Progress on HCFC Reduction Marks Montreal Protocol Anniversary

Countries will gather in September to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Argentina and Brazil jointly submitted proposals accelerating the phase-out of hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) to strengthen the Montreal Protocol. Three small island and coastal states - Micronesia, Mauritius, and Mauritania - submitted similar proposals to avoid the dire consequences of climate change jeopardizing their existence. Additional proposals to accelerate the HCFC phase-out were submitted by the United States and jointly by Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

HCFCs are a group of chemicals used mainly as coolants in air conditioners and grocery stores, and to make insulating foams and other products. They are being used as temporary substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances that are even more dangerous to the ozone layer and climate system. HCFCs were intended to be replaced once superior substitutes became available.

Eliminating HCFCs could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent—roughly five times the emissions reductions of the world’s climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol. Some HCFCs are more than 1,000 times more powerful at warming the planet than carbon dioxide.

Leaders of many developed countries expressed support for the adjustments on June 7th at the G8 Summit Declaration, committing to “accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs in a way that supports energy efficiency and climate change objectives,” and noting that “Improving energy efficiency worldwide is the fastest, the most sustainable and the cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy security… [and] … could contribute to 80 percent of avoided greenhouse gases while substantially increasing security of supply.”

Argentina and Brazil are leading the push to strengthen the Montreal Protocol, along with a coalition of other developing countries focused on strengthening the Montreal Protocol to do its share to address climate change. The United States also submitted a proposal, and has been very supportive of efforts to strengthen the ozone layer and the climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol. With such leadership, the determined and persistent proponents of changing the Montreal Protocol are capable of changing the world.

This subject is close to my heart. The first software application we produced at ESS way back in 1994 was designed to enable organizations to minimize emissions of ozone depleting and global warming chemicals including CFC, and HCFC refrigerants. This software is still the leading application used and we currently have thousands of companies still using it today.
Whether or not the international community will come together to help evolve the Montreal Protocol into an effective climate treaty will be decided in September.

Add comment July 27th, 2007

Groups Affirm Need to Address Climate Change

This has been the hottest summer in Arizona for quite a while. In the meantime, rivers have been flooding in Texas, and San Francisco saw rain for the first time in July. In Mumbai, people were swept away in main streets. So it is no wonder that governments and businesses are now in a race to meet or exceed the Kyoto protocol, promising new methods for controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

The Toronto City Council voted 37-0 this week to adopt a plan that aims to cut greenhouse gases in the city by 6 per cent by 2012, 30 per cent by 2020 and by a full 80 per cent by 2050. It will involve retrofitting buildings and exploring geothermal energy for large public buildings.

On almost the same day, the Business Roundtable, an association of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, announced a new policy statement on climate change, acknowledging that climate change poses a serious risk and that the time for action is now. You can download the entire document.

Because ESS has been in the business of reporting on emissions for more than ten years, we know that the enterprise has been taking the issues of sustainability more and more seriously. This year, clearly we have reached a tipping point. Business leaders have even asked for a better national registry for emissions tracking, because they are building benchmarks and measurable objectives into their plans, much as a the City of Toronto has done.

Once numbers are assigned to these goals, business will achieve them — you heard it here first.

1 comment July 19th, 2007

Companies Serious About How They Impact Environment

I’ve been asked to write a chapter on environmental issues as part of a book on corporate governance and ethics, so I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what constitutes real corporate social responsibility. I can remember when corporations first embraced the concept, but it really involved philanthropic efforts, like supporting schools and donating to charitable organizations. The first corporation I can remember that took an environmental issue as a mark of corporate social responsibility was the ice cream maker, Ben and Jerry’s, when they decided to raise money to save the rain forest by naming one of its flavors “Rain Forest Crunch” and donating a percentage of the profits to charity.

Fast forward about thirty years, and the environmental questions have grown beyond a small, image-oriented part of the enterprise and into a position front and center — the boardroom. Now corporate governance involves more and more the question of “how does our company and its industry impact the environment?” Following that audit (because that’s what it is, and we help companies do those audits) comes the strategic question: “how do we create a sustainable business model that does not deplete resources faster than it creates them?” With these questions, “corporate social responsibility” becomes a big piece of all corporate ethics policies, and is at the heart of every company’s governance.

Add comment July 13th, 2007

Overseas Companies Looking for Health & Safety Solutions

I’m back in Asia, having meetings during the past week with customers and potential customers in the Philippines. I have found that companies that are not ready to tackle environmental problems are quite interested in health and safety solutions, especially software that is integrated with emergency management modules. Most executives had no idea that EH&S solutions existed that were part of a single platform devoted to Prevention, Mitigation, and Performance, appearing on their portals as unified data. The emergency management piece, which is part of our Mitigation offering, drew particular attention.

One of the most pressing issues around emergency management is the coordination of communications, and we were told repeatedly about needs in this area. I’m glad we’ve got something good to offer.

This is a long way from compliance, which is where we started building our software. We are now into the larger areas of operational risk, as part of governance, risk and compliance. When I look back, I have seen that our horizon has been expanding over the past ten or twelve years.

We are just following the lead of our customers who have begun to see their needs from a more strategic perspective. This week I learned from an article in the New York Times that many large corporations are now including a CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) in the executive suite. The compliance officer reports to the CSO. I predict that this move from Compliance to Sustainability will be a fast-growing trend.

1 comment July 5th, 2007