting on
climate change.
Six-hundred US cities have adopted the Kyoto protocol,
which the Bush government rejected. The country’s top 10
corporations have also issued a joint demand for
improved regulations to limit CO2 emissions.
“Political will is a renewable source,” said the
chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, who
lauded a powerful grassroots movement for pressuring
governments and industries.
“There
will soon be a new
US
president. Regardless of which party wins, there will be
change,” Gore said. “Governments around the world will
begin to act in more forceful ways.”
“I am
optimistic because politics, like climate, is nonlinear;
change is gradual but if you reach the tipping point,
change surges,” Gore said in a keynote speech that got a
standing ovation from more than 700 delegates.
Bottom
lines
Despite
what he describes as a $10-million annual lobby fund by
the world’s worst polluters, Gore says a new protocol,
tougher than the current international agreement, may be
in place by 2010. The
Kyoto
protocol provisions involve emissions up to 2012.
Gore
advised companies to invest in environmental issues as a
way of improving their brand value.
The
impact of brands, he pointed out, are to a significant
measure found in the way they make people feel.
“There
are business reasons for you to invest in the fight for
global warming,” Gore stressed, adding that he was not
asking corporations to renege on their responsibilities
to shareholders.
“My
point is, it is to your business interest to be part of
the solution,” the former US Vice President said.
There is
a growing demand for business to become a positive force
for change, Gore noted. That includes how corporations
treat their employees, the communities they do business
with, and where they get their resources. “Companies
ahead of that curve are seen as leaders, showing caring
and concern,” he added.
Changes
Quoting
scientists, Gore said failure to act on global warming
could lead to catastrophe, especially in
Asia, where the Himalayan glaciers facing life-giving rivers are
fast retreating.
In
Bangladesh alone, he pointed out, the rise of sea levels
by a meter would leave 17 million people permanent
refugees.
But Gore
said other hard cases, like China, were showing a
willingness to address climate change.
He
expressed optimism that
China
would reconcile growth demands with environmental
challenges. He said new, innovative technology would
allow the Asian giant to enjoy the high growth rates
necessary for political stability.
Environmentalists are calling for laws requiring big,
mandatory reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions, the
purchase of renewable energy by utilities and
conservation measures like higher fuel efficiency
standards.
Lawmakers have responded to this call by advocating
incentives for fuel efficiency and penalties for
laggards. Even expensive lobbies by oil cartels—with the
expected dire warnings of layoffs—have not stopped
efforts to push ahead with research and the use of
alternative fuel like ethanol.
Gore
said technological strides have made wind power
competitive with more traditional forms of harnessing
energy. Scientists are also focusing on harnessing solar
power, he added.
UN
debate
Gore’s
optimism may not be too far off the mark.
The
United Nations General Assembly recently saw its
first-ever plenary debate on climate change and UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon says the crisis is finally
receiving serious attention.
The UN
official, from
South Korea,
warned representatives: “We cannot continue with
business as usual. The time has come for decisive action
on a global scale.”
The UN
will also have a landmark event in September, where
heads of governments are expected to attend. The
international agency will also host a meeting for the
planned new convention on climate change in December and
Gore will be there to push his message.
Even US
President George Bush is setting up a framework for
countries that emit high carbon-dioxide levels, though
environmentalists fear this could be a ploy to undermine
the UN initiative.
Even
with fast changes, scientists still expect a 1.5-degree
Celsius global temperature rise, which could exact a
high price on lives and livelihoods. Scientists often
cite a 2-degree temperature rise as the point of no
return; and to forestall that, they urge a scaleback of
emissions by 2015, less than a decade down the road.
(Inday
Varona is editor in chief of the Philippine Graphic
magazine.) |
