It has been considered “the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced” and regarded as a “global emergency that beyond national borders.”
Regardless of one’s opinions on the subject, academic research, international summits, and catastrophic weather events nearly daily generate headlines concerning climate change and its consequences on the world we live in.
The creator of the CDP, a non-profit organization formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, pondered on the occasionally contentious nature of the debate around our planet and its future in a recent interview with CNBC’s “Sustainable Future.”
Speaking to CNBC’s Tania Bryer, Paul Dickinson referenced what he called “a sort of anti-climate change movement that is predicated simply on people believing it’s a sort of left-wing plot.”
“The truth is we’re now realizing that this is about everybody,” he said. “This is not a party political issue.”
Dickinson’s case will resonate with individuals who consider climate change to be a significant issue a position that, it would seem, is held by many.
According to the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics, for example, in Oct. 2021 three quarters of adults in Britain described themselves as being “either very or somewhat worried about the impact of climate change.” By contrast, 19% “were neither worried nor unworried.”
In the United States, a 2020 report from the Pew Research Center found that “broad majorities of the public including more than half of Republicans and overwhelming shares of Democrats say they would favor a range of initiatives to reduce the impacts of climate change.”
The Pew poll identified common concerns, but it also offered a glimpse of how discrepancies might occasionally be observed along party lines.
“Much larger shares of Democrats and those who lean toward the Democratic Party than Republicans and Republican leaners say human activity is contributing a great deal to climate change (72% vs. 22%),” it noted.
Making money
The CDP was established in 2000. It says it provides businesses, regions, cities and states with a platform to “report information on their climate, deforestation and water security impacts.”
The CDP’s Dickinson also discussed the role large business may play in combating climate change and responding to other urgent concerns, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, during his interview with CNBC.
“We need to recognize that global corporations have reached such a size and such an importance that … with their leadership on climate change and in their response to Ukraine, they can provide global norms of behavior that will protect public populations,” he said.
On how he would advise firms looking to reduce their emissions, Dickinson said they should “do more, do it now, and try and own this.”
“Climate change is like the internet,” he continued. “It gets bigger every year, it never goes away, and you have to learn to make money from it.”
With many companies not to mention households beginning to feel the pinch of rising energy bills, Dickinson went on to sketch out a scenario in which a firm’s approach to energy use would be crucial.
“Energy is expensive it’s actually getting more expensive,” he said. “And as governments respond, there will be increasing taxation and regulation of energy.”
“A bit like the cost of cigarettes, let’s just imagine that energy is going to get more and more expensive … until it’s renewable,” he said.
“In that journey, there is only upside for any company that looks at increasing its energy efficiency, reducing the energy in its products and services.”
The gains for a business could be “absolutely enormous” he went on to state. “In every single sector and category, companies, I believe, can win market share and increase margin by focusing on energy efficiency.”
