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After Copenhagen: Key Questions to Answer and the Possible Way Forward

December 22, 20097:21 pm

I believe that most of us are disappointed that the Copenhagen Climate Change conference did not deliver more then the so called Copenhagen Accord.

This outcome in my opinion will have an effect on the Sustainability professional and movement as a whole.

Todays post is about the key questions everyone in the Sustainability movement now needs to be able to answer and what a possible way forward could be from my point of view. There are more questions to answer on a more detailed basis obviously but I believe everyone working or participating in the Sustainability sector will have to find answers to and draw consequences from these following questions.

Key Questions we now need to be able to answer
1) What credibility does the Sustainability movement have left now that the bare minimum consensus was reached in Copenhagen and not much to follow up on?
2) What are the next steps to tackle Climate Change? Should we just simply wait and trust in our leaders to come up with a solution? We are always saying that we have little time left to slow down Climate Change. If we will have reached the tipping point at around 2015 what will our time line be now?
3) How much do we want to rely on our politicians to get us out of this mess we are in?

The possible way forward
I am a practical and forward looking person. So what is our way forward realistically?

Lets put it this way. We have no other choice but to work constructively and with as many people as possible to find a way forward now.

Now you might say: ”Yes sure, we have done that before and it did not work.” My answer to that would be. that we have not tried hard enough. We need to do more, be louder and more professional to include as many people as possible to spread the word, make a difference and help others to be more confident to understand us better and support the Sustainability movement.

We simply have not been effective enough to work together across different professions and cultures to get through to the key decision makers that still have the last word.

Radical Activism will not help
Another aspect of our possible way forward is that radical activism will not help the progress of the Sustainability movement and the goal to slow down Climate Change. Many people I have talked to expects more radical activism now since in the the eyes of the radicals the result was an absolute disaster.

Working constructively is the only way to reach these key decision makers and nothing else. This is what we now need to figure out together over the course of the next months and then build up to the next key decision point in our quest to make the world a better place.

I am very positive about this and our future as a whole but we where unsuccessful once and we need to make sure that we are successful next time and all work together to promote Sustainability and slow down Climate Change.

Picture Credit: blue_quartz

The Result in Copenhagen

December 19, 20093:23 pm

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Todays post will be a rather short one as I am still in the States but back in the UK on Monday.

We have all been looking to Copenhagen to get a result that will change the direction our world is going at the moment with regards to Climate Change.

The reactions so far are really not good or mixed to say the least. I have summarized my opinion and some links to the most relevant reactions as I see them. This is the link to the news item on the SustainabilityForum.com:
http://www.sustainabilityforum.com/news/reactions-copenhagen-climate-change-accord

This is what I thought of the result (from my SustainabilityForum.com news post):

“This result is not good enough. We needed a result that initiated change to curb carbon emissions and showed that we as humans can work together to secure the future of us all. This has not happened and we are left with a result that does not satisfy anyone.

What are we left with now dear world leaders? As the Brazilian president Lula da Silva said yesterday. “This conference is not a game where you can hide cards up your sleeves. If we just wait until our partners place their bets and discover we will be too late, we will all be loser”. And he is absolutely right and unfortunately everyone hid their cards and did not act but rather decided to wait and do not nothing. And this leaves us with absolutely nothing. A very sad day for all Sustainability professionals and people that believe that we need to take care of our planet.”

I will post a more extensive post in the next few days but let me know what you think oif the result and how this might effect you and your outlook into the future with regards to Climate Change.

Picture Credit: aussiegall

On the Possibility that Copenhagen Fails

December 14, 20097:39 pm

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I know that this is the third Copenhagen Summit (COP15) post in the last two weeks but I feel that there is so much to say at the moment on the problems and bad news of the COP15 that now is the time to write about them.

A quote I have provided for a Sustainability / CSR newsletter today got me thinking about the effects of a possible failure of the COP15 by Monday of next week. We all do not want to think about this if we are really honest but todays news about the walk out of the developing nations during the day session is really a worrying sign in my opinion.

This is the quote is was providing to the newsletter and I would really like to hear what your view is on this:
“The current Copenhagen Summit is the pinnacle of our efforts to find a solution on how to tackle ever rising carbon emissions and the worsening effects of climate change to our ecosystem. A failure to agree on targets and future actions will not only be an opportunity lost but it will mean that the world will have to look at bilateral agreements for individual countries to take action on climate change. And bilateral agreements are not the best way to coordinate a global reduction of our emissions. They can work in some circumstances but not for something as important as climate change.
Practitioners in this field will have to take this situation into account while maneuvering these treacherous waters of Sustainability, CSR and Environmentalism. Without a global agreement the life a practitioner will not be easier after Copenhagen. Quite the opposite I am afraid.”

Do you agree with this assessment? It could be that my view is too gloomy but we need to be realistic about the results of the COP15. There is not much to progress to report after a week of negotiations. Just lots of news of problems and revelations of one kind or the other.

It will be very interesting to see how the rest of this week will turn out. I am hoping that our elected leaders will do more then just nodding heads and play nice. The gloves are off, this is what today news of the walk out has shown. Some say these are just negotiating techniques by the developing nations. If so, then fine. But once thing is clear. We need more pressure from all sorts of people and groups to change the face of our future during the cause of this week. If this is one way, then let it be so in my opinion.

Picture Credit: america.gov

The importance of the Copenhagen Summit (COP15) for Sustainability

December 8, 200912:38 pm

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I guess most of you know by now that the two-week Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change or COP15 in short has begun yesterday.

This blog post is about why this summit is so important for the concept of Sustainability and three possible impacts on Sustainability if a deal is made or not. This is purely my opinion of course, but I believe that we are at a decisive point in time now. Not only with regards to tackling Climate Change but also with regards to credibility and support for the concept of Sustainability as a whole.

Importance for Sustainability
We are living in an unsustainable way. There is enough evidence that supports this. However Climate Change is by far the biggest threat to life on this planet and to us. Climate Change is one key aspect of the concept of Sustainability. If we can stop our planet from warming then we are well on our road to living sustainable, ie. living in harmony with our planets resources and wild life. This is the definition of Sustainability if you want to dive deeper into this subject.

COP15 – At the crossroads
We have two possible roads to follow now after Copenhagen. 1) We can make a deal that will change the way we will tackle Climate Change now and in the future or 2) we will fail to make a deal and need to live with the consequences in the years to come, knowing that we could have changed something but did not manage to agree.

How the face of Sustainability can change if a deal is made:

Increased Credibility: The concept of Sustainability will have gained credibility and its critics will have sen that we can make change happen.
Sustainability Institutionalized: Possible legislation to tackle rising global temperatures that will lead to a change in our climate in the long term will have been introduced. I know that there are a lot of skeptics with regards to mandatory legislation. The reality unfortunately is that most organizations will not change their ways significantly without mandatory legislation.
Motivation: The motivation to make even more progress. A positive experience and feeling that we pulled ourselves together and got over our egos for the greater good is often underestimated and essential for future success.

What will be the impact if a deal is not made:

Believability: The Sustainability movement will have lost credibility. Maybe even beyond repair.
Encouraging the Skeptics: Climate Change skeptics and denouncers will feel encouraged and get an even larger audience despite the damning facts and science about Climate Change.
An Uncertain Future: We are in deep trouble because we have lost the biggest and best chance to change our ways of limiting our carbon emissions. Just imagine how long and how much work it took to get everyone to the COP15 and this close to agreeing a common goal. The future will be very uncertain going forwards.

This is OUR opportunity to change the way we take care of our planet and make smart climate decisions for a change. Will we choose to evolve in order to make smarter decisions for the future of our children or are we going to be the old selfish short term sighted humans that we currently are?

We have a decision to make and the time is now. And in my view this is not only about Climate Change but Sustainability as a whole.