An Environment Business Australia seminar heard that less than 3% of top 300 companies have implemented a strategic response to climate change, most of them in the resources sector.
Only 4% have independently assessed climate change as a business risk at the board level, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey and just 5% have a budget to handle their business response.
“Those who are already underway are likely to find that still more needs to be done, and those that have not yet started will have to accelerate their efforts,” it said.
The sentiments were yesterday echoed by Craig Roussac, GM of Sustainability, Safety & Environment at property management giant Investa.
“I expect policies to get tougher over time,” he told the 300 delegates, noting a footnote from the Bali conference in December showed CO2 at 455 parts per million in the atmosphere, already above the commonly accepted safe target of 450ppm.
Energetics MD Jonathon Jutsen added that among the hype of Australia committing to the Kyoto Protocol in December, there had been little real debate about how to cut emissions 1% by 2012 to hit the Kyoto target, given they are currently growing at 2% a year. Emissions trading will only be part of the picture.
“We cannot let our emissions keep increasing until 2020 because then there will be real hardship in achieving the targets. We need to link into investment cycles and that means addressing it now,” said Jutsen.
The PwC survey found that given “the level of uncertainty around climate change risks, it is perhaps not surprising to find that the majority of respondents have only taken minimal action”. But it goes on to note that “a great deal is going to happen quickly. Deferring action will not be an effective response”.
