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8/8/2019 ClimateLeadershipDemand_Porto

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The Demand for Climate Leadership

By Christopher A. Porto

Leaders with the capability of handling the issues posed by climate change are inhigh demand. The role of these leaders will be to get climate policy passed by

government at every level of society and carbon strategies adopted by corporations so as

to manage our global greenhouse gas emissions. With strong climate leadership at thehelm, our chances of achieving the economic and environmental sustainability that we all

desire will greatly increase.

Climate Change

The evidence proving that our planet’s climate is in fact changing is overwhelming.

We have reached a point in the debate on climate change where the emphasis has shiftedfrom a position of questioning its validity to one of actually solving the problem. The

climate crisis is the first truly global issue that the human race has had to deal with as a

collective body. Although this challenge must be faced by every nation individually, theonly way to overcome it will be to come together in higher forms of organization. The

world leaders that we have elected to make decisions on our behalf must undertake awhole systems change approach to both their own country and to our global society.

By appealing to our individual and collective values, the efforts of our leaders can be

directed towards fundamentally changing our behaviors that have caused the problem in

the first place. Altering our behavior in this context means reducing the amount of

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions especially carbon dioxide that we are putting into theatmosphere as consumers, companies and governments. This is the key to stopping

climate change that must be pursued to the fullest extent within the next few years in

order to have any chance of overcoming catastrophic consequences. “According to theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Fourth Assessment Report in

2007, limiting likely average global temperature to 2.0 to 2.4°C – thought to be the

highest “safe” level – means stabilizing CO2 equivalent concentrations at 445 to 490 parts per million, which in turn requires reaching peak CO2 emissions by 2015.”1 The

world has been on the verge of environmental and economic collapse but we can

overcome this by wholeheartedly embracing a collective vision of transforming ourselves

into a low-carbon society.

Climate Leadership

The societal transformation required to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,

especially carbon dioxide, must be lead by people that have the ability to touch the hearts

and minds of their fellow citizens. Climate leaders must appeal to people’s values and

beliefs so that their actions and behaviors both individually and collectively will bealtered from the inside out. In order for leaders to consciously transform the way we treat

our environment, the way we do business, and the role of our government, they must be

able to see everything in an evolutionary context so as to envision the next logical progression forward. Even in terms of human values, the more leaders can begin to see

that the issues we are facing are fundamentally about the values that people hold, the

more they will be in a position to affect lasting change. As former Vice-President AlGore noted in his speech on TED about the climate crisis, “what’s needed really is a

1 Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment (2009). UN Environment Programme and New Energy Finance.



higher level of consciousness.”2 We need leaders that are able to facilitate the evolutionof individual consciousness and our collective culture so that the problems we are up

against may be solved from a higher level of awareness from which they were created.

As the complexity of our life conditions increase, leaders must recognize the need toevolve the social systems and structures that are in place at every level of society. We

must look towards facilitating a “gradual evolution in human institutions,”3 as noted by

President Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech citing President Kennedy.In the context of climate change, this kind of social evolution will create the forms of

governance and establish the economic markets that will be able to mitigate the causes of

catastrophic global warming. The greatest challenge throughout human history is being

presented to us in the form of climate change. We, now more than ever, need theleadership capable of brining people together in more complex forms of organization to

handle the most pressing issue of our time.

Sustainability

Becoming a sustainable, low carbon society both nationally and globally is going totake strong political and corporate leaders that are capable of seeing the economic

benefits of solving the climate crisis. As the public and private sectors begin to embracesustainability as a core value, the demand for climate leadership from the people with the power to affect larger portions of the population will only grow. Without these key

decision makers taking action, there is little hope for us making the significant cuts in

greenhouse gas emissions needed to prevent climate disaster. By convincing these leaders

that solving the environmental issues will stimulate the economy and improve their bottom-line, it will give them the motivation to make the win-win decisions that are the

key to stopping climate change.

For the most part, the solutions to the problems that we face are here. However,without full government backing and corporate buy-in of these carbon-reducing

solutions, we will make little headway towards reaching our collective vision of

economic and environmental sustainability. With increased education and awareness of the potentials of living in a low-carbon economy, the sustainable solutions will be

embraced by the masses as a profitable solution to global warming. Prior to this mass

embrace though, the government must enact more stringent climate policy and

corporations must embrace green strategies to show the rest of the population the wayforward.

Climate Policy

The political leadership at every level of society must be aligned in our collective

effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Without a full commitment by global,

national, and state governments to enact ambitious climate policy, we will have littlehope of finding the motivation to alter our individual and collective behavior.

On a global scale, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) has made significant headway over the years in outlining the greenhouse gasemissions targets and market-based mechanisms needed to solve the climate crisis. This

can be seen with the introduction of emissions trading (known as the ‘carbon market’),

the clean development mechanism (CDM) and joint implementation (JI) by the Kyoto

2Gore, Al. TED Blog. 08 April 2008, <blog.ted.com/2008/04/new_thinking_on.php>

3Obama, Barack. Nobel Prize Speech. 10 Dec 2009, <www.cfr.org/publication/20946>



Protocol in 1997.4 However, the limitations of our global governing structures have beenmade evident with the difficulties encountered in trying to enforce or finance these

ambitious goals. With the unspectacular results of the recent Conference of Parties

Fifteen (COP15) in Copenhagen, there is still a significant amount of work to do in order to enact a fair and binding treaty that holds all nations including the United Sates to

greenhouse gas reduction targets. Time is running out for our global climate leaders to

enact an ambitious protocol with the power to regulate global emissions. The climateleaders of the world must come together to show the world’s community that our

governments are truly committed to solving the climate crisis.

The United States government under the leadership of the Obama Administration has

made significant progress on the climate change issues over the past year. However, therehas yet to be any significant climate policy passed by Congress that would fundamentally

alter the way we run our country or conduct business. The American Reinvestment and

Recovery Act of 2009 has made it clear that President Obama is committed to moving ustowards a low-carbon economy. Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is widely

recognized as the key to solving the climate crisis but it is being increasingly accepted as

the key driver that will stimulate our economy and create green jobs for thousands of Americans. These benefits must be made more explicit using measurable evidence so that

the leadership of our country can be persuaded to become climate leaders committed toreducing emissions not only for our own benefit but also for the world at large.

Two of the largest initiatives that need to be pursued by climate policy makers in the

United States are a federally mandated cap and trade system and a full adoption of green

building standards. By incorporating the financial markets, cap and trade systems provide

an efficient way to encourage businesses to reduce their emissions. These types of,“programs create a financial incentive for emissions reductions by assigning a cost to

polluting.”5 Placing both a ceiling on the maximum amount of emissions and setting up

the market mechanisms by which corporations can buy and sell their allowances, givesmanagement a more autonomous way to strategically handle their effects on the

environment. Unlike the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the United

States has yet to establish a federally mandated cap and trade program for carbon dioxideemissions. Despite a few regional programs setting standards in different parts of the

country, Congress must establish a nationally recognized cap on carbon emissions that

would allow a market price on this greenhouse gas to be widely accepted. This would be

a key step towards reducing our nation-wide carbon emissions and would induce businesses to use the carbon market as a way to strategically lower their own carbon

output.

Buildings in the United States both commercial and residential account for about 35%of our total greenhouse gas emissions.6 This is the single largest area of the economy that

can be targeted as a way to reduce our emissions, stimulate the economy, and create new

green jobs. With organizations such as the U.S. Green Building Council being established

in recent years, there has been a push to have all new construction and building retrofits be completed using sustainable design and green building principles that reduce the

impact on the environment. The LEED certification program of the USBGC has been at

the forefront of rating and regulating buildings with nationally recognized standards. 7 As

4 Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto Mechanisms. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

<http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php>5

Liddell, Alice. Cap and Trade: Background and Basics. ICF International- Green Business.6 Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges. 2008. Commission of Environmental Cooperation.

7U.S. Green Building Council. LEED Certification and Rating System. <www.usbgc.org>



these standards and rating systems start to be adopted by the residential sector, there will be huge opportunities for public policy to use this as a way to capture economic and

environmental benefits. In response to this recognized potential, the Obama

Administration recently put out their ‘Recovery through Retrofit’8 plan that outlines theneed for increased information, financing options, and job opportunities that will promote

the emergence of a new ‘retrofitting’ industry. By having Congress put in place

legislation that establishes subsidy programs, tax incentives, and industry-wideregulation, the government can spur on greater investment in renewable energies and

energy efficient programs that will be the key drivers in moving us towards a low-carbon

economy and enabling us to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Carbon Strategy

Public and private corporations have in recent years been awakening to their socialand environmental responsibilities as key stakeholders in our country and planet. The

triple bottom line approach to doing business where the company’s concerns rest not only

with making a profit but also with the well being of their people and the environment inwhich they operate is gaining increasing acceptance as the set standard. This shift

towards stakeholder capitalism, as opposed to the shareholder capitalism that has causedmany of the environmental problems that we are currently facing, will lay the foundationfor corporations adopting strategies that are geared towards doing good for the

environment and society while at the same time earning a healthy profit. This is the

essence of any corporate sustainability program but as the opportunities and risks of

managing corporate carbon emissions increases so will the complexity of green strategiesdesigned to maximize stakeholder value into the future.

Green corporate strategy is fundamentally about managing, reducing, and offsetting

carbon emissions towards becoming a carbon neutral company. “Carbon neutral is a termused to signify that a set of activities has no net carbon emissions.”9 To achieve this, a

corporation must first complete a complex evaluation of their operation to measure their

carbon footprint or sum total of their emissions. Once these figures have been generated,senior management will be able to formulate an action plan to undergo preliminary

carbon reducing initiatives. This could take on the form of energy efficiency

improvements to their office space for example or any other effort to reduce emissions

throughout their value chain. The corporate leadership will then strategize about how theremaining emissions can be counterbalanced so as to achieve the goal of carbon

neutrality. Investing in renewable energies or carbon offsetting projects are the two most

common approaches to balancing a corporations carbon footprint beyond their initialreductions.

There are numerous opportunities for corporations to reduce their emissions by

investing in “renewable energy sources including solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, and

geothermal as well as ‘clean’ energy sources including [hydrogen] fuel cells.”10 With thehelp of green strategists, these businesses can take advantage of these investments along

with government incentives, tax benefits, and energy grid ties to maximize their return.

As green power technologies continue to evolve, the opportunities for corporations tocreate systemic solutions that would offset their carbon emissions will be endless. For

8 Recovery Through Retrofit . 2009. Middle Class Task Force Council on Environmental Quality.

9Buchwalter, Sarah. Carbon Neutrality: The Journey to Zero Emissions. ICF International- Green Business.

10 Green Technology. 2007. World Resources Institute- Green Power Market Development Group.

<www.thegreenpowergroup.org/>



example, a corporation could invest in a water electrolysis hydrogen fuel cell for their office building that would use electricity generated by solar panels installed on the roof to

split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. This chemical reaction would generate

an enormous amount of electricity that can be either stored or used to run their facilitieswith zero carbon emissions. The by-product of this reaction would be clean water heated

at 158 degrees Fahrenheit that could then be used throughout the building instead of a

water heating system. This company could also offer hydrogen powered company carsthat would be recharged using the main power source of the building. When not in use,

these vehicles would have the added capability of generating their own power that can be

transferred back to the building with the excess being sold to the smart electrical grid for

a new source of company income.11 Carbon offsetting is another area of green strategy that will begin to play more

and more of a crucial role in corporate operations. Companies can invest in projects

found around the world that “lead to the destruction of greenhouse gas emissions, the prevention of their release into the atmosphere or the sequestration of carbon dioxide.”12

These projects come in various forms and are purchased for either compliance or

voluntary reasons. The most desirable types of carbon offsetting include energyefficiency, wind power, and methane capturing projects. The management of and

investment in these types of offsetting projects is exactly the type of climate leadershiprequired by the private sector in order for the world at large to meet its greenhouse gasemissions reduction targets. As this becomes a standard practice, it will prove to be one

of the largest catalysts in reducing harmful emissions and producing the gases such as

oxygen needed for our global ecosystem to thrive. As can be seen in the growing trend

economic and environmental integration, carbon management strategy will be afundamental requirement for the business world as we progress into the twenty first

century.

Green Consultants

In order to meet the challenges posed by climate change, the leadership at every levelof society must work to get public policy passed and corporate strategies in place that

will work in tandem to reverse the causes of global warming. Green consultants to the

climate leaders, corporations, and governments will play a most crucial role in this

endeavor. It will be their work to make sure that both the public and private sector issteered in the right direction to achieve our collective mission of economic and

environmental sustainability. As facilitators of change, educators of the people, and

advocates to those making the decisions, green consultants will be in a unique position todevelop the climate leaders that are in such high demand.

11Lovins, Amory. 2009. Fuel Cells for All: How to create a hydrogen economy in four easy steps. Ode Magazine,.

12Carbon Offsetting Trends Survey. 2008. EcoSecurities and CliamteBiz.

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