http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002542.html
Firms Start to See Climate Change as Barrier to
Profit
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday,
September 21, 2009
As the real-world impacts of climate change begin to
materialize and
regulation of greenhouse gases appears more likely, corporate
America has
begun to grapple with a challenging question: How do you quantify
the risks
associated with climate change?
The answer depends on one's
perspective. But companies are beginning to
show increased willingness to
disclose the extent to which they're
contributing to global warming and what
they're doing to keep it from
harming their business.
"If we don't
move now, it just becomes more expensive, more complicated and
a bigger
risk," said Brad Figel, director of government affairs at Nike, at
a Capitol
Hill briefing last week sponsored by Oxfam America.
On Monday, the Carbon
Disclosure Project is set to release a report<
http://https:/%3cwbr/%3e/%3cwbr/%3ewww.cdproject.net> surveying the climate
policies of the majority of
the S&P 500, in which 52 percent of respondents
said they've set
emissions-reduction targets for the companies, compared
with 32 percent last
year. Many of these groups also see global warming as
a threat to their
bottom lines -- including 84 percent of financial-sector
respondents --
citing concerns including a potential shortage of raw
materials and
supply-chain disruptions because of severe weather.
When it comes to
climate, corporations "are demonstrating they are willing,
ready and able to
engage with it," said Carbon Disclosure Project chief
executive Paul
Dickinson. "We are moving, without any doubt, into a
carbon-constrained
world," he added.
The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of
Manufacturers say
that some of the prescriptions to address climate change,
such as the
climate bill passed by the House in June, present more risks to
the economy
than global warming does.
But a number of companies have
split with the chamber to back the House
bill and are taking steps to curb
their own carbon footprints.
Anna Walker, senior manager for worldwide
government affairs and public
policy at Levi Strauss, said 95 percent of her
company's offerings are made
from cotton. Climate-related water shortages
threaten cotton supplies, to
say nothing of the tornadoes and floods that
could threaten the company's
cut-and-sew operations in Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Vietnam and other
countries.
"This is very practical and happening for
us," Walker said. "We really do
get it."
Companies that depend heavily
on the goodwill of both consumers and their
employees are also sensitive to
the issue.
"Climate is top of mind for our customers right now," said Jim
Hanna,
Starbucks's director of environmental impact, who added that the
company is
aware that its workers are also eyeing its business practices and
public
policy positions. "For us to attract the best talent coming out of
college,
and for us to retain that talent over time, we've got to operate
that way."
But calculating a firm's emissions, as well as how much of a
risk climate
change may pose to the business in the future, can be
complicated.
Dickinson's group -- which represents 475 institutional
investors that
manage $55 trillion in funds -- is working with the world's
four biggest
accounting firms to establish the Climate Disclosure Standards
Board, which
aims to make greenhouse-gas reporting more
uniform.