Tag: climate change
The Business Roundtable shifts position on action to address climate change
Last year, the Business Roundtable created quite a buzz when it released a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation that moved “away from shareholder primacy” as a guiding principle and opted in to a kind of “stakeholder capitalism” (see this PubCo post). Now, just in time for climate week, in another striking sign of changing perspectives, the Business Roundtable has released a new principles-and-policies guide endorsing a new approach to action on climate change. According to the press release, the BRT is now advocating “new principles and policies to address climate change, including the use of a market-based strategy that includes a price on carbon where feasible and effective. Such a strategy would incentivize the development and deployment of breakthrough technologies needed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To combat the worst impacts of climate change, Business Roundtable CEOs are calling on businesses and governments around the world to work together to limit global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In the United States, this means reducing net-greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 as compared to 2005 levels.” As this article in the WSJ observes, it’s not that the principles and policies break new ground—they don’t—rather, “the significance of the statement is that it shows how business is shifting from a source of resistance to a force for action on climate.”
How do activists get corporate boards to focus on climate change issues? Talk softly and carry a big stick
by Cydney Posner With today’s signing of the Paris climate change accord, one question that now arises is how do activists get corporate boards to focus on climate change issues? They talk softly and carry a big stick. And, according to this article in BNA Accounting Policy and Practice, that […]