CLIMATE CHANGE & THE ROLE OF BUSINESSES

GRETA THUNBERG

CLIMATE CHANGE & THE ROLE OF BUSINESSES

In 2018, a 15-year-old Greta Thunberg stood outside the Swedish parliament brandishing a simple placard that read“School strike for the climate”, wearing her pigtails and a checkered shirt. Little did Greta and her peers know that very soon she was about to become a trailblazing icon of climate change activism and start a global movement.

Greta was born 3 January 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. Hermother an opera singer and her father an actor. She wasdiagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and OCD at a youngage. Greta first learned about climate change in 2011, at theage of 8 and couldn’t fathom why so little was being done tofight it. She challenged her own family to reduce their carbonfootprint and their overall impact on the environment, adoptinga vegan lifestyle, giving up commercial flying andupcycling household waste. Greta refuses to view herAsperger’s diagnoses as a disability, choosing instead to callit her “superpower”, saying that “being different is a gift.”

After her protest outside the Swedish parliament went viral onsocial media, thousands of students joined in and othersstrikes sprung up across the globe under the “Fridays forFuture” banner. Students in more than 100 countries skippedschool to demand more action on climate change and areduction of green-house gas emissions. Greta became aninternationally recognized voice for climate change activismovernight and travelled extensively to climate change protestsand summits, travelling by train to limit her impact on theenvironment and even sailing, on more than one occasion, ona zero-emission, solar-panel equipped yacht across theAtlantic on her way to a climate change summit.

Greta has also addressed heads of states at the UN, tellingthem that “This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced,"and has met several International leaders including PresidentObama and Justin Trudeau in an effort to raise awarenessand urge governments to do more to tackle the climatechange crisis. She continues to speak at Tedx conferences,NGO events, climate strikes and uses her social media toaddress a following of millions.

We are facing an existential crisis... it will have a massive impact on our lives in the future. And I think that we should wake up, and we should also try to wake the adults up, because they are the ones who — their generation is the ones who are mostly responsible for this crisis, and we need to hold them accountable.

Greta Thunberg

Ms Thunberg has won several accolades for her climatechange activism. She was named Swedish Woman of TheYear by Swedish Women’s Educational Association in 2019.Time Magazine has named her a “next generation leader”and she was named the youngest Time person of the year in2019. Greta was also included in the Time’s 100 most

influential people list in 2019. She has also been nominatedfor the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. She has been touted as ““thebiggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet”.

She has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not,

Time magazine

HOW BUSINESSES CAN PLAY A ROLE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Despite all the effort, it seems the world has hardly budged.There is not much political support for Climate Changeaction, with the United States, the second largest emitter ofgreen-house gases recently pulling out of the Paris ClimateChange Accords. The global emission levels are on the riseinstead of reducing and the change required is nowhere nearin sight.

While climate change might be a harsh reality to accept, thescience behind it is solid and our planet is changing. We arefacing a humanitarian and planetary crisis and it is a crisis ofglobal scale, governments cannot do enough on their own totackle it and the private sector is equally accountable,businesses must do more if we hope to win this fight to saveour planet.

If businesses do their part, small efforts can add up tosignificant impact on the environment. Companies can takeaction and draw up plans to reduce waste, set emissionreduction targets, reduce food waste, adopt renewableenergy sources and recycle wherever possible.

Businesses can also act to reduce their power consumptionand can encourage employees to switch to more eco-friendlymodes of transportation such as carpooling in companyowned electric cars or cycling to work. Business owners andleaders can also come together and influence governmentpolicies by supporting parties and politicians who haveclimate change on their agenda, to shift government policiestowards a low-carbon future.

Doing your part in the fight against climate change will notadversely affect your business and sustainability does notmean compromising on profitability. Averting a global crisisthat threatens life on our planet as we know it is reasonenough to act, however there is also shrewd business sensein doing so. People like working for businesses that areeco-conscious and consumers support businesses that areactively taking part in shaping a better future. The appeal ofenvironmentally aware companies is on the rise and yourbusiness can benefit tremendously from the popularity of agreen, eco-friendly reputation. It also has great story-tellingpotential which can be used in your overall marketing strategyto show your potential customers that your values align withtheirs.