Op-Ed: Here’s how companies can strong-arm their suppliers into cutting carbon emissions
Companies in the tech, energy and telecommunications sectors can have a big impact on global climate change by embracing carbon-free supply chains. But here’s the tough truth: most suppliers see no reason to make the switch
By the end of this year, nearly 80 percent of the world’s electric power grids and about 50 percent of the world’s natural gas systems will be unable to handle peak load conditions.
The consequence is not only a sharp drop in both the reliability and affordability of electricity, but also a sharp fall in its environmental profile.
In the near term, the global economic fallout will mean slower economic growth and tougher economic negotiations in both the United States and Europe. In the longer term, it will lead to a more difficult fight to stabilize global temperature or perhaps a world-wide economic depression.
I can almost hear the call to make the switch. It’s all too familiar to me in my role as a company director and a consultant to many of the companies of the global supply chain. Just the other day, for example, I was at the annual meeting of the South-East Asia Economic Association in Singapore. There was a sea of pink T-shirts in the hotel ballroom. But the question of climate change was not on the agenda.
My job is to work with suppliers and customers on how to change the supply chain from a dominant, negative-emissions source to a climate-friendly one. We need to get more companies moving away from fossil-fuel-based power generation, cars and trucks, and toward electric, hybrid and low-carbon alternatives.
How we get there is the heart of the dilemma.
It won’t be easy.
It’s no secret that fossil fuels were always a huge part of the mix. This has been the case in every corner of the United States, in every level of society. It has been the case in most economies in the world. It was the case