Are we solving the climate change puzzle?
Yes we will solve this, but we need more than band-aid solutions!
We are less than a month away from the historic COP26 and there has never been more momentum on the push to address climate change, from individuals to corporations. Change is in the air. But how are we going to solve this climate change puzzle?
We can’t solve a problem unless we understand how we got here in the first place
Our quick reflex to problems is cookie cutter solutions. Do you have a headache? Pop a pill. How about asking yourself why you have the headache in the first place? Can you fix the underlying reasons that caused the headache. When it comes to climate change, we cannot move forward unless we trace our steps back! And with utmost honesty and sincerity!
Except for a few deniers here and there, everyone agrees that humanity will be impacted by the impacts of climate change; from potential food shortages to sea level rises. This is a wicked problem and like all wicked problems, it is complex and convoluted. The good news is that it is possible to solve. But we need to take a systems approach to understand the drivers behind climate change and we need to identify all levers of change. And we need everyone in this.
There is an enormous push to achieve net-zero and this sounds like our way out. Is it?
Here is some of the jargon you are likely to read in the news:
“Net-zero”
“Carbon neutral”
“Zero-carbon”
“Climate-friendly pledge”
Please don’t pledge. Just do it!
Pledges are great, but it doesn’t mean concrete and done action. In my sustainability marketing class, I ask my students to research and contrast a select company’s “sustainability achievements” and “pledges”. Students are always almost astonished to find more pledges than achievements. Truth: lipservice is easier than action!
Pick any company’s sustainability report and skim through it. You would be surprised to read the “pledges”, the promise of an action in the distant future, ranked against today’s initiatives, for which no one is really accountable for. The idea of a pledge is encouraging, but needs some healthy skepticism-depending on who is doing it.
Who really knows what net-zero is?
There is a race across several industries to address climate change and their solutions to it. And this is absolutely a positive step in the right direction. But what does it mean to be “net-zero”?
Net-zero means a company is to achieve balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out. One of the benefits of this initiative is, it obligates the companies to calculate their output. This is absolutely great. Many companies identify areas where they can achieve emission reductions, increase efficiency in their processes and switch to renewable energy. In the event that they cannot reduce the emissions (as is most cases), they rely on carbon credits, reforestation projects or simply solutions that are not necessarily integrated into the strategy of the core product or company.
I believe this is a flawed system that shifts our attention away from the solution and sugarcoats the problem. You cannot pollute and get away with it just because you are doing some good. This, my friend, is the old way of thinking of “doing good” and in my book, it is no different than “the pesticide company that poisons the farmers then invests in community health”. How you earn your money needs to be aligned with how you spend it. And the net-zero problem is no different. Furthermore, the web of systems behind the causes of climate change is very intricately woven. To put it more simply, we cannot just measure the emissions to make a product, we need to take a holistic approach as to what happens to the product at the consumer’s hands and when it reaches the end of its life. **Circular economy is another article’s issue** So far, we have been looking at problems in piecemeal, diverting our attention and responsibility from “the externalities” caused by extraction, production, use, and end of life.
Speaking of money…
COP26 is around the corner. The world is waiting for concrete actions to tackle the climate crisis from governments. But, we simply cannot ignore how money is spent
Governments and financial institutions are now accountable for how the money is spent. Are they ready to take on the challenge?
Undeniably, climate change is intricate, complex, wicked, and chiefly a systems failure which we need to reboot. And we need everyone in this!
“Hope calls for action!”- In the words of Rebecca Solnit…
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