Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Why US business is greener than Trump
Print Edition
AS US President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to dismantle vital environmental protections, some of which have existed for decades, business leaders are increasingly recognizing — and acting upon — the need for environmentally sustainable policies.
Trump, who once called climate change a Chinese hoax intended to weaken the US economy, has already repealed the Stream Protection Rule, which bars coal producers from dumping waste into waterways. Next on the chopping block may be the Clean Power Plan, which limits greenhouse-gas emissions from generating plants — by far the country’s largest source of CO2 emissions — with the goal of cutting carbon pollution from the power sector to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The Trump administration has even threatened to back out of the Paris climate agreement.
A decade ago, business leaders would have largely welcomed such regressive environmental policies, which can lower costs and expand opportunities, by reducing constraints on their companies’ behavior. But today, even as markets respond bullishly to Trump’s “business-friendly” pledges — not just deregulation and tax cuts, but also a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan that would include reviving coal — business leaders have remained cautious.
In particular, they have strong reservations about a potential withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Whatever benefits could be derived from a low-regulation economy would not offset the harm of reneging on environmental commitments that are viewed as vital to American business success.
Some are already making their voices heard on the matter. Since Trump’s election, nearly 900 companies and investors, many of them American, have signed an open letter, “Business Backs Low Carbon,” calling on the administration not to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement. These companies, which include large multinationals, believe that failure to build a low-carbon economy would jeopardize America’s prosperity.
Compelling research
There is compelling recent research to support this view. This February, a study by Energy Innovation showed that elimination of the Clean Power Plan alone could cost the US$600 billion and cause 120,000 premature deaths by 2050.
By contrast, efforts to build a more sustainable economy would bring far-reaching benefits. A December 2016 report by the Risky Business Project, led by American CEOs and former municipal and federal leaders, shows that savings in fuel costs from an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 could exceed the required capital investment by US$150 billion.
Last January, the Business & Sustainable Development Commission, which I chair, estimated in its flagship report that companies could unlock US$12 trillion globally in revenue and savings by pursuing sustainable business models. Such models can also create up to 380 million jobs by 2030 in key economic sectors. In the energy sector alone, the opportunities are valued at US$4.3 trillion.
Corporate strategies are increasingly falling into line with these findings. In 2005, on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the US Gulf Coast and affected a significant regional consumer base for Walmart, the company’s then-CEO Lee Scott delivered a telling speech, entitled “Twenty-First Century Leadership,” to all company employees. Scott set significant environmental goals, as part of a broader vision for Walmart to become a more responsible corporate citizen.
Another US company, Mars, Inc, is on a similar path. A signatory of the Business Backs Low Carbon letter, Mars is working to eliminate its greenhouse-gas emissions entirely by 2040, through greater efficiency and investment in renewable energy projects like wind turbines.
But, while business leadership and collective action are needed to create a sustainable and inclusive economy (a central message of our commission’s report), the private sector cannot do it alone. Government must be an active partner, helping to scale sustainable activities by creating market conditions that spur a “race to the top” and unlock the finance needed to keep America competitive.
So it is not enough simply to oppose Trump’s environmentally damaging policies; businesses need to get his administration on their side, so that the US authorities create an environment that encourages sustainable practices. Such an environment could include carbon pricing, which a growing number of businesses are pursuing internally, and tax credits for carbon efficiency.
Trump’s own businesses have benefited from such government interventions. As the New York Times recently revealed, in 2012, Trump secured nearly US$1 million in energy-efficiency incentives and low-interest loans from New York State.
A groundswell of support from CEOs, on a nonpartisan basis, could be the key to spurring the needed action. Before the Paris climate conference, politicians knew that environmental activists wanted a deal to limit climate change; arguably, what ultimately drove them to act, however, was finding out that CEOs and boards felt the same way.
Business leaders need to show Trump that they are not cheerleaders for coal, pollution, and global warming. They are determined champions of an enlightened environmentalism that is in the interest of all their stakeholders — customers, shareholders, employees, and the communities in which they operate.
Mark Malloch Brown, a former UN deputy secretary-general and UK Foreign Office minister of state for Africa, is Chair of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission.Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2017. www.project-syndicate.org
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
