CEOs Urging Action in 2015 on Global Climate

[titaniumsalute]

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2959

CEOs Urging Action in 2015 on Global Climate
By: Jeff Masters and Bob Henson , 11:24 PM GMT on April 16, 2015

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In an open letter released on Thursday evening, 43 chief executive officers from leading global companies called on governments around the world to take bold action at the pivotal UN climate meeting set for later this year. The CEOs are listed in a full-page ad appearing in Friday’s issue of Financial Times (see image below), in conjunction with the spring meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund. The signatories to the letter include David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company, the umbrella organization that includes Weather Underground. “Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges that will shape the way we do business now and in the coming decades,” the CEOs stated. “We extend an open offer to national governments to meet and co-design tangible actions as well as ambitious, effective targets that are appropriate for their different jurisdictions.”

I hope that we start seeing some action finally...

[hatrack]

1. Talk is cheap, and greenwash is pretty and it even smells like lilacs . . . .

But what it comes down to is what all of them want most of all: economic growth, followed by more economic growth and still more economic growth.

A liveable planet is certainly nice, but a big stack of sweet quarterly statements is even nicer. It's their collective job. It's what they do. It's what they're required by law to do.

[titaniumsalute]

2. Yup that's true

But maybe, just maybe some of these leaders are realizing that they want their kids or grandkids to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

[hatrack]

3. Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath

You'll have to forgive my reflexive cynicism, but I've been following this issue (obsessively by most peoples' standards) for freaking decades, and for decades it's been the same:

Proclamations of the need for bold action, coming from the most (gosh!) unlikely sources like big corporations;

Proclamations then devolve into conferences and conclaves, with two venue options: (a) Alpine and Olympian or (b) Tropical and Dreamy;

Conferences then publish bold statements on bold proposed actions, with generous space donated to corporate logos, and notices on how recycling plastic water bottles at the conference saved 2.12445863588662248 metric tons of carbon being emitted;

Corporations budget somewhat more heavily for Gaian online and magazine advertising during March-April the following year;

Atmospheric CO2 rises the following year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that.