By Tracy Lewis, Managing Director
“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” JFK
Well – how apt!
Lockdown may have stopped us in our tracks again, but the climate crisis rages on. A recent report stated that global average temperatures are expected to increase between 1.5 and 5 degrees Celsius relative to today in many locations by 2050. A rather shocking, but not surprising, statistic. It is widely recognised that climate action failure and infectious diseases are the biggest global risk, something which the World Economic Forum has acknowledged in its recent visualisation
Given this understanding, what continues to shock is the apathy in too many businesses to mitigate this extreme risk. I am sure we are all familiar with the “we don’t have the budget” phrase. Whilst there is recognition that something needs to change, when it comes to budget cuts it is all too often the budget associated with energy and sustainability projects that is removed. This is extremely short-sighted, costly and frankly alarming and reckless.
So why does this happen? More and more companies are making sustainability pledges. Some do this well and live by the pledge they make. For others this is a pledge made in the Annual Report, but not something which is driven into the hearts and minds of employees and other stakeholders. Those that hold the budgets are often intransigent in their thinking because for them “good performance” is coming in on budget with very little emphasis on how the re-allocation of funds could bring greater savings and ultimately improve the environmental and social impact of their activities. Have businesses shown the same apathy to risks such as cyber threats? The answer is no and yet, even though the climate crisis is not an invisible threat, with the effects having already been felt by so many, not enough direct action is being taken.
Our desire is to make 2021 the year of climate action for our clients. The time has to be now. Make a start. Understand the journey and no matter where you are on that path, take the next step. Make a simple pledge. We will always be there to help and guide businesses along the way.
Until the next time, stay safe and remember – the climate crisis cannot be cured with a vaccine!
