How ESTIEMers can contribute to the fight against global warming and why it can work
Written by Eleonora Nazander and Philipp Ellett
Have you noticed the recent campaign against single-use plastics and, in particular, plastic straws? In response to rising public concerns, a big American coffee retailer announced in July 2018 it would eliminate the use of plastic straws from its stores. Yet, soon it was revealed that with the new no-straw lids, its consumption of plastic would only increase. Such marketing strategies, also called “Greenwashing”, are commonly used by companies wishing to appeal to eco-conscious consumers. Their claims are often obscure, unproven or purely misleading. In this article, we aim to expose some of the most common misconceptions and show you how personal choices matter.
Climate change and its effects is a a global issue of increasing concern. The Paris Conference (COP21) in 2015 was a milestone towards a strong-willed climate change mitigation strategy. At the COP21, the world community decided to set the goal of significantly reducing the worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, in order to limit global warming to max 2ºC. Today, there is a widespread consensus that humankind must limit the amount of carbon extracted from the Earth´s fossil resources and released into the atmosphere.
CO₂ accounts for about three quarters of the global GHG emissions mainly from fossil fuel combustion (coal, oil and gas). Besides CO₂, there is a number of other GHG’s: Methane from animal manure, Nitrous Oxide ( N₂O) from fertilized agricultural soils ( not to be confused with the irritant gas, NOx) and HFCs/PFCs used as refrigerants in air conditioners and aerosol sprays. PFCs were successfully reduced in the 1990’s due to an effective worldwide policy to protect the ozone layer. This precedent shows that a
global consent towards environmental protection is possible.
In spite of earlier success with aerosols, the current approach to fight climate change has been ineffective so far and the GHG emissions continue to rise. There is no clear worldwide strategy on how to change this and tackle all the other sustainability issues like bio-diversity, deforestation, and destruction of ecosystems.
“Fortunately, consumer awareness of the climate change has been rising.”
Besides the commonly reported issues of path-dependency, vested interests and short-term orientation,
here are some of the occasionally overseen reasons why we are seeing such poor results when it comes to saving the climate:
- Industrialised countries come up with rules and regulations incompatible with consumer needs.
Many of well-intended restrictions have unwanted consequences for people’s everyday lives. Examples range from a ban on handy and practical plastic bags to not being able to buy a car of desire. In a free market (and a free world), those non-green yet practical or enjoyable products often find myriads of followers. Ideally, regulators should focus their attention on fostering innovations and smart systemic solutions rather than simply banning certain products and technologies. - Many products have high hidden emissions, which are often obscure or shifted to other parts of the world.
Many people love steaks, yet, such pleasures come at a high price: where do the soybeans we feed the cows come from? How was the land they grow on been cleared? It could have been by fire perhaps, and may have released a century-old carbon sink, but this emission would have been unknown to you. Likewise, it is appealing to drive an electric car, but where does the electricity come from? How much energy did it cost to produce the car’s battery? Where from and under what social circumstances were its building materials extracted? - Individuals follow the wrong strategy to minimise their personal impact.
Fortunately, consumer awareness of the climate change has been rising. However, we are often provided with misleading information on what it means to be eco-friendly (just recall Starbucks’ greenwashing campaign). If you are looking to make an impact, don’t blindly follow what marketers say. Instead, collect information, compare the choice and make some focused personal decisions that can actually move the needle in the fight against climate change.
So, what can you as a person and a professional do to reduce GHG? The graph below will help to answer this question.
You might find information on the graph surprising. No worries: you are not alone.
Let’s take a closer look at several common misconceptions about carbon footprint:
Myth 1: Unplug electronic devices. In reality, modern electronic devices have negligible standby power due to regulations introduced in most developed countries in 2010.
Myth 2: Drive electric. As was discussed above, if you charge the car with electricity generated with coal, it is no better than a modern diesel car. Full product life-cycle needs to be taken into account to assess its footprint — especially for the impacts which go beyond GHG. However, in some cases (short distances, small batteries, country with green electricity) electric cars are clearly superior.
Myth 3: Biodegradable plastic. In reality, as biodegradable plastic decomposes, it releases methane, which has a 28–36 time higher global warming impact than CO₂.
Myth 4: Behaving sustainably is easy. Unfortunately, it is not so easy. Reaching real sustainability (or, to consider just one of it’s aspects: avoiding GHG emissions) is extremely complex and many good decisions cause unwanted effects of higher order somewhere where they are not seen or taken care of. We have mentioned the example of the electric car which might unintendedly run on coal power. But there many more examples: Eating apples from your country is a good idea — if it´s the right time of the season. In early summer however, when the last harvest is months ago, you are in fact better off eating a (ship-transported) apple from New Zealand — because it hasn’t been stored in an air-conditioned warehouse for almost one year.
Myth 5: “I can’t change the world anyway”. Yes, you can! Your choices and your money decides what companies offer, what products are been developed and what directions governments are pursuing. So take a little step, take a little responsibility and convince others to do the same. The key is however to convince modestly — not instructive. Conviction can only come intrinsically. And: it is a good idea to be a good role model and know which action has what effect. Giving yourself a “green” attitude and image alone does not suffice. For example, it helps only little to cycle to work and buy organic food, if you fly overseas on holiday every year.
Diet has been a subject of many debates. While eating meat is deeply engraved in our cultures and lifestyle, we must not close our eyes for the inconvenient truth: food is responsible for 17–32% of all carbon emissions. Eating less meat, especially less beef can make a big contribution to your GHG balance. Having said that, a balanced nutrient-rich diet is important for human health. Sugary snacks and fats provide ‘cheapest’ calories for the planet, yet their excessive consumption can hardly benefit your long-term well-being.
Besides these ideas for your personal life, each of you, ESTIEMers, will have a chance to make an even greater effect once you enter the professional life. Decisions you will make during your career (e.g. as a manager in a multi-national company) can have a bigger impact than any personal decision. You might be choosing between a cheaper or a more sustainable supplier, deciding whether to sell your products or services to a corporation with dubious practices, or making a call on whether a new factory in a remote developing country will be run on coal or renewable fuels.
Today, many companies still think of sustainability as an expense. When faced with the choices in the previous paragraph, they will go for options more profitable short-term and then hide behind unfounded ‘greenwashing’ marketing campaigns. Don’t make this mistake. In our globalised and connected world, lies are revealed with the speed of light. A global paper company might want to save money by burning coal in its Chinese factory, yet, its European customer will find out the truth, causing an irreversible damage to its reputation and loss of sales. As consumers are increasingly conscious about the environment, regulators are waking up as well. Sustainability is already a source of competitive advantage. Soon, it will be the only feasible way to run the businesses.
As ESTIEMers, we are educated to understand the science of climate change and are able to make the connections to the business world. We believe in your ability to make the right personal choices and to drive the change in your professional lives.
Sources:
Originally published at http://estiemblog.azurewebsites.net on May 14, 2019.
