05 SB1009 Comment.qxp 21/9/09 12:34 pm Page 5
IDLE THOUGHTS
Catastrophe was forecast
and ignored for too long
Like last month’s Manchester derby, settled by Michael Owen in the
97th minute, this year’s climate change negotiations will no doubt go
Editor Tom Idle 020 8651 7070
tom.idle@
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into injury time. European Commission president, José Manuel
Sub-editor Richard Sharpe
Production Sharon Miller 020 8651 7104
Barroso, says he is worried about the “lack of ambition” in the
Design and production manager Luana Marca
negotiations, just a couple of months ahead of the UN Copenhagen
summit where governments from around the world are expected to
Publisher Angela Himus 020 8651 7164
agree a post-2012 climate policy framework. Swedish prime minister,
angela.himus@fav-house.com
Fredrik Reinfeldt, is equally concerned: “Negotiations are far too Corporate partnerships Rob Barton 020 8651 7065
slow. We need to stop the acting and start the action.” According to
07852 220150
robert.barton@
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Reinfeldt, there are still currently 2,500 un-agreed points in the draft
Group advertisement manager Ella Westaway
020 8651 7077
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climate negotiating text, so even if we do get a framework agreement
Subscriptions Sue Linkson 020 8651 7160
in December, a detailed policy will still be some way off.
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‘
I wish the same
Why are we in this position? Why is the future of our planet
Administration Clare Klos 020 8651 7121
urgency of the
reliant on eleventh-hour negotiations? It’s not as if we didn’t see this
clare.klos@fav-house.com
financial crisis
climate catastrophe coming a mile off. From John Wyndham’s The
could be applied
Day of the Triffids, to Ward Moore’s Greener Than You Think and
The editorial board
John Christopher’s The Death of Grass, novelists have been
■ John Alker UK Green Building Council
’
to the climate forecasting the impact of human activity on the environment ■ Mark Barthel Wrap
for decades. And that’s just the stuff coming out of fiction, without ■ Charlie Browne UK environment manager, Ikea
even noting the hundreds of thousands of books and papers pro-
■ David Crowhurst BRE Environment
duced by the academic and scientific communities over the years,
■ Anya Ledwith consultant, ESHCon
detailing the incoming doom.
■ Liz Parkes Head of waste, Environment Agency
Of course, the Copenhagen talks will not be easy. The main obsta-
■ Tim Pollard head of sustainability, Wolseley
cle will be the global fault line between developed and developing
■ Bruno Zago UK & Ireland environmental manager,
Hewlett Packard
worlds. China and India are not likely to be happy taking moral
instruction on the environment from countries that have already
industrialised, leaving a legacy of carbon in the atmosphere. Magazine information
Meanwhile, industrialised countries are reluctant to agree to strict
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greenhouse gas emission goals, while their developing neighbours –
Website
www.sustainablebusinessnetwork.net
increasingly seen as competitors – get away with cheaper targets.
ISSN 1756-8633 © Faversham House Group
It can be unhelpful to observe environmental
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issues in the eye of impending apocalypse, as
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the likes of Wyndham, Moore and Christopher
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do (as well as countless films like The Day
After Tomorrow and
Waterworld). But it is so
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important not to underestimate
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Sustainable Business –
films illustrate.
The theoretical framework is
The Event is BACK! in place – the West must accept
The FHG portfolio also includes
www.edie.net
and Sustainabilitylive!
its responsibility for ancient
Following last year’s successful launch, Sustainable Business –
The Event, will return in 2010 with an exciting new conference
pollution, and the developing
programme that will tap into current low-carbon and sustain-
world needs to accept emis-
ability thinking and best practice in business. sions cuts in exchange for help
The event once again forms a part of the huge
and new technology from the
exhibition, Sustainabilitylive! alongside Environmental
richer nations. But turning this
Technology (ET), Brownfield Expo (Bex), the National Energy
Management Exhibition (Nemex) and the International Water
into a reality will not be easy.
Exhibition (Iwex).
I just wish that the same
FHG is a member of the
Over the coming months, SB will be unveiling the speakers, urgency could be applied to the
Periodical Publishers Association
exhibitors and events that will form the core of the three day
climate crisis as it was recently
conference. Topics likely to be given panel sessions are: The
Politics of Climate Change; Lessons from Copenhagen; Gearing
for the global financial crisis, to
Printed on PEFC
accredited paper.
up for the Carbon Reduction Commitment and Making the
which we saw global leaders
For more info see
Most from Feed-in-Tariffs. apply a co-ordinated and col-
www.PEFC.org
Licence number
So, please put a note in your diaries now: SB – The Event,
lective response.
PEFC/16-33-141
20-22 April 2010 at the NEC in Birmingham.
TOM IDLE EDITOR
Sustainable Business 5❘ October 2009
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