Alan Buckle, KPMG Advisory

The question is no longer: ‘Is climate change happening?’ but ‘what should we do about it?’

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The same report named carbon reduction as one of the top 10 business issues; 74% of the 73 FTSE 350 CEOs questioned believed they possessed a good personal grasp of the issue. However, only 14% of UK firms have a formal carbon reduction strategy – why?

Two groups of business are now moving very quickly. Firstly, there are those who acknowledge stakeholder pressures and, secondly, those – particularly heavy carbon creators – who recognise that they can reduce short-term and long-term costs while reducing emissions. That leaves a vast swathe of businesses that do not see an economic case for significant change.

Having spent many years doing the obvious small things on the home front, such as recycling, I recently realised that I could be green and save money. I’ve invested in a domestic solar ‘power station’ in the back garden and the sporty coupé has been traded in for a more economical mini diesel.

I have found these small steps a challenge. For example, the company that owns my local electricity grid expects me to pay more than £20,000 to enable my excess renewable energy to be put back into their system, so they can sell it on.

I accept that all of these changes only make a small impact on my embarrassingly large primary carbon footprint of 30 tonnes per year. The biggest contributor to this is flying for work. Am I really ready to take fewer business flights knowing that my competitors will have flown in and won the work while I’m still on the train?

Most businesses face similar challenges. There are easy wins in cost terms and there are real benefits in listening to people, customers and other stakeholders. But in the long term, how quickly do we need to change and how will the competition respond? How will technology change?

It is clear from political reactions, including the recent Energy White Paper, that some combination of tax, capping and trading and other regulation will force the issue. Businesses, like individuals and governments, need a thorough, well thought out response to climate change. In the meantime, grab the easy short-term benefits and get planning for the challenges to come.

Alan Buckle is chief operating officer of KPMG Advisory