3. The Green Supply Chain
In the age of the international conglomerate, business may have the ability to create more radical change than any single government. A $180 billion company like Wal-Mart has ties to tens of thousands of smaller companies around the world, and through the power of sheer size, it can all but force those suppliers to sell their goods cheaper — or, if Wal-Mart wishes, greener. That’s exactly what the Bentonville retailing giant has done this year, pressuring its suppliers to go green. Wal-Mart’s initiative was followed this October by the launch of the Supply Chain Leadership Coalition, in which some of the biggest companies in the world — including Procter & Gamble and Unilever — banded together to press suppliers to report their greenhouse-gas emissions and be more open about their efforts to combat climate change.
4. Avoided Deforestation
Forests, especially on the tropics, are virtual carbon banks — and when they’re cut down, that carbon is released into the atmosphere. At least 80,000 acres of forest disappear from the Earth each day, and deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global carbon emissions. One way to slow deforestation might be for rich nations to compensate poorer nations for taking care of their tropical trees, but such avoided deforestation deals weren’t recognized under the Kyoto Protocol. That looks about to change. In June the World Bank began raising $250 million for a pilot fund for avoided deforestation projects, and with further talks at this year’s UN climate summit held in Indonesia — the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter, thanks chiefly to the speed at which it is massacring its trees — the idea is gaining momentum.
Loading ...