Is the business community at an inflexion point?

The audience was captivated as Leo Johnson, Partner of PwC’s Sustainability and Climate Change team, spoke at the Chamber Sustainable Development & Corporate Responsibility Seminar on 9^th December.  The question he posed was where does business stand following the global financial crisis, in the midst of recession and faced with the daunting challenges posed by climate change. 

Leo presented a powerful case that “the background narratives that business has relied on for so long are beginning to look a little less grand.”  In reality, he believes, the world stands between an economic system that in many ways was good, but does not quite work, and a new economic system that does not yet quite exist. 

Since the industrial revolution business has been very successful in achieving growth, but at what cost?  The economic signals begin to look very different when the true costs of carbon emissions are internalised into the products being produced and this is likely to happen more as systems of carbon taxation are introduced as a result of international agreements to reduce emissions.

The finance industry is facing a major inflexion point - will excessive regulation resulting from recent past events seriously restrict what is a vital and necessary global industry or will the power of finance be harnessed to affect change for the good.  There is a great opportunity, and need, for the finance sector to develop vehicles that will help deliver the goal of de-carbonising the global economy and Jersey, potentially, has all the right ingredients to become a centre of excellence in this field.

Perhaps the most striking moment came when Leo posed four possible scenarios to the audience regarding possible future climate outcomes:

1)      Business as usual with an unrelenting growth in emissions

2)      A ‘green’ new deal which results in lower emissions from de-carbonising

3)      A catastrophic climate event that results in collapsed economies and therefore reduced emissions

4)      A series of geo-engineering solutions that result in reduced global temperatures 

When he asked the audience to vote on what they thought was a realistic outcome, not one person thought it was going to be 'business as usual'.

How can we ensure that Jersey is able to take advantage of this opportunity, bring a new area of business to our major industry and enhance our international reputation at the same time?

James Godfrey

Sustainable Business Forum