Johannesburg: Local business has failed to develop a consolidated position on climate change in time for crucial international negotiations in Copenhagen next month, which could see business being left out of crucial policy decisions, observers on environmental issues are warning.
Groups like the National Business Initiative (NBI) are warning that business needs to develop a collective voice in order to influence sustainability issues affecting the business community, in particular how to tackle carbon emissions.
The United Nations Climate Conference takes place in two weeks’ time in Copenhagen. Although hopes for an ambitious, binding agreement are fading after a year of lacklustre negotiations, observers are still hoping that a political agreement — with details to be hammered out later — will result from Copenhagen.
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) says unless average global temperature increases are kept below 2º C compared with preindustrial levels, runaway climate change will occur, beyond the ability of scientific models to project. According to the WWF, low-carbon re-industrialisation needs to be initiated now. This would see a range of industries in energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy growing by at least 25% per annum before 2014, to have a realistic chance of keeping global warming below 2º C .
But even a 2º C rise in temperatures will have a cost. According to the World Bank’s latest World Development Report, a 2º C increase in the world’s temperature levels above preindustrial levels could result in a permanent reduction of between 4% and 5% in yearly per capita consumption in Africa and south Asia. High-income countries, however, will record only minimal losses, with a reduction in average world consumption equal to about 1% of global gross domestic product , the report says.
The general perception is that while individual corporations in SA have taken climate change seriously, on balance the business sector has been hampered by disorganisation. The NBI , which aims to provide business leadership for sustainable development, held a workshop this month for businesses to discuss the implications of climate change.
Barney Kgope, climate change programme manager for the NBI, says the NBI was attempting to find out “what business is thinking” before moving to a consolidated business position on climate change. “We need to work through the implications of a 2º C rise for business, and locally we have the Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios,” Kgope says. He says that although he will not be attending the Copenhagen meeting, it would have been good to have a “known team” from the South African business sector attending to report back to the sector on its return.
“Even at the last briefing in August, individual businesses attended. There were not more than 10 people from business, yet the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and government departments were there,” he says. “The positions we have (on climate change) are largely as a result of input from NGOs and government. Business didn’t have much input, it didn’t have a position. So that’s what we’re correcting.”
Zoe Lees, KPMG’s associate director for climate change and sustainability, says corporations need to discuss SA’s climate change policy, as this would affect the regulations business is expected to abide by. “If we have a weak position, we will have to live with what’s decided,” she says.
Lees says that although business has not presented a united front, it has been consulted about the climate change negotiations, through the National Climate Change Committee.
Richard Worthington, climate change programme manager at WWF , says he has seen some progress on business preparedness, but it is “not where it needs to be” and the sector is still playing catch-up. “There is a necessary role for business to encourage the government to be proactive in putting together a comprehensive package that countries like SA will need to put on the table in order to get a fair, ambitious and binding agreement,” he says. “It’s encouraging that business has moved from a reactionary, defensive position on climate change, but we don’t yet have a coherent voice from business to champion low-carbon plans.”
A strong, coherent voice from business would be useful in several key areas, says Worthington, including a potential carbon tax and energy planning. “There is a real lack of clarity on energy-planning processes, and 80% of our emissions come from energy,” he says, calling for a public and transparent review of Eskom’s new build programme. A stronger position could help in finalising a prototype power purchase agreement for the implementation of the renewable energy feed-in tariff,” he says, adding that this comes at a time when new investment in the electricity sector is desperately needed.
“If business is serious about avoiding risk and wanting a stable environment, it should be advocating for strong regulations domestically and globally, and for a new global deal,” he says.
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