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You don't have the luxury of ignoring climate change. Just because Congress — and global climate summits — can't seem to prepare for climate change, doesn't mean the private sector can get away with the same. Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts. The danger signs are clear.
Yet for years, climate change has been off limits for federal policymakers, who have been rendered nearly catatonic over the unproven idea that dealing with climate change or any environmental problem would be too costly for a delicate economy. On the contrary, tackling climate change is an investment that pays off economically as well as socially.
A report from Deutsche Bank showed in 2010 that a portfolio with an overweight to climate solutions would have outperformed a benchmark portfolio over the previous 5 years, indicating that climate as an investment was "not merely an investment sector that may hold future promise; it is a sector that has already delivered and is continuing to deliver."
Moreover, not fixing the problem is quite likely to cost considerably more than addressing it. Particularly now, while there is still time for us to avert even greater damage. Companies that emit a lot of greenhouse gases should know that at some point the burgeoning impacts of climate change will prompt government to act, either at the federal or state level, or both.
This leaves business leaders with two options: wait for whatever the government does and react, or pro-actively plan for a carbon-constrained future....
