Realizing the Renewable Energy Economy: U.S. Legislation on Climate Change

(This is the third and final article in a series about the Smart Grid and Green Technology)

President Obama gave the following speech at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Friday, December 18^th. 

“I came here today not to talk, but to act.” – President Obama

In this speech and through the subsequent Copenhagen Accord, President Obama has committed to leading the U.S. in addressing climate change on a national and global scale.  And his formula for addressing climate change seems simple enough: mitigation, transparency, financing.  But as World Wildlife Fund President and CEO Carter Roberts commented, “The ultimate test of his leadership will be engaging the Senate and delivering action in Congress.”

President Obama’s leadership and fiscal support for addressing climate change as a nation will undoubtedly accelerate renewable energy projects and make a compelling business case for starting others.  However, national, state and local legislation is needed to quickly incentivize and sustain a renewable energy economy.

The Climate Scoreboard

On December 9, 2009, The Climate Institute launched its Climate Scoreboard to serve as an online tool that allows the public to track how countries’ current proposals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions would affect future global warming, should they be implemented.

The Institute launched the Scoreboard in conjunction with the negotiations at Copenhagen so that interested parties could watch the progress in international commitments to reduce emissions, but it continues to report on a daily basis since Copenhagen.

According to the Institute, its Scoreboard automatically reports* whether proposals “commit countries to enough greenhouse gas emissions reductions to achieve widely expressed goals, such as limiting future warming to 1.5 to 2.0°C (2.7 to 3.6°F) above pre-industrial temperatures.”

The Scoreboard currently demonstrates that proposals to date would reduce global warming in 2100 below temperatures of a “business as usual” scenario (in which we continue to emit as much as we do today), but these proposals are “not yet ambitious enough to limit temperature increase to 2°C (3.6°F) over pre-industrial temperatures.” 

In other words,–to protect our coastal cities, public health, access to freshwater, food security, species survival and public security–we still have a long way to go.

Addressing Global Climate Change: From Copenhagen to Sustainability Reporting

As heads around the world are turned towards the Copenhagen Climate Conference, waiting for legislative promises and actions, there is undoubtedly an acute awareness at this point in time of the dangers and opportunities that Climate Change poses to all humans alike.

At BrownFlynn, we think about these challenges and chances on a daily basis.  It’s what we do.  We help organizations of all kinds find ways to fine-tune their environmental, social and economic practices so that what they do aligns with what they believe.

This past year, however, BrownFlynn took a long look inside to find what we can do to become more sustainable environmentally, socially and economically.  And we found room for improvement.

This week, in synch with the international Climate Conference, BrownFlynn is launching our first sustainability report for 2008-2009.  Although it is unique for a sustainability consulting firm of our size (currently 9 women) to publish a sustainability/CSR report, we believe that no matter the size of our impact on this planet and its atmosphere, we have a responsibility to practice what we teach and to help abate the threats of Climate Change.

In our report, we go over the process we went through to engage our stakeholders; to create teams around Environmental Stewardship, Employee Health & Wellness, Community Engagement, Employee Orientation and Business Innovation; and to set goals for future improvement.  In the coming years, we have committed to measuring our progress towards our goals and to transparently reporting that progress in annual sustainability reports.

How can you help take action on Climate Change?