All posts by : Prachi Jain

“Become an active citizen through your wardrobe.”

Livia Firth (Founder & Director, Creative Age)

“Imagine a scenario where a group of teenage girls are flipping through the fashion magazine at a shopping complex somewhere in London. The girls are flooded with shopping bags and are furthermore tempted to buy more after flipping through the magazine. Simultaneously, somewhere in South Africa, a young man is flaunting his American basketball t-shirt, a t-shirt made on different continents. Two different scenarios in two different parts of the world are explaining a product lifecycle.”

Globalization and urbanization make it possible for a young boy in South Africa to initially wear a t-shirt from the USA; we call it “fast fashion”.

Fast fashion makes clothes affordable, but it does have an environmental cost. A cost that affects the environment globally and adds to the GHG emissions makes the ecosystem hotter and unbearable for species other than humankind to survive in their natural environment. The garment industry accounts for more than 10% of the global climate impact, more significant than the air flights and maritime shipping trips combined.

Clothing has complex supply chains that make it difficult to account for all of the emissions produced by producing a pair of trousers or a new coat. Then, the clothing is transported and disposed of when the consumer no longer wants it anymore. It is hard to visualize all of the inputs that go into producing garments, but let us take denim as an example: the United Nations estimates that a single pair of jeans requires a kilogram of cotton. Moreover, because cotton tends to be grown in dry environments, producing this kilo requires about 7,500–10,000 litres of water. That is about ten years’ worth of drinking water for one person. There are ways to make denim less resource-intensive, but in general, jeans composed of material that is as close to the natural state of cotton as possible use less water and hazardous treatments to produce. This means less bleaching, less sandblasting, and less pre-washing.

The fashion industry has a disastrous impact on the environment and is the second-largest polluter in the world after the oil industry. It would be unfortunate to understand these figures that the environmental damage is increasing manifolds with the fashion industry’s growth. In order to substantiate the fact that the fashion industry is the second-largest emitter of GHG emissions, it would be interesting to highlight some facts and figures:

1. The fashion industry consumes nearly 93 billion cubic meters of water every year, enough to meet approx’s water consumption of 5 million people.

2. Nearly 20% of wastewater worldwide comes from fabric dyeing and treatment.

3. Of the total fibre input used for clothing, 87% gets disposed of in a landfill.

4. If the lifestyle patterns continue to grow with the current pattern, global apparel consumption will rise to approximately 102 billion tons by 2029.

5. Half a million tons of plastic microfibres are dumped in the ocean every year, equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles. These microfibres cannot be extracted from water and can spread throughout the supply chain.

The UNEP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published the above facts and figures to assess the global fashion industry’s damage. These facts and figures highlight the dark side of the glamorous glamour world. The world, which has a massive employment generation, completely neglects the impact of its activities on the environment and humankind. To understand the garment industry’s impact on our ecology, it becomes essential that we understand the industry’s carbon emissions at various levels, i.e., at the production, manufacturing and transportation level. However, it is very discouraging to note that the garment emits nearly two-third of its GHG emissions at the raw-material stage and leave adverse impacts on the global environment.

In addition to the above, polyester production accounts for nearly 55% of the total fashion industry emissions, releasing nearly 700 million tonnes of CO2 every year into the atmosphere. The polyester emission is closely followed by the cotton production emissions that account for nearly 23% of the fashion industry’s fossil fuel-based fibres.

Beyond the raw materials stage, the energy used at various levels of any garment lifecycle like manufacturing, transportation, packaging, and selling makes an enormous contribution to the GHG emissions. To understand these emissions, let us explore the contribution of the harmful gases the garment industry is making to the global ecological system:

Fashion and Water Pollution

In countries where garments are produced, untreated toxic wastewaters from the factories are dumped directly into the rivers. These wastewaters contain harmful chemicals like lead, mercury, arsenic that are highly harmful to aquatic life and the health of millions of the people living across the river bed. Such contamination reaches the sea and eventually spreads across the globe. This water contamination further happens due to the fertilizers used in the cotton production by polluting the run-off waters and evaporation waters.

After understanding the contamination of waters due to fabric production and other processes, the garment industry is expected to reduce its water consumption or to use sustainable ways of producing the garment to avoid polluting the water any further. However, in contrast to the expectations, the garment industry being the primary water consumer uses high water consumption fabrics and is highly polluting. An example of water usage is nearly 200 tons of freshwater used per ton of dyed fabric.

Another example can be cotton production that requires a considerable amount of water at the initial stages, i.e., nearly 20000 litres of water is required to produce 1kg of cotton; a massive pressure on the natural resources that is extremely scarce in the present world. If cotton is produced similarly as it is now, nearly 85% of the Indian population will drink water, reducing the almost nill. Furthermore, to reduce the water contamination and impact of garment pollution on the environment, the following measures can be adopted:

a. Choose clothes produced with strict environmental regulations adopted by the factories manufacturing them, ensuring a positive impact on the environment.

b. Adopt the usage of garments that are made from organic or natural fibres that require less or maybe no chemicals for its production.

c. Adopting a shift and focusing on more environmentally friendly fabrics like linen instead of cotton uses less water for its manufacturing.

d. Emphasize usage of recycled fabrics that helps environmental sustainability.

These initiatives can help in conserving water and emitting less hazardous gases, and achieve global environmental sustainability.

Water and Air Pollution

Gaseous emissions by the garment industry have been cited as the second-largest pollution problem after water pollution since most of the garment industry processes produce atmospheric emissions. However, little information is available, but as per the percentage data available on the garment industry’s pollution every year, the garment industry accounts for nearly 10% of carbon emissions by air. Some specific air pollutants produced by the industry are:

· At the energy production stage: nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide

· During the drying stage, volatile organic components (VOC) are produced during coating, wastewater treatment, and chemical storage.

· At the dyeing and bleach stage: aniline vapours, chlorine, chlorine dioxide

The garment industry’s primary air pollution source is boilers, thermo packs, ovens, and storage tanks. Various other sources also produce air pollution during the manufacturing stage of a garment lifecycle, but the above mentioned have been most influential. In order to curb these pollution sources that are prevalent in the garment industry, some significant steps are required:

i. Designing and manufacturing of products that do not produce toxic air pollutants

ii. Avoid fugitive air emissions from chemical spills through improved work

iii. By optimizing boiler operations to reduce the emissions of nitrous and sulphur dioxide

iv. Emphasize on use of scrubbers to collect particular matter

v. Ensure pre-screening of chemicals with the use of material safe data-sheet to ensure chemicals are not toxic

vi. Encourage the use of water-based products to decrease emissions of organic solvents

Such steps can help controlling air pollution to an extent; however, a collective effort at the global level by the textile industry to adopt sustainable ways will help achieve the objective of clear and breathable air.

Fashion and Microfibres in Oceans

Microfibres in oceans are significant concerns that the textile industry must address to achieve its commitment towards environmental sustainability. Whenever a synthetic garment such as polyester and nylon are washed, it releases nearly 1900 microfibres into the water, making its way to the oceans. Of many many observations made by the scientists, few observations explain that these microfibres are ingested by tiny aquatic organisms eaten by small fish and then by the larger fishes, eventually introducing plastic to our entire food chain.

It is estimated that nearly 1.9 million tons of microplastic fibres are released in oceans every year, making them present in every smallest part of our food chain. Additionally, 85% of human-made debris on the shoreline across the globe are microfibres.

Understanding the above facts and figures makes it mandatory that the textile industry start focusing on the semi-synthetic fibres that are less polluting and more ec0-friendly.

Fashion and Wastes

Clothes are disposable, and with the emergence of fast fashion, this has become a dark reality that impacts the global environment drastically. In terms of statistical figures, a family of four people throws away nearly 30 kgs of clothes every year, and of the 30 kgs, just 15% is recycled, and the rest gets wasted. These are startling figures that explain the harsh reality of the amount of pollution the textile world adds to already exhausted global GHG emissions.

In continuation with the above 30kgs disposal of clothes by an average household, then of the 30 kgs of the clothes disposed of, 5.2% are dumped in the landfills exhuming the flames creating global warming.

These wastes have been disturbing our ecological balance to a great extent and adding to the troubled ecology; another disturbing fact is that 72% of our clothes are made of synthetic fibres such as polyester, which again takes nearly 200 years to decompose. At this rate, the textiles will only be exhuming gases making the environment worst and non-livable.

The obvious question is, what can be done about it?

· Choose semi-synthetic fibres

· Recycle clothes

· Increase the lifecycle of clothes from three years to at least five years

· Environmentally friendly use fabric

Fashion and Chemicals

Trivia: 1 kg of chemicals are required to produce 1 kg of textiles

Chemicals are essential components of our clothes and are used in almost every stage of the garment manufacturing life cycle; starting from fibre production to dyeing or even wet processing; chemicals are available everywhere, adding to the already disturbed ecosystem’s woes.

The massive usage of chemicals in cotton farming adds to the devastation already existing in soil erosion and freshwater and even ocean water pollution. The chemical usage further takes away many cotton-producing farmers’ lives due to harmful effects on human health. Though cotton is considered an extremely breathable and excellent option for the severe heat facing nations, manufacturing and production are harmful to the people concerned. The obvious options are to shift to more organic fabrics and brands that are more sustainable.

Another option is to look for garments available with certification label controlling chemical content, such as OREO-TEX®, GOTS, BLUESIGN® and more. To shift to a more environmentally friendly garment is essential since 27% of the weight of any “100% natural” fabric is made of chemicals.

SCARY- ARE WE WEARING CHEMICALS?

Fashion and GHG Emissions

It is a well-known fact that the fashion industry accounts for 10% of global GHG emissions. It is even more shocking to know that 23% of these GHG emissions of the 10% GHG mentioned are generated for each kilo of fabric produced. The contribution to the global GHG emissions comes from the entire lifecycle of the garment purchased. Apart from the manufacturing phase, it is the production of raw materials (used at the manufacturing phase) that generate massive harmful gases.

Furthermore, it is even more discouraging to know that 400% more carbon emissions are produced if a garment is just worn five times instead of 50 times and is discarded instead of donating or recycling it. Cotton, synthetic fibres used in the manufacturing of any garment, are all made from fossil fuels adding to the already suffering ecosystem’s vows. A simple fact can understand that nearly 700 barrels are used every year to produce polyester, which is the raw material for a finished garment. Facts like these explain how much GHG emissions are happening due to cheap or substandard apparel and drastically disturbing the global ecosystem.

Fashion and Soil Degradation

Soil: a fundamental element of our ecosystem, is facing a severe threat, and if soil conservation is not taken up seriously, it will have serious consequence on both humans and the ecological system. Because healthy soil is essential for food to grow, degraded soil will not help food production, adding to humankind’s worries. On the ecological system, healthy soil helps in absorbing CO2, which will help control global warming.

The apparel industry’s contribution to soil degradation has been in different ways: one of which is overgrazing of pastures through cashmere goats and sheeps raised for wool. (TRIVIA: 90% of Mongolia’s surface is facing the threat of desertification, principally due to the breeding of cashmere goats).

Another reason is that degradation can happen due to the massive use of chemicals used to grow cotton. If the soil is degrading at this rate, it will decrease by 30% in food production over the next 30-40 years. Lastly, degradation can happen due to deforestation caused by wool-based fibres like rayon.

Fashion and Rain Forest Destruction

TREES: a lifeline for the planet

Trees are being cut at a very rapid pace for humankind’s usage, and if this continues, there will not be any trees left on earth, and humankind will be doomed. It is saddening to note that nearly 70 million trees are being cut down each year to make our clothes.

There is one question that I want to ask everyone. Do we plant trees at the same pace? If yes, then we indeed contribute to our planet’s health, and if no, where are we heading then?

Thousands of hectares of endangered species and forests are cut and are being replaced by plantations used in making wool-based fabrics like rayon, viscose, and modal to meet the demands of the textile industry. It is, however, estimated that 30% of these fabrics come from endangered forests; conserving those should be of utmost priority to prevent the ecological balance and protect some rare and endangered plants and other species. As already discussed, the loss of forests is not only a loss of ancient and diverse ecology, and it is about destroying what we have received as a gift of nature.

With so many harmful effects of the textile industry on nature and its resources, the industry must innovate and adopt eco-friendly ways to maintain the ecological balance and minimize the damage caused to the environment caused due to the emission of GHG because of its activities. The ultimate aim must to minimize these emissions and create a cleaner and greener environment.

To minimize the harmful effects, some measures that the textile industry can adopt are:

1. A Green Supply Chain is something that every textile manufacturing and retail company must aim at achieving. A green supply chain that involves the use of renewables and fabrics that are eco-friendly and organic must be adopted. Additionally, the above said supply chain must be green and short that at every stage is eco-friendly.

To achieve this, brands must ensure that they eliminate coal from their supply chain and aim to form partnerships with those who embrace sharing of capital costs. It is also essential that these textile brands further adopt green energy policies like green energy grids and transportation infrastructure.

2. Adopting a rental closet is another crucial way the clothes are available for rent in all price ranges and all occasions. Designers and brands must encourage the feature to create a sustainable wardrobe to lessen our environment’s burden. Encouraging the consumers to rent an outfit will reduce dumping the clothes, thus ensuring a green environment.

To encourage the “rent an outfit” culture, brands must work on factors like affordable prices, maintaining a high quality of the product, adopting sustainable clothes to create green brand awareness can be highlighted to achieve environment neutrality.

3. One other way is to adopt a consignment and resale strategy where the designers aim at producing garments with a future goal to extend the life of luxury goods with the quality and craftsmanship that makes it possible for the garments to stay in circulation for a relatively long period. Promoting the brand in association with sustainability will motivate the consumers to shift to this alternative medium. This will prove to be environmentally friendly, but it will be cost-effective for the brands as well.

4. Minimizing the impact of GHG emissions by manufacturing the textile industry is by shifting focus to more plant-based textiles such as organic cotton or pure viscose that can significantly reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. These fabrics can be further helpful in resolving the ecological balance and natural resources to a great extent.

In addition to these initiatives, the textile industry, in association with the United Nations on December 10, 2018, fashion stakeholders worked during 2018 to identify ways in which the broader textile, clothing and fashion industry can move towards a holistic commitment to climate action. They created the Fashion Industry Charter on Climate Action, which contains the vision to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Fashion Industry Charter was launched at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018.

The Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action goes beyond previous industry-wide commitments. Work under Fashion Charter for Climate Action is guided by its mission to drive the fashion industry to net-zero GHG emissions no later than 2050, in line with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. It also includes a target of 30% GHG emission reductions by 2030 and a commitment to analyze and set a decarbonization pathway for the fashion industry, drawing on methodologies from the Science-Based Targets Initiative. This target – which is one of many goals enshrined in the Charter – is a clear demonstration that the fashion industry is serious about urgently acting on climate change and is keen to set an example to other sectors around the level of commitment required to meet the scale of the climate challenge.

Under UN climate change, the Signatories and Supporting Organizations of the Charter will work collaboratively to deliver on the principles enshrined in the document. This will be done through Working Groups, which will bring together relevant stakeholders, experts, and initiatives in the fashion and border textile sector. The Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, with its Working Groups, will identify and amplify best practices, strengthen existing efforts, identify and address gaps, facilitate and strengthen the collaboration among stakeholders, and join resources and share tools to enable the sector to achieve its climate targets.

The industry charter specifies the following overarching areas of work to be further developed by specific Working Groups:

· Decarbonization pathway and GHG emission reductions

· Raw material

· Manufacturing/Energy

· Logistics

· Policy engagement

· Leveraging existing tools and initiatives

· Promoting broader climate action

· Brand/Retailer Owned or Operated Emissions

Forty-three leaders, including Adidas, Burberry, Esprit, Guess, Gap Inc., Hugo Boss, H&M Group, Inditex, Kering, Levi Strauss & Co., Puma SE, PVH Corp., Target; leading membership organizations, including Business for Social Responsibility, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, China National Textile and Apparel Council, Outdoor Industry Association and Textile Exchange; global logistics company Maersk; and global NGO WWF International have committed to implementing or supporting the 16 principles and targets that underpin the Fashion Climate Charter. The Charter, which is open for other companies and organizations to join, recognizes the crucial role that fashion plays on both sides of the climate equation: contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and as a sector with multiple opportunities to reduce emissions while contributing to sustainable development.

With this Charter, one can only hope to achieve climate sustainability by the textile industry and reduce its emissions to nill. Change within the fashion industry needs to happen, and it seems that there is progress. Personal choices have a role in mitigation- there needs to be action at all levels from individuals to big corporations, and from local to international governance, as only by working together and changing behaviours will see results. However, the individual actions of consumers and businesses can send a strong message and spark change. Just need to know….

“HOW SOON?’

“Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, commodities, and countries dearly today & even more tomorrow. People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, including changing water patterns,

rising sea levels, and more extreme weather events”.

“The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.”

-GOAL (UN Sustainable Development Goals) accessed

18th Nov.2016

Climate change is no more an environmental concern. It has emerged as the most significant development challenge for the economies as a whole. Its economic impacts, particularly on the developing nation, make it a governance issue.

Industrialized countries have managed to delink sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from economic growth but cannot do the same with CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. Per capita, CO2 emissions remain closely related to a country’s economic development level and, thus, standard of living. It is evident that till the time we reduce our dependence on CO2 (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas), growth cannot be delinked substantially from CO2 emissions.

Understanding the usage of CO2, there is an urgent need to curb the use of fossil fuels (which are being used by every individual in one way or the other) by changing our lifestyle and shifting our focus towards a sustainable form of lifestyle. As the call for action is becoming urgent with each passing day, the world is looking for answers (with bated breath) from all the global economies collectively. Though the onus is on the developing economies to cut down on the CO2 emissions (due to the high industrialization), it is equally essential that the developed economies contribute equally and become more energy-efficient and reduce their energy emissions.

As they say:

“It is a collaborative effort.”

After years of brainstorming and discussions amongst the veterans of climate change analysts, the renewable energy (that is being considered the substitute for usage of fossil fuels) constitutes just 2% of the world’s primary energy in the world (data is since 2010). This is worrisome as renewable sources are being considered as the most significant substitute.

THE WORLD is yet to delink growth from carbon emissions, and we (INDIA) as an emerging world can leapfrog to make the transition to a cleaner technological regime.

INDIA: we all are aware that it is at the brink where it can make or break a path in terms of climate change (since it is developing economy and we are still building our infrastructure and cities). But, it is necessary to know how INDIA is getting affected by climate change economically???

Let me try and answer the same according to my understanding of the INDIAN economy:

IMPACT ON INDIAN ECONOMY

INDIA, one of the fastest-growing economies of the world, faces the challenge of lowering its carbon emissions, making itself reliant on renewable sources of energy (or sustainable sources of life) and yet driving impressive economic growth. More than 80% of India’s population still live less than $10 per day. According to the World Human Development Index: India stands at 129th position, ensuring an immense scope for improvement in the Indian economy. It is because of this reason, India has been crowned as the flag bearer of developing a green or sustainable economy.

According to Mc. Kinsey Global Institute, nearly 75% of India’s labour workforce, is exposed to heat-related stress, thus putting the country’s economic growth at risk. It also mentions that by 2030 the average loss in daylight working hours could put 2%-4% of GDP at risk, reducing efficiency to a great extent. Furthermore, the absence of any prudent legal framework (legislation that is in place to combat the effects of climate change) by the INDIAN government makes the task of achieving a sustainable environment more cumbersome to perform.

To achieve the ultimate goal of a sustainable environment, the closest laws in place are the Air (prevention and control of air pollution) act, 1981 and the water (prevention and control of water pollution) act, 1974. These have been amongst the earliest actions to combat climate change, though the two haven’t been implemented in the same manner as intended. In addition to the above two, there was the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 that was brought in to fulfil the gap of the laws mentioned above (that were already existing). However, the above also have not been implemented correctly both by the central and the state governments.

This ensures that the Indian system lacks a legal framework that binds the government and the individuals, both simultaneously to work collectively to achieve the mammoth target of climate sustainability. With these grim facts about India’s response to curbing carbon emissions, there has been a silver lining in the form of initiatives that have been undertaken in the recent past. These initiatives also lay importance to the fact that INDIA is indeed trying and is committed to achieving its part in the global response to climate sustainability. Seen from the global perspective, India’s per capita carbon emissions are marginal @ 4% of the global emissions (Singh 2019). In absolute terms, too, India’s emissions and energy intensity are favourably low compared to international countries. Over the years, the energy growth has been significantly lower (less than 4% p.a.) than the economic growth (over 9% p.a.) (Growth 2011).

This reduced energy intensity at the relatively low level of India’s GDP has been the result of a range of factors, including sustainable patterns of consumption, proactiveness (though at a somewhat lower level) to enhance the efficiency of the resources, and more recently, the use of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies (Purohit 2019). Furthermore, the globally computed indices, namely Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) and Climate Risk Index (CRI) indicate that INDIA has been fairing pretty well in taking up proactive actions for the adaptation and mitigation techniques to solve the issue of climate change.

According to the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) (the index indicates the efforts made by a country to tackle climate change effectively); amongst the 58 states that were ranked in 2017, India stands at 20th position, which is a positive sign and ensures that India is on track ahead. Still, a lot needs to be achieved. According to Climate Risk Index (CRI), India stands at the 14th position, which means that India is highly vulnerable to climate change. It is adversely dangerous.

The Indian economy has benefitted immensely by investing in CDM projects. The total number of projects registered was 1452 compared to 8044 projects globally by the end of 2015. On the other hand, CDM projects in India facilitated an estimated investment of Rs. 1.6 trillion by the end of 2014, investing in CDM projects fruitful for the economy and the environment of India.

With all the above initiatives by the governments at the various fronts, India still lacks a legal framework and the will on the part of governments to work on a war footing basis to achieve the competitive target of climate sustainability. This, in turn, is impacting sectors significantly…. Let’s have a clear understanding of how sectors are getting affected by climate change:

A. TOURISM SECTOR

Tourism is the largest single sector in the world economy that accounts for 9% of global expenditure. Over 2 million people are dependent on the industry for employment.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “India will lose its tourism revenues if the temperature keeps rising.” With the climate change, there would be a threat to major tourist destinations in terms of extinction of species, decreasing freshwaters, increasing heat waves, inability to conduct/ play snow-based games as the people will not be able to visit these places.

Mumbai is the financial capital of INDIA, is expected to witness considerable losses in the number of tourists visiting the city by the year 2050. A rough estimate of about 19, 63,500 crores of rupees would be lost alone by the financial capital from its tourism sector by the year 2050. This figure could give a rough estimate of the magnitude of loss INDIA as a country would be facing due to lack of tourism.

The above is a petite figure to understand the losses; there are no significant facts and figures that can estimate the failure in the tourism sector in the decades to come. The only silver lining is to adopt a holistic approach in tackling the climate change problem in the industry and bring it back on the road to recovery.

B. MANUFACTURING SECTOR

It is incredibly discouraging to know that there is no concrete data available that can make us understand how the manufacturing sector will get impacted by climate change. The industry as a whole too is facing the heat of rising temperature and growth in environmental situations. More than 90% of manufacturing pollution comes from consumer used products such as electronics and vehicles. This contributes to the contribution of the sector to the global pollution of GHG (Green House Gases) for 19% and another 11% of the power used to produce these consumer goods. Furthermore, the temperature rise could add to the manufacturing sector’s fury, and in the year 2050, the global loss can be estimated to be around $47 billion.

Again, about INDIA’s financial capital, Mumbai could witness losses of around 15,08,138 crores rupees in the manufacturing sector by the year 2050. This is just an estimation that too, for only one city in the country. It is tough to imagine how devastating the figures can be when the entire country’s estimates are taken into consideration.

These figures are terrifying, but only a collaborative approach and the zeal to take dramatic steps will help curb the climate changes, thus, enabling the sector to flourish as it is desired.

C. INSURANCE SECTOR

Climate change is no longer a projection for emerging risks but is a reality for insurance companies worldwide.

Insurers have been researching what climate change effects mean to their businesses, and pricing of the insurances will be premium. However, the property, health, and life could still be left uninsured. According to estimates, the losses from global natural disasters in 2018 were approx. $160 billion, with half of the value, still left uninsured. Furthermore, the annual losses for more than 136 of the world’s largest coastal cities could rise from $6 billion in 2005 to over $1 trillion by 2050. This can be reduced if these cities invest about $50 billion annually in climate change adaptation without delay. The Bank of England warns that “Climate change could threaten economic resilience and financial stability severely.” According to Climate Wise: The insurance sector needs to use more of its $30 trillion of investments in funding society’s resilience to climate change effects.

Insurance is going to play a pivotal role in a country like INDIA, which is dominated by rain-fed agriculture. There is a vast scope for insurance to improve upon for INDIA and other developing countries and be the flag bearer for innovation. Lack of innovation and initiative by industry giants could prove a gargantuan challenge.

D. AUTOMOBILE SECTOR

Of the total global CO2 emissions, the transportation sector contributes to about 24%. The industry responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions; road transport (which consists of cars, trucks, buses), accounts for a whopping 74% of international transport CO2 emissions.

In the year 2018, more than 86 million new cars were produced, and of these, there was a soaring demand for heavier vehicles (like SUVs) that are responsible for a notch higher emissions into the atmosphere.

INDIAN automobile industry is one of the largest globally, and by 2026, it is expected to be the third-largest automobile market (in terms of volumes) in the world.

The industry currently manufacturers 26 million vehicles, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers, and quadricycles in March-April 2020. Of this, 4.7 million vehicles were exported. INDIA holds a strong position in the international market for heavy vehicles as it is the largest tractor manufacturer, second-largest bus manufacturer, and third largest heavy truck manufacturer in the world. This automobile sector is expected to reach $300 billion by 2026 (currently, it stands @ $118 billion).

With such promising figures, the automobile sector is flourishing rapidly (which is a positive sign). Having said so, if there is a time to take stock and recalibrate its sustainable strategy, it is NOW.

Stricter emission norms, higher taxes, lack of infrastructure (such as charging stations and cleaner fuels), and the uncertainty of mainstream consumer demand for electric and hybrid vehicles… creates innumerable challenges for the industry as a whole in terms of maintaining economic profitability and achieving environmental sustainability at the same time.

To achieve both of the parameters mentioned above at the same time, it is extremely important to innovate. Innovation is the key driver that can lead the way towards making INDIA a pioneer in eco-friendly technologies for cars. Adding to innovation, there is a requirement to influx fresh talent (that can add and create new ideas) and create an infrastructure base along with research and development (R&D) for promoting and achieving innovation.

This would be possible if both the government and industry stalwarts sit together and brainstorm with an ambition to achieve a cleaner and greener environment for the present and the future generations to live in.

E. OIL AND GAS SECTOR

Oil & gas firms have had far and more adverse climate impacts than thought off. According to a study, human emissions of fossil methane have been underestimated by up to 40%.

According to the UN Environment Program: Methane has a greenhouse effect that is about 80 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years, which is responsible for at least 25% of global heating.

Investments in oil and gas production over the next five years will lock in more than 1.5°C of global warming. 85% of global and gas expansion plans are in North America alone. The world today cannot afford and does not need more oil and gas development. In addition to catastrophic climate, change-expansion puts countries, communities, workers, and investors currently dependent on oil and gas financially at risk.

Indian oil and gas industry is amongst the eight core industries and plays a significant role in influencing decision-making for all other essential sections of the economy. The oil and gas sector is exposed to the range of climatic events and their potential impacts such as storm surges, floods, water scarcity, heat waves, etc.….. yet there is very little preparedness and planning for assessing how it may vary the future due to change in the climate. Indian oil and gas sector needs to be more concerned from the resilience point of view than mitigation of GHG (Green House Gases) emissions. To combat the impact of climate change, the sector needs to brainstorm over the following categories:

· Concerned companies take immediate actions about existing infrastructure and should within the next five years. The four most essential steps relate to conducting location-specific flood modelling exercises, exploring plant-specific water efficiency improvement options, and building a database to properly establish the impact of temperature rise on energy consumption and efficiency of operations.

· Maintaining long-term actions that pertain to existing and planned infrastructure and relate to building institutional capabilities at the national level in terms of building strategic knowledge and regulatory framework to understand climate change.

F. TEXTILE SECTOR

The textile industry is considered the most ecologically harmful industry in the world. The industry is enormous, and the environmental impacts occur at every stage of the fibres’ life cycle, yarn fabrication, fabric manufacture, wet processing, and manufacturing of the garment. The distribution and transportation to the stores, usage of the product, and the final stage of disposing of the product involve a massive amount of pollution.

The textile industry uses nearly 2000 different chemicals to transfer everything from dyes to agents. These chemicals pollute water significantly, causing water crises affecting the long-term environment ultimately. This contaminated water, pigments, de-fumer, bleach, and other powerful chemicals pollute the environment and increase heat, causing global warming.

Indian textile industry contributes 14% to industrial production, 3% to the GDP, 8% to the total excise revenue collection, and 17% to the country’s export earnings and employs nearly 40 million people. With these figures, the textile sector’s growth is enabled and facilitated by the use of material, leading to a manifold impact on the environment. The effects of the initiatives have been drastic both on human beings and the environment. This has given rise to the use of sustainable forms of fabrics that are ecofriendly in their usage and, at the same time, economically significant.

To maintain this kind of sustainability, the sector has developed considerably. However, this development has made the textile industry competitive in the global market but hurts human life and the environment as a whole. Automation and modernization increased the production speed, but the result has been extremely negative on water, air, and lead to severe health hazards.

It is now on the government and the industry together to sit and brainstorm to make their industry more environmentally sustainable and economically significant, together at the same time.

G. PHARMA SECTOR

For the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, the impact of climate change is two-folds, responding to the increased risk of certain diseases and conditions and decarbonizing their processes and products to prevent the worsening effect.

The sector is far from green. A study by environment engineers at the University of Ontario: found that the industry is significantly more emission-intensive (13% or more) than the automotive industry despite being 28% smaller.

According to an analysis, combined CO2 emissions from hospitals, health services, and medical supply chains across the OCED group (37 countries across the globe including US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, etc.) plus China and India comprise 4% of total global emissions footprint…. more significant than either aviation or shipping.

The NHS (National Health Services) in the UK has been found to produce 5.4% of England’s total carbon emissions. The pharmaceutical company must retain a focus on driving decarbonization and best practice sustainability in the house as in product design. In 2015, the Global Pharmaceutical Industry produced 55% more CO2 than the automotive industry.

Understanding the above, the shift to a far more rapid decarbonization rate across the pharma industry, and the broader healthcare sector will require significant action. Focused efforts can deliver decarbonization results and can be delivered alongside economic growth and expansion service.

According to IDC: FutureScape, Worldwide Datacenter 2019, global pharmaceutical performance demonstrated that the company’s leading on emissions (Amegen, Johnson & Johnson, and Roche Holding) were also most profitable in the sector. This is clear proof that there are economic opportunities in innovating for the future.

H. AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes, both of which take place at the international level, i.e., global scale. Climate change affects farming in several ways, including through growth in the average temperatures, rainfall, and climate extremes (heat waves, etc.), changes in pests and diseases, changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone concentrations, changes in the nutritional quality of some foods, etc. to name a few.

Changes in the climate are already affecting agriculture, the impacts of which have been unevenly distributed across the world. The climate changes will probably increase the risk of food insecurity for some vulnerable groups; for example, South America may lose 1%-21% of its arable land area, Africa 1%-18%, Europe 11%-17%, and India 20%-40% approx. The accelerating pace of climate change, combined with global population and income growth, threatens food security everywhere. Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures eventually reduce the yields of desirable crops while encouraging weed and pest proliferation. Pests management becomes less effective, meaning that higher rates of pesticides will be necessary to achieve the same control levels. Heatwaves can cause extreme heat stress in crops, limiting yields if they occur during certain times of the plants’ life-cycle (pollination, pod, or fruit set). Also, heat waves can result in wilted plants (due to elevated transpiration rates), which can cause yield loss if not counteracted by irrigation. Heavy rains that often result in flooding can also be detrimental to crops and soil structure. The overall impacts of climate change on farming are expected to be negative, threatening global food security.

Indian agriculture remains vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming climate change threat can make it vulnerable further. It is estimated that farm incomes could reduce by 15-18% and 20-25% in unirrigated areas since agriculture accounts for a large share of GDP (16%) and an even greater employment share (around 49%).

The Economic Survey in 2017-18 has warned that “climate change could reduce annual agricultural incomes in the range of 15% to 18% on an average, and up to 20% to 25% for unirrigated areas”.

With all the above figures, sustainable development within climate change is the need of the hour. It is necessary for the government and the industry along with farmers at the grass root levels to effectively and swiftly achieve the desired sustainability.

After understanding all the sectors and their contribution towards INDIA’s economy, it is clear that the road towards a sustainable environment is a long way. There is an immense scope of improvement, and a sea of opportunities are in front of the CEOs that they can adopt to achieve climate sustainability. There are lots of opportunities, but the obvious question to be raised is….

Whether the CEOs are taking enough steps in the right direction, or do they view the problem of climate change as the corporate problem or no????

The answer to this is that CEOs do acknowledge climate change as the corporate problem but are clueless about the road ahead. Awareness levels about climate change are at the highest levels than ever; however, the shape of future corporate strategies is to be formulated at a large scale.

The issue of climate change needs immediate attention by the corporates and the governments, and to counter the effects of climate change, nearly 3% of the GDP could be spent. With such a vast population, inadequate infrastructure and lack of policies, climate change is a defining subject that must be addressed to maintain the economy’s pace. With the resilient economy and ecology that is fragile, INDIA is looking for ways to achieve sustainable development – economically sound, socially relevant, and environmentally friendly. Economic growth at the cost of degradation of the environment will aggravate poverty, unemployment, and disease. Thus, the integration of development with that of the environment has been at the forefront of India’s policymaking. The question is:

“Are we ready?”

“In a world, where profit is consistently put before both the people and the planet, climate economics has everything to do with ethics & morality.”

Naomi Klein, Canadian author, and activist

ASIA: Earth’s largest and the most populated continent, covering about 30% of earth’s total land area and 8.7% of its total surface area. China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 C.E. China was major economic power and attracted many to the east, and for many, the legendary wealth and prosperity of the ancient culture of Asia personified ASIA.

The earth’s climate is changing for more than 10,000 years of relative stability, and Asia is on the front line. Climate science speaks that absence of adaptation and mitigation of the climate hazards the region faces in the future, from heat waves to flooding, the impacts could be more intense and severe in ASIA compared to the other parts of the world. As Asia seeks to grow its economy and remain the key source of growth for the rest of the wo

rld, the climate is a critical challenge that the region will need to manage.

Off the top five global pollution emitters, Asia homes three (3) of the top five (5) emitters. China, India, and Japan have been ranked as the 1st, third and fifth, respectively, in the top 5 global polluters list. Being the most populous continent globally, the population boom ensures Asia emits more CO2 than any other region. Adding to the above problem is t

he desire to industrialize and rise to the eastern continents’ levels. With this desire and the historical differences (in terms of growth and industrialization), the developing countries have time and again agreed to continue to increase their carbon emissions (the catch is: developing countries industrialize more and developed countries should reduce more on carbon emissions).

Asia is regularly identified as one of the regions that are hit the hardest due to global warming. The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change has noted that Asia’s large population, the frequency of natural disasters, and a chaotic urbanization process with population relocated to coastal crises make Asia vulnerable to climate change.

According to The World Bank: “more than half of South Asia will see a decline in living standards due to rising temperature, impacting agricultural production and likely triggering mass migration.”

Amongst all the Asian countries, Vietnam will be one of the most severely impacted by climate change due to the long coastline. This long coastline is highly vulnerable to storms and floods. Because of its large low-lying areas, the country is always in danger both in climate disasters and economic development. One of the significant provinces is in the southern Mekong Delta, one of the most productive areas contributing to the Vietnamese economy’s substantial economic growth. The researchers estimate that most of the Mekong Delta will

be submerged into water due to rising sea levels resulting in a significant financial crunch for the economy.

Knowing ASIA and its overall demographics in terms of climate change, it is essential to understand (in brief) what impact climate change has on global and Asian economies. Let’s understand

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON GLOBAL ECONOMY

The impacts of climate change are many and diverse. Determining whether these impacts are beneficial or detrimental, small or large, will depend on the sector, location, and time being considered. To understand various aspects like crops hit by worsening drought crops growing faster due to CO2 fertilization, increasing heat stress, decreasing cold pressure, rising sea-level, increasing energy demand for cooling, species going extinct, etc..…. the list is long and endless. Thus, we need aggregate indicators to assess whether climate change is

, on balance, a good or bad thing and whether the climate change problem is large or small compared to other issues the society (at large) faces.

The global economy will be at least smaller by 3% by 2050 owed solely to the effects of climate change, including weather and rising sea levels. The above figure has been laid in “framework from data experts at the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2019”.

Africa is the least resilient region to the impact of climate change, and its economy will likely contract by at least 4.7% by 2050. Latin America would contract at least by 3.8% by 2050, followed by the Middle East and Eastern Europe that will contract by 3.7% and 3%, respectively. Asian Pacific economy would contract the least to an estimate of 2.6% by 2050.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) forecasted in 2019 that the North American economy would contract by 1.1% by 2050 while Western Europe prepares itself for contraction by 1.7%. Both these regions are wealthier and are more equipped to handle climate change effects from an institutional viewpoint than the other counterparts in the globe. According to John Ferguson (Group’s Country Analysis Director, EIU): the economic impacts will grow over time, and a 3% loss of real GDP in 2050 is highly significant for the global economy.

According to International Monetary Fund, 2008: the impact of climate change will not be uniformly distributed across the globe; it is the developing countries like

Africa and Asia that are most at risk and are most likely to disproportionately experience the negative impacts of climate change and also, the negativity in the economy. The aftermath of natural disasters may lead to revenue reductions due to negative impacts on tourism, agriculture, and the fishing sector.

According to a report by Hallegatte, Dumas, Hourcade, 2010, the developing economies would have two-fold negative impacts.

· The first of these would be in the form of increased strain on domestic budgets, fewer resources in the form of aid, and economic development funds.

· The second will be towards the governments forced to divert funds towards funding and monetizing climate adversities rather than productive projects.

Adding to the above two, the report suggested that such countries will have less capacity to rebuild and less time recovering from natural disasters.

According to the World Bank, ASIA would be amongst the worst affected by climate change, and its economy will contract largely due to its inability to deal with the adversities and constantly being on the restructuring path rather than on the productive and growth path. This is because of the low latitude position of the continent.

It is a well-known phenomenon that the economy would be impacted greatly by the rising climate, and ASIA is the worst impacted.

BUT HOW?????

I WANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS……. LET’S UNDERSTAND THIS TOGETHER……!!!!!!

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON ASIA

“The financial climate, it seems, has been as unforgiving as the atmospheric one!”

Both the climate and the economic experts believe that ASIA is the worst impacted and is the most vulnerable region to climate change on the planet. With more than 60% of the world’s population living in ASIA alone, this phenomenon poses a serious concern for policymakers.

Although economic analysis of climate change is a comparatively new issue, numerous studies have been conducted worldwide that estimates the impact of climate change economically on various nations. Within ASIA, south-east Asia is the region that is most vulnerable to climate change and, thus, would be maximum impacted by climate change economically as well.

Being the developing continent compared to its counterparts, the Asian continent has seen rapid economic growth that has uplifted its economic standards over the decades. However, the development pattern has not been environmentally sustainable, and its increase in CO2 emissions (over 5% annually) has made it as fastest-growing CO2 emitters driving climate change amongst all its peers.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)… if the trend persists, Asia (particularly in south-east Asia) will sustain bigger economic losses than estimated. A study conducted by ADB suggests that if it is business as usual (BAU), i.e., no control by the governments of the Asian countries than an estimated 11% of GDP would be lost by 2100.

Along with the physical risks (that can be viewed over time), the long term economic risks would be severe and intense. So what are these economic risks???

Let’s take a look:

A. Increased risk of river flooding, coastal induation, and sea-level rise

By 2100 there would be an increase in sea level rise by 70 cms and this would mean loss of land and salinity intrusion (means the movement of saltwater to freshwater that will lead to water degradation). This loss of land could be about 1% of land by 2050. Salinity intrusion could cause the loss of thousands of hectares of productive paddy and agricultural land, making farmers jobless and at a loss of work. This will impact the economy drastically.

B. Increased Water Stress

With the development there comes the use of water resources to a great extent. The water resources are going to be under stress due to excess demand, ultimately leading to water stress for nearly 190 million people by 2050. With development, there is increased emissions that will ultimately increase evaporation of water, hence, reduced water supply for drinking water and agriculture—a direct impact on the economy at large.

C. Increased risk from intense cyclones and storms

An increase or change in climate will lead to an increase in cyclones and storms across Asia, and the same would be with higher intensity. The increase of these cyclones would impact the areas highly, resulting in a huge amount of damage to life and property. Since, growth of any economy is possible if all its sectors grow together having a collaborative and coordinated effort and hence, the growth would be derailed and badly affected.

D. Decline of agricultural production and productivity

Agriculture is conditioned by temperature and rainfall, and thus, it is vulnerable to climatic conditions. An increase in temperature can cause heat stress and crop sterility, while a reduction in night temperature may reduce yields. Changes in rainfall will lead to water deficit stress, flooding losses, changes to seasonal duration that often cause production declines.

South-East Asia produces nearly 30% of rice supply and the fluctuating temperature will result in a decline in rice production by up to 5% between 2010-2050. In addition to this, approximately 7% of the land of Vietnam could submerge into the water due to a 1-meter-sea-level rise.

E. Increased risk of heat-related mortality and water-and vector-borne diseases

Rising temperature leads to a change in climate and ultimately increases the risk of mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. It also increases the thermal stress and proliferation of water-and-vector-borne diseases. All these infections and the various diseases will lead to a high rate of mortality by the end of the 21st century.

All these diseases will impact the economy badly since a healthy economy can be achieved only when the economy has healthy human resources.

F. Loss of labor productivity

Human labor is only possible without medical risk up to a certain humidity-adjusted temperature limit- this phenomenon is as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT). The decrease in labor productivity will add on to the business leaders wows and the growth process will slow down. This will additionally add on to the government’s stress as loss of productivity will lead to unemployment, ultimately derailing the growth of the economy as a whole.

G. Higher resources demand

With rising sea levels, storms, floods, and many such natural disasters, infrastructure at the coastal regions will face a high amount of destruction requiring much more repair, reconstruction, and increased reinforcement.

Furthermore, the increased climate will influence the need for more energy in order to meet the demand for cooling equipment. These cooling equipment will add to the demand for electricity. According to Bosello et al. 2012, it is estimated that electricity demand is going to increase by 12% in DA5 countries against a no-climate-change baseline, mainly driven by cooling needs.

H. Coral reef extinction and coastal ecosystem collapse

About 40% of the world’s coral reefs are found in Asia, with the world’s most diverse reef communities in the “coral triangle” as well as extensive seagrass beds supporting most of the world’s seagrass species.

With under 4°C of warming within the 21st century, virtually all coral reefs within Asia will be extinct, along with the marine system that it supports. This will ultimately hamper the businesses that are based on marine ecology, and thus, this will directly impact the economy and its growth, making society less productive as a whole.

I. Loss of terrestrial forests and biodiversity

Plant and trees have a relatively long life span and have limited ability to migrate or adapt quickly as per the change in climatic conditions or rising temperatures. This results in limited ability to adapt to changes in floods, deadly diseases, epidemics or pandemics, etc. ultimately leading to drought-like situations, thus, ensuring the emergence of drought-like situations more frequent and prevalent.

The climate fluctuations will lead to a risk of loss of around 30% of tropical forest area (according to Zelazowskict at, 2011) in Asia. When endemic flora is lost, the fauna is also at risk of extinction. Loss of natural forests will eliminate supplies of energy, food, timber, fiber, etc. along with crucial ecosystem services.

All this loss will impact the economy hugely as the economic and business processes are directly or indirectly impacted by the availability of natural resources.

These are huge risks that need immediate attention and action on the part of the governments and the corporates. Collaborative and collective action is the need of the hour. This would entail shifting to a low-carbon economy or an economy that is based on carbon sources that have minimal GHG (Green House Gases) emissions.

By now, it is a well-established fact that Asian countries are at a huge risk in terms of impact on its economy due to environmental conditions. It is also well-known that Asian countries can lead the way to global climate action by shifting towards a low-carbon economy. It is now on the countries or on the economies (including the most important aspect: “manpower”) as a whole to decide collectively how they can achieve the massive target of low or zero carbon emissions. It is imperative that the governments of each and every country have to brainstorm greatly to first start working within so that they can make the global impact being….. “FELT”.

It is extremely important that we start saving our home first and then move to our neighbors to help achieve environmental sustainability.

“It is easier said it done.”

Having understood all this, I want to know….. How can I protect my home????? Also, I want to understand how can I contribute (as a citizen) to achieve environmental sustainability??? In addition to these, I also want to know how my government and the business leaders work together (and also independently) in achieving the curb of GHG (Green House Gases) so that environment is a better place to live in and breathe in…????

Lastly, I want to understand how my country (India) is preparing to achieve zero carbon emissions and make the environment cleaner and greener for the generations to come……

Let’s analyze…..

“Every single C.E.O. and board is having to figure out what their carbon footprint is and what they are going to do about it”

Paul Tudor Jones II, the investor and founder of Just Capital, Jan 2020

Imagine a scenario where rationing on water has become mandatory in California, delay in rains leads to widespread hunger in Africa, China becoming the dominant user of the energy consumption………..

SCARY……. Isn’t it????

Concerns about climate change has been rising since a decade now, and the situation is worsening with each passing month/ year. Rising temperatures have led to the tensions amongst the business leaders across the globe that are stemming from trade, geo-political and domestic conflicts.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that the likely costs of just 2°C of global warming would be of the order of 0.5-2.0% of global GDP by the middle of the century; even if strong adaption measures (to reach environmental sustainability) are taken. In the United States, reports from the Risky Business Project (that uses a standard risk-assessment approach to determine the range of potential consequences to each region of the US-as well as for selected sectors of the economy-if the Americans continue with their existing path of climate conservation. To add further: the research focused on the clearest and most economically significant of these risks namely damage to coastal property and infrastructure from the rising sea-levels and increased storm surge, climate driven changes in agricultural production and energy demand, and the impact of higher temperature on labor productivity and public health) show that the economic impacts of Climate Change will likely grow. For example: within the next 15 years, the higher sea levels combined with storm surge will likely increase the average annual cost of coastal storms along the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico by $2 billion to $3.5 billion.

Saving the planet takes a lot of money and money is both the theme and the sub-text of initiating action in the climate process. The United Nations process that initially started with coming to the climate change conferences and observe and advice about the adversities of the rising climate (due to increased use of fossil fuels) is now all about the “show-and-tell” virtue. There has been a dramatic shift in the manner the UN conducts its climate conferences now. “Momentum is there”- declared Paul Polman, the former Unilever CEO (after having attended the UN conferences in previous years). According to him: “Climate change is the biggest opportunity of all times and we are close to several policy tipping points”.

According to the experts, there is mounting pressure for change to mitigate and adapt to the direct impacts of climate risk and its connected downstream risks. Businesses are also facing huge risks internally as well…..from its employees being unhappy about the management’s climate change initiatives and not being able to project the organization as the environmental friendly one.

In addition to the above, the industry insiders (on the condition of being anonyms) do confirm about the sky high pressure that the corporations are witnessing from its investors. The industry stalwarts do acknowledge that the leaders today are facing great heat from all of its stakeholders to engage in low-carbon transition or net-zero emissions plans to sustain in competition in the long run. In addition to this, financial regulators are also demanding for transparency against climate scenario like making the climate risk disclosure legislation and litigation against the companies mandatory. The companies that fail to disclose the climate risk should face serious consequences from both the government and the stakeholders. Example: Bank of England that stresses upon testing banks and insurers on the above mentioned parameters.

As the former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman mentioned that we are close to several tipping points… the companies need to be more strategically resilient and should be able to convert risks to significant opportunities in order to align themselves in the direction of change. To be able to do so, the companies can adopt some of below mentioned approaches:

a. Take a TRIM TAB Approach to climate change

According to Amy Edmondson: “business leaders are often depicted as greedy and short-sighted, who refuse to face crucial issue like climate change and subsequently find it difficult to change the perception.”

The term “bully-point” was coined by Theodore Roosevelt where “bully” meant “terrific.” The term was coined to explain the power and potential of speaking out and influencing public opinion. In today’s time, the same is used to describe any position with the potential to get public’s attention.

With the above explained concept Amy Edmondson wanted to explain that the business leaders today have bully point that is unparalled in history, provided they are ready to take the advantage of the opportunity.

Having access to various social media platforms and various forms of communication, it is very easy for the leaders to voice their opinion about climate change and also, to explain what all steps they are undertaking to minimize its impact.

This exemplify a simply fact that the leaders in today’s time do acknowledge the threat to the society in the decades to come, created by their operations; but with the selfish motive to earn quarterly profits, they refuse or in other words, choose to ignore the same. In fact, behind the close doors many thoughtful leaders throw up their arms thinking “my company is just a drop in the bucket” OR “until regulations happen” OR “there is nothing that my company can do or make a difference”.

This is where TRIM and TAB comes in!!!!

To maintain the business of climate change and to be economically and strategically sustainable, business leaders must recognize this principle and just get started. In other words, to be a flag-bearer in bringing about change and accepting climate change as an important stake holder, it is imperative that the leader take small steps and inching closer to sustainability with each step. In short,

Just “Trim & Tab”

b. Tackling Climate Change will cost less than We Think

Yes, it’s true!!!!

Prof. Rebecca Henderson argues that an inaction on the climate change will prove to be a costly affair than the timely action. According to United Nations estimates: roughly 1% of the world’s GDP a year or about $840 billion would be needed to curb the impact of climate change.

The above seems to be small number in comparison to the various studies that has been undertaken over the years. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: damages from uncontrolled Climate Change (an increase of 3.4 degree Celsius) could cost $12 trillion (2.8% global output) by 2095. Moreover, the same study suggests that delaying action could increase mitigation cost by 40% every decade, making it impossible to climate change impacts.

Building an energy efficient, decarbonized economy is a massive shift and will require the transformation of almost every company’s business model. Making changes in the business model is a major shift and involves a lot of planning and persistence on behalf of the leaders. However, having said so, it is still an achievable task. How??? Let’s discuss with an example:

There have been many investments in the field of energy conservation and many

of such investments have already been NPV (Net Profit Value) positive. A very

recent report (pdf) estimated that an investment of $3.2 trillion worldwide in

energy conservation would avoid new supply investments of $3 trillion and would

pay for itself within 3-5 years, while a recent Department of Defense sponsored

study (pdf) concluded that using LEED-silver or equivalent standards in the design

and construction of new buildings increased construction by less than 1% while

reducing energy costs by between 5-30% over the life of the building. Between

1990-2012 IBM reduced electricity consumption by 6.1 billion KWh, saving $477

Million through energy conservation alone.

There can be plenty of such examples on energy conservation. The idea behind citing these examples is that business on one hand is greatly impacted by climate change but on the other hand, non-action on the part of business leaders will impact the business to a larger extent and that too negatively. Ultimately, every leader aims to sustain in the competitive scenario in the long run. Whether it sustains after investing small amount today or by investing huge chunks tomorrow……..

IS DECISION THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE?

c. Need a miracle: Nuclear Energy can be the Answer

According to Joe Lassiter: nuclear power is the answer to the dangerous carbon emissions.

Various world’s governments- the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India and the rest confirms that they fully expect their citizens to continue burning fossil fuels and releasing CO2 emissions at the above rates that by 2100. This will outstrip the cumulative amount of atmospheric CO2 needed to increase the average world temperature by 2°C if not by 6°C; and after 2100, world will have to live with the elevated temperatures and acidified oceans for 100 years or more.

Apart from China, all the other nations pledge to keep their emissions flat. But, the urge for economic growth makes the usage of fossil fuels and fuel emissions by the Chinese firms at an alarmingly high rate. This is devastating for the world at large and it need to be curbed. To curb this there is a form of energy that needs to be adopted and promoted by all the leaders. This is “nuclear power energy” and this needs to be replaced with the traditional use of energy.

This nuclear power is not the traditional one but is the one that is much safer even with today’s reactors. This energy form can run on today’s uranium as radioactive waste fuels like thorium (a waste product of rare earth mining) and depleted uranium (the waste product left is spent nuclear fuel rods).

The above is a great option but for any business leader to adopt them there are large barriers: such as outdated nuclear regulations that scare most of the leaders. According to Prof. Lassiter, it is difficult to adopt nuclear energy as the new means but it is imperative that the leaders today become nuclear driven entrepreneurs and must act today in order to conserve environment.

d. The ABC’s: Business Perspective

The business of climate change requires active participation on the part of leaders to ensure that the diversity is addressed in a proper manner. It involves that the focus should be on bringing about the change and cut down on the distraction on the part of the leaders. Prof. John Macomber (Senior lecturer of Business Administration) proposes ABC’s for the business leaders to address climate change in a more economic efficient way and to stay more sustainable in the competitive world. These ABC’s are:

· Actuarial thinking: means assessing probabilities and portfolio risks for the companies to look at what might or might not happen while a natural calamity. It’s a way where financial managers cover the possibility of unlikely but high event impacts.

· Basic Resources: society needs to collectively address the basics of water, energy, waste and transit so that we (as a business house) do a lot more with the resources and in a more efficient way so that the needs of the society as a whole are met with. Investments in efficiency and access benefits many sectors and this, in turn, gives enough opportunities to the business leaders to think out of the box and create value for them and sustainable environment within and outside the organization.

· Cities: For any business leader to be sustainable yet be competitively at the top, it becomes imperative that he works in accordance of the laws of the land and work closely with local leaders/ mayors. This is particularly important mainly for two reasons: first being the local leaders are more aware about the availability of resources and hence, the business leader can devise its strategy in accordance of the availability; and second working closely with these local leaders helps the business houses to allocate resources in a balanced manner making the development in sync for both the smaller and larger cities.

Another important aspect is working with local leaders is that these leaders together with the national leaders make the growth inclusive with active participation of the local citizens as well making the issue of climate change look smaller and well achievable. As the former Mayor of NYC Michael Bloomberg said “Nations talk, cities act”.

· Demand Management: it is difficult to manage the adversity of climate change and still have economically profitable and sustainable business. Still, if the leader aims at having modern ways and means in managing demand, the resources will not get wasted and the complexity of climate change will be well under control. Example: Ener NOC in the demand response space, and Johnson Controls, in the energy performance space that creates business value by stretching resources further.

· Finance: Prof. John D Macomber lays the greatest emphasis on finance. According to him, the projects needs to be additive so that funding is collective and the projects become competitive, resource efficient as a whole. It is greatly emphasized that the projects that are being carried out should be done by organizations/ companies/ individuals that are well-versed with their job. This leads to less wastage of available resources and the project is completed faster. Also, making the cash flow tradable makes the leaders have more capital that can be invested in reducing wasted energy, less CO2 and less wasted water.

These ABC’s help the leaders to adopt sustainable practices in improving environmental conditions and stay competitive alongside.

e. An Aggressive CEO

Scientists have reached consensus about the consequences of climate change and at the same time corporations have achieved unprecedented political war. CEO’s in today’s time are like rockstars those enjoy position to educate public and policy makers the climate change is critical for stable long-term economic growth.

However, it is imperative that CEO’s become aggressive in voicing their opinion about climate change in order to become economically viable and environmentally sustainable. An aggressive leader can approach the complexity of climate change with both the public and the decision makers together so as to make its voice heard and, hence, bring about change.

Knowing all this, the obvious question that arises:

“Which CEO will be the flag-bearer for Climate Change & Economic Sustainability”??

In a world of more than seven billion people, each of us is a drop in the bucket.

But

With enough drops, we can fill any bucket.

David Suzuki

When I cycle to work on my working days, when I choose to go vegetarian/ vegan in my diet, or when I protest at one of the climate strikes, I feel like I am doing my bit. Then, a thought comes into my mind- Why aren’t businesses across the world doing enough? Indeed, they have just as much of a role (or maybe even more significant) to play in the fight against climate control as I feel?

As the world warms, extreme weather events have become the “it” thing in our day-to-day lives. In fact, they have grown frequent, intense, and dangerous to the extent that many of our plant and animal species fear “being extinct” in the decades to come. The IPCC 2018 special report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees in the decades ahead makes me (or any individual) wonder as to why no radical steps are being taken by the governments of the various economies? Besides, I really want to understand why businesses worldwide are not playing a central role in curbing greenhouse emissions?

Adding to the above set of questions, I want to ponder upon what companies (across the globe) can do (in a collective manner) to curb the impacts of temperature rise in our day-to-day lives? What can these large organizations do to attain economic profitability as they have been doing so far, yet maintaining a curb on climate or temperature rise?

To add to the list, I want to know why is communicating the climate change initiatives (that have been undertaken by the companies) a mammoth task for any organization? What are the reasons that an organization, when it takes some initiatives on climate control, finds it challenging to communicate the same to the world, and if it does that-is unable to succeed in the desired way????

Tough questions and more challenging are the answers keeping in mind the global scenario in which our organization functions………. Let’s understand the last part of the set of questions posted since I feel communication is the essence of the success of any organization.

Climate rise is playing a growing role in the business competition. There is a dire need to pay attention to the greenhouse emissions by various industries. However, many corporates do not feel the heat of climate change. There has been an outburst of public voices demanding the need to communicate the measures taken by various companies at various levels.

Companies that perceive climate change as a social responsibility rather than a business problem are at a higher risk compared to those that take it as a business and economic issue than just acknowledging it a “Social Responsibility.” Organizations that are committed to making “Climate Change and its impacts” as an essential stakeholder in their business activities gain an edge in strategizing their policies and achieving their economic objectives alongside fulfilling their social responsibilities. However, such organizations do face a significant challenge- “The challenge of communicating its policies to all its other stakeholders.”

To communicate the steps that an organization takes or intends to take is actually a mammoth task and requires a lot of patience and perseverance on behalf of the companies. Acknowledging it to be a difficult task, communicating about climate change is possible and very much achievable. Before understanding how we can achieve a positive communication strategy for climate change, let’s know why climate change and corporate communications do not go hand in hand……????

I understand there can be two reasons behind this:

• The very first reason can be our “Human Psychology.” Humans perceive climate change as a thing of the future and do not take it seriously today. Our (humans) remarkable ability to filter the information according to our previously held beliefs and thoughts, do not allow us to register the severity of the subject at the top of our minds. It is because of this reason that whatever our governments or other concerned agencies communicate with us on the topic, we filter it and are unable to comprehend that the disaster is just around the corner and is waiting to destroy our development.
• The other reason could the way the facts and the information is being presented to the target stakeholder. Climate change has been a subject that is always backed by scientific data, graphs, analysis, figures, etc. which is extremely difficult to comprehend. Further, the information being presented in the way it scares the people at large, making it even more complex to make the world understand…..that it can be stopped and success can be achieved in controlling temperature rise.

This complexity of data and facts makes the people unmoved and less interested in the subject altogether, making it too tiresome to convince them about the need to take action instantly.

The above factors make it a tedious task for both the governments and the corporations to communicate climate change to the world. Multiple factors are considered before a communication strategy is devised and implemented to explain the measures that any company is taking to incorporate climate change as a significant stakeholder.

It is evident that communication can make or break any company’s sustainable strategy. So what’s that a company needs to keep in mind while devising this communication strategy???? I want to know more and hope you would like to add more too……. Let’s educate ourselves further:

A. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

There is no “one-style-fits-all” approach in communicating about climate change and the company’s role in tackling it. Before devising an effective communication strategy, it becomes imperative that the company understands its audience, i.e., it must identify whether it is communicating with the government (of any country), agencies that are directly or indirectly connected with climate change, business policymakers, supply chain vendors or its direct consumers……

Different agencies require a different way in which a message is communicated. However, it becomes mandatory that the company ensures its central theme remains the same. In other words, VISION & MISSION statements are not compromised.

As discussed, individuals are receptive to any form of information according to their beliefs, values, past experiences, or even intuitive perceptions and filter the rest of the information that crosses them. By filtering part of the message and receiving another part of it makes the message incomplete, and its relevance gets lost, and an individual is left with half or incomplete information, which in turn is harmful to both the company and the person itself. This can be explained with an example:

Supposedly, my (I am assuming that I have to develop the communication strategy) organization (irrespective of the nature of my business) wants to communicate the impact of my company activities on climate to the government (let’s say my home country) and the agencies that related directly or indirectly to climate change or the policymakers of my organization…. I can use facts, figures, graphs, or analysis to describe the impact. Such a method will be highly receptive to these sets of audiences.

Similarly, I have to use examples for the procedures or materials that I want to adopt in the future to reduce the greenhouse emissions along with retaining my profitability at the same pace (for my supply chain vendors)…. Will enable a healthy communicating strategy in improving my supply chain.

Lastly, if I have to educate my end consumers as to how and what all changes I am making in my organization to make it more environmentally friendly and achieving higher sustainability… I have to create a message that is in sync with the values, beliefs of the people at large and, at the same time, emphasizes the central theme of my organization’s VISION to make them sit back and notice my efforts.

Though it is extremely difficult to perceive what the various stakeholders will notice and accept in order to appreciate an organization’s effort in achieving its sustainability goals, there can be a small manual that any organization can follow to understand its respective audiences. According to this manual, there are 3 ways to get a fair idea of what our target audiences are thinking about what will be an effective way to establish contact with them. These 3 ways are:

It is necessary that the company does its homework in terms of what its target audiences are? What do they believe in? What are their values and beliefs system? What local issues do they deal with in their day-to-day lives? What kind of expectations do they hold from their governments in terms of the development of their area?? Etc. etc. (this kind of homework is necessary in case a company is functioning in different countries since every country has a unique set of political, social, and cultural views).

Having a basic idea of how and what our target audiences are, the next step is to understand as to what’s their basic knowledge in the given area. In other words, it is necessary to understand whether the communication strategy should be to educate the target audiences (in our case, it is about climate change) or to enhance the existing understanding level.

To have an in-depth understanding of the target audience or, in other words, to understand the what/ Why/Where/When/For whom/ How about the audience; establishing a dialogue with them is a great way. This can be done with the help of interviews with certain focus groups that represent certain characteristics that are relevant to our field of study. This will greatly help in having a communication strategy that will fall in sync with the VISION and the MISSION of the company.

All these measures will help in having a fair idea about the target audiences, which will be of great help in establishing communication in the future.

B. MAKE IT TANGIBLE

Climate change is a very nebulous concept, and to attract the attention of the audience, first-hand impacts an action (or inaction) taken becomes necessary.

An organization that intends to communicate its efforts take the help of the written facts, figures, etc. to explain its efforts. This, however, is a great way to communicate but makes the audience walk away from the organizations. To overcome this use of concepts like storytelling, images, etc. make the impact of communicating climate change more real, and the audience becomes more receptive to the communication message.

Having said so, it is necessary to understand that creating an image to substantiate what one wants to communicate is a hefty task since an image has to appeal and also should be able to retain its central message intact.

Another important advantage of creating advertising campaigns, images, or storytelling bulletins is that it helps in building “recall.” A recall helps the organizational communicators to associate the audience with their taglines or slogans, ultimately making it easier for the audience to create imagery associations in their mind that keeps the brand at the top of the list.

However, it is imperative that the organization decides as to what kind of message they intend to send across its audiences, i.e., whether the aim is only to attract the attention of the audience (towards the initiatives that it is taking) and make them believe that the company is an eco-friendly one OR they want their audience to act/react/to participate along with them (in the initiatives that it undertakes) to improve upon the climate change conditions.

An image or an ad campaign or a storytelling bulletin that is created by the climate change communicators can make an impact greatly, and they become more receptive to the communication process (regarding the steps that the company wants to take to reduce the impacts on climate change) and become more engaged with the organization and its initiatives.

Having a clear basic understanding of the target audience and the understanding of how and by what means the message it intends to communicate; another aspect to take into consideration is what kind of image/ ad campaign/ storytelling it is going to use so that more and more people can relate themselves with it. This is also important because a clear, tangible image or story will build up a sequence in the minds of the audience, and they will be able to put things in colors or numbers or words.

Making things tangible makes the tasks a lot easier. So what kind of message an organization wants to convey???

· Is it about promoting the idea of climate change?… this would mean that the organization wants to take cues from its audiences to develop new ways to reduce the impact on climate change (from the activities to run its business).

· Is it about preventive actions that organizations want to take?……where the companies intend that its audience take action at a more individualistic level?

· Is it about taking actions now or in the future

· Is it about communicating the impact of climate change on a national level or at a global level?

These questions can help the climate communicators to create a campaign that clearly brings the subject in words, images, or slogans. This is a difficult task because motivating a mass audience with one ad campaign or slogan or image can be quite risky. In order to cut down on the risk, certain changes can be made, keeping in mind the cultures, government laws, etc. however, keeping the central message the same.

C. CREATE A CONVERSATION, NOT AN ARGUMENT

The concept of climate change has been distorted many times in various different ways. It, therefore, becomes important that the organizations communicate the right piece of information from a credible set of groups. To add to the above, it is even more important than the climate change communicators to communicate such information to the right of a set of information so that they are able to create a dialogue and can avoid any indulgence in confrontation.

For an organization to be able to communicate its message effectively and within a time frame, it becomes important that they identify the groups that can influence their target audience in the process of decision making. This way, they will be able to engage their audience in a healthy way. To be able to do so, it is imperative the communicators identify the “social identities and affiliations.”

By social identities and affiliations, I mean that the organization needs to understand what all groups the audiences (target audience to be precise) feel associated with. Human beings being social participants, feel secure and comfortable after associating themselves with a various set of groups and affiliations. Such groups of affiliations can be of the people with similar tastes or preferences in terms of approach towards climate change as a topic or can be a set of people that are based on the basis of culture, beliefs, values, etc.. Another set of groups and affiliations can be on the basis of “ideals,” i.e., those groups that are created by the individual (s) that audience in general idealize.

Having connected to such groups or affiliations, the behavioral pattern changes greatly, and people act and react in a specific manner to keep themselves in sync with the ideologies of that particular group.

To be able to communicate its message and to ensure that it reaches a larger set of audiences, it is necessary that organizations identify such groups and arrange conversations within those groups so as to make them understand about its initiatives. Also, such an activity will help to get a 360-degree view of a given concept making the audiences think rationally and then make their decisions.

With so many benefits of creating a conversation, this seems to be a great platform for the communicators to communicate their message, this too has a major drawback:

The stronger groups can influence the smaller groups, and the identity of the smaller groups are lost. This adds to the misery of the groups and the communicators both since a smaller group (if they have a unique idea or initiative) loses its identity over the larger groups, and their identity gets lost. It is, therefore, necessary on the part of the communicators to give equal weightage to smaller groups as well to have a fair viewpoint on their message.

D. CLIMATE IMPACT: CLOSER TO HOME

“But Climate Change isn’t affecting me.”

This is another major challenge that organizations have to deal with while communicating their message to their audience. Everyone is aware that climate change and its effects are a greater problem and affects the planet as a whole; it is because of this reason, people are unable to visualize the impacts of climate change closer to their homes.

The human species recognizes the threats that happen presently or in the near future, or that affects their near and dear ones. It is a basic human trait that they filter threats that are in the future or those affecting the world at large.

It, therefore, becomes necessary for the organizations to deal with this inability of the human species to make their message effective. To make this happen, the climate communicators have to create the message in such a manner that enables or forces the audience to foresee (the impacts of their activities) and engage themselves in the entire process (of cleaning and maintaining the safe environment). In simple words: “CREATE A MESSAGE THAT SIGNIFIES THE IMPACTS THAT ARE CLOSER TO ONE’S HOME.”

I can further explain this thought with a simple example: messages conveying rising sea levels would not create an impact (simply because the rise in sea levels is going affect the public at large in the decades to come) BUT

California wildfires that have started since the beginning of 2020 and actively elevated since August 15, 2020, leading to 3.2 million acres of burnt land and worsened air quality; messages related to the same will make the audience brainstorm that climate change can affect their home as well.

Another example can consist of the flood fury in the Brahmaputra River (in Assam, India) that has led to mass destruction with crops being destroyed completely and affecting flora and fauna to drastic levels. Adding to this misery, half of Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary have been submerged into water forcing the animals to migrate to safer places.

Such an example can make the audience think that climate change and its impacts can affect their home also.

An important aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is bringing the impacts closer to home and communicating the same with the help of visuals; it is necessary that climate communicators maintain the fine line between the productive engagement of their audience (through their personal experiences of the climate impact) or leading people away from the positive engagement……i.e., making the message (or issue) to real or scary can lead to the “denial” of the problem.

E. MAKE IT MEANINGFUL: TRANSLATE DATA

“I have no idea what those numbers mean.”

On a subject like Climate change, scientists rely heavily on the numbers while discussing the changes that they are observing in the climate system.

In order to comprehend the data, the facts, figures, maps, graphs, etc. it is necessary that the organizations translate data according to the understanding of the public large. To be able to able to understand the scientific data in a language that is relatable helps to create a positive and emotional response to the problem…..such a response is extremely crucial for any climate communicator. However, creating such a response is an uphill task for the communicator as the climate communicator has to overcome 2 major barriers….

ü The first major barrier is to influence human psychology that discounts future events and prefer to take things easy as the impact is not immediate or in the near future.

ü Another major barrier is: people do not feel that rise in few degrees currently on in the decade to come will not be dreadful and only impact after many decades. They feel that the projections that are shown are for some future decades and not the immediate decade.

Both of the above barriers are related to human psychology or the human brain, which filters all the information that is in the form of numbers, graphs, pointers or analysis, etc. It is majorly because of this reason that the organizations or climate communicators have to communicate in a language that is more relatable, more emotional in nature. Such kind of messages touch upon the emotional cord of the audience, and people start giving a thought to the concept.

Also, people at large react to the messages (in this case, about climate change) with the thoughts, images, experiences that are already stored in their minds. They try to relate the two together and create an image that may be positive or may be based on misleading facts.

So, to make the climate change and its impacts and the steps the organization is taking more meaningful, companies need to create a message that can it communicate to the audience at large with the right kind facts and also that can touch the emotional cord of theirs. A message that is more of images and story rather than figures will be more receptive than a message that is based on facts.

Understanding the fact that message needs to be more relatable and emotional in its approach, an obvious question that comes to my mind is how to create such a message? Are there any tips to consider while creating such messages? Are there any guidelines that need to be followed?….. there are no obvious answers to such questions, but I think the communicator can consider the below mentioned 3 points to frame a message and influence the behavior of its audience:

• Images in the forms of film footage, metaphors, real-world analogies, personal and real-life concrete experiences.
• Messages are created in such a unique way that enables the audience to build recall and elicit positive responses.
• Use words or images that are commonly prevalent and can be comprehended easily by the people in general.

These can be a small set of guidelines to build up a message for the audience at large and to establish a relationship with the audiences for the years to come.

F. BE VULNERABLE: ADDRESS UNCERTAINTIES

“Vulnerability is a source of strength.”

Climate change is a subject that is filled with uncertainties, and with all the efforts that the corporates, governments, and public at large take collectively, its impacts will reduce but will not go away with certainty. An organization that is undertaking various initiatives to contribute to a better planet and intends to communicate the world about the same face a lot of uncertainties that social, political, environmental, etc.

While it is important for the organizations to credit themselves with the dues (with the efforts they have undertaken so far and what all improvements they have made with the passage of time), it is important that the companies acknowledge the areas of improvement. Talking about the flaws and failures invokes a feeling of association (since humans are prone to making mistakes and rectify them as per the situations or circumstances) with the audiences.

Human decision making deals with uncertainties. An organization that intends to communicate with the audiences regarding climate change and its initiatives alongside must create messages that explain how the uncertainties can lead to opportunities for a better future.

Dealing with uncertainties and acknowledging the flaws and initiatives together is a tedious task in itself for any company to accomplish together. An organization that intends to communicate about its climate conversation plan, it is necessary that they adopt a precautionary principle, i.e., they must develop messages or story bulletin or ad campaigns that help them beat the uncertainties yet encourage its consumers to develop contingency plans alongside to avoid any discrepancies and help the audiences and community at large reframe a potentially paralyzing uncertainty into strong and protective actions.

An organization being vulnerable enough assumes (in the first place) that each and every audience that it interacts within uncomfortable with the uncertainties, and acknowledging such discomfort makes them work on their communication plan and the overall strategies that enables them to understand that how it is (the company) is incorporating changes in its system to meet the needs of the society as a whole. Empathy is a virtue that can make any organization with its audiences.

Uncertainties and Empathy are related that make a company grow and prosper along with its society.

G. LEAD WITH IMPACT: CREATING AN EASY CHANGE OF BEHAVIOR

Crafting a climate change message that improves audiences understanding and engagement with the issue and associating the same with a company that is communicating the message is a hefty task. It depends on all the factors mentioned above (maybe some more, but these are what I thought are highly recommended and are relevant). Leaders of the companies that speak up directly with their audiences (whether internal or external) create a lasting impact creating a meaningful and emotional change in the behavior to a great extent.

The more actively a leader is involved in crafting and also communicating the message to its audiences, the more likely it is that the audience will become receptive to the entire idea, adopting the change with open arms that the company intends to.

This will enable the change in the behavior of the people and the community as a whole. Afterall………

“What you do has a far greater impact than what you say.”

The bottom line is that, to create a company’s sustainable strategy in crafting a message…….companies need to be grounded, realistic, result-oriented, and empathic enough to have a lasting impact on its audiences. Those mentioned above are the guidelines that can be adopted (as they are mentioned or with the necessary modifications) to develop a bond with the audience and stay with the communicators for the decades to come.

The evolution of mankind has been a fascinating journey. It has evolved over centuries and has been growing with each passing day. Everything that we humans possess today or have possessed earlier (that has become extinct now) has some history behind it.

Just like the evolution of mankind, there has been a radical change in the way we talk, write, or express ourselves… In simple words, the way we communicate to one another today and the way it used to be in ancient times…, there has been a radical transformation. Communication ways and channels have evolved over the centuries. This change in communication has become a field to study and an art that needs to be mastered.

I get fascinated with the way communication ways, and means have grown. So I wanted to study and to know where it all started and where it has reached. Let’s go down the history lane……

EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION

“New to the city and getting late for work….smartphone is there to help with maps; logged in at workplace and on snapchat….chit chatted with the family and back to work. Come evening… looking for a place to hangout… Google is there to assist for cafes and restaurants; it’s late at night and wants to go back to the hotel…no need to worry OLA/UBER is there to take you back to the hotel. “

Wowww… it’s so simple and easy to communicate and stay connected. At every step, there is a way to solve day-to-day issues, and everything is available with the click of a button. Life in today’s digital age is so sorted and straightforward. But it wasn’t the same, and communication was difficult. It has come a long way from the cave paintings to this digital age. Communication and its modes have traveled a long journey. Let’s go back and refresh our memories:

The ancient phase of communication was in the form of pictographs where stories, histories, or instructions were used to be drawn on the walls of caves (the oldest cave paintings were discovered around 30,000 B.C.). These cave paintings were succeeded by “the petroglyphs” (carvings on the rock surface popular as “Rock Art”). The oldest of such rock art has been discovered around 10,000 B.C.

Such ancient forms of communication were a great way to depict and study about the history and the life back at the Stone Age. As the humans evolved further, the communication modes started changing, and another form was discovered called “the hieroglyphs,” which was in the form of pictograms and the logographic images. This particular ancient Egyptian communication mode had a total of 1000 distinct characters to communicate.

These mediums were all in the form of drawings that were on the rocks or on walls. With time, there was a desire to communicate over long distances, and “smoke signals” were invented. The first of such signals were used by Chinese soldiers guarding The Great Wall of China around 900 B.C. These are used in the present age as well by “College of Cardinals” for the selection of Pope. However, these smoke signals were discouraged because they were not considered a very authentic way to communicate.

The signals were succeeded by a very different mode of communication. With this, humans took the help of birds, namely “pigeons,” to communicate at long distances. Pigeons (that are considered a very “romantic” mode of communication in the present age) were used to send messages due to their uncanny ability to fly back to their homes. These were used during world wars also. This mode of communication became very popular during ancient times and became a topic to study by scientists (but they could not establish how pigeons managed to do this).

The above have modes that were predominant in the pre-industrial era, and with industrialization picking up the pace, the new ways to communicate were invented. One such invention was “the postal services.” The postal services helped in sending messages at the long distances and also helped a great deal in delivering messages to the paid employees of various industries.

Telegraph services were appreciated to a great extent because it was a direct mode of communication. But, with an increase in industrialization, there came a desire to communicate with a more extensive set of audience and describe how one industry is performing, what are its ways for employee welfare and economic growth. This gave birth to “the newspapers” and “the radio.” These two revolutionized the way communication happened till date. The revolution that these inventions brought about was unparalleled. However, these were still restricted to the geographical boundaries and the humans being so ambitious, some inventions came in the decades that followed. Newspapers and radio widened the net of information to a great extent, and people, in general, became a lot informed, a lot learned, and gave them the power to become think for a better future.

With the desire to send messages to the foreign land, there came “the telegraph.” Telegraph was a limited word message that could be sent with the help of clicks, tones, etc. Telegraph helped in sending coded messages to far land enabled people living in different areas to receive vital information. The 1st telegraph message was posted in 1844.

With the desire to scale new heights and the zeal for continuous improvements, Graham Bell invented “The Telephone” in 1876. Till now, telegraph transmitted messages through clicks and tones, but with a thought to hear a human voice while communicating, the clicks and sounds were given a form of social audio. Initially, it was developed for the local calls, but later, it was developed for commercial use and also for both national and international conversations. The landline services began by the 1900s. The telephone has been the most reliable source of communication to date.

Communication and its channels have been pre-computer era and post computer era. All the mediums to date have pre-computer age and in this era, before the computers were invented, there was one of the significant inventions that are the most reliable source of information and entertainment. The earliest broadcasts were during WWII, where the stills were in black and white.

The era of computers began in around the mid-20th century. Computers came in the 1950s and were followed by the introduction of the “World Wide Web (www)” in 1991. The introduction of the World Wide Web led to the influx of information, and everything was available with the click of a key on the keyboard. This gave a whole new dimension to the term “communication.” Emails were introduced with the birth of Yahoo! In 1994, which was followed by other platforms like Hotmail and Gmail or Google mail. All this made conversations faster and also made the world a much smaller place to live in. Time zones vanished, and emails could be sent and received during any time of the day. Life became fascinating…..!!!!

“Walk the Talk”…the phrase sounds exciting, but this was one challenge that wasn’t met with to date. We have been communicating being in one place and could not walk while we were talking. This sounded an impossible task, but the ambitious human mind achieved what was once unthinkable. We call it “Mobile phone,” and in today’s age, it rests in the hands of every human being. The mobile fulfilled the dream of “Walk the Talk” and then came “SMS or Short Messaging Service” where messages could be sent from one person to another in a fraction of second in any part of the world. The 1st message was posted on 3rd December 1992. Today, it is 9 trillion SMS per year sector in mobile telephony.

The late 20th century was named “the modern age” where it was all about computers and the internet. It was at this time, emails, yahoo, and SMS were invented. It was at this time, the world was opening up its horizons and learning about new ways to converse and to learn to experiment. But the first decade of the 21st century was revolutionized with the digital world. It was the witness to the beginning of “the digital age.” The proliferation of smartphones leads to the development of apps. These apps made every bit of activity available in seconds and at the convenience of the user. This enabled the user to comprehend every bit of news and information and weigh its pros and cons to fit into the individual needs. WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. enables us to post pictures, upload videos, write views, and the sky is the limit….. With the digital age… eternity seems small.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Since the dawn of time, humans have shown the need to communicate. We developed various mediums of communication to enable us to work faster and achieve quicker. The development of these mediums improved the way we remain connected to our workspace.

Over the decades, communication has evolved in response to overcoming the obstacles in the workplace. From the top-down approach during the industrial revolution, we have reached the digital age where one can make itself heard through a variety of platforms and let the world know about a new innovation or make the world aware of the distress happening in any part of the globe. In this digital age, the gap between the corporates and the stakeholders have blurred completely, and corporate communications have seen a radical shift. Let’s understand the journey that the field of corporate communications has undertaken over the decades:

The industrial revolution saw the communication channel is only one way, i.e., the top-down approach. During this time, management used to pass orders, and both the junior management and the workers were to abide by the same. There wasn’t any mechanism to listen to the grievances of the workers. This, perhaps, became one of the biggest reasons for dissatisfaction amongst the employees and also became a significant trigger point to give rise to the trade unions. These trade unions were initially formed to bridge the gap between the management and the employees and to help the employees find solutions to their grievances. These unions were initially successful in their objectives. Still, soon there were a lot of differences that developed between the management and associations, and so the administration chose the direct way of communicating with its people.

The management employee direct engagement was a great way to bridge the gap between the two parties, but it had significant disadvantages also. In all this, the focus still remained the company first and employees second. There was no way where employees could share their apathy to the top management. However, the invention of telephones and computers made communication easier within the organization (with the phones came intercoms). The employees were now better equipped to share their ideas, discuss their issues, and get them solved. With computers, an initiative that various managements undertook was to publish the recognition of the employees. This was a huge morale booster for the people within the organization and helped the management grow leaps and bounds.

Corporate Communications is about maintaining a balance between the internal and the external stakeholders. While, during the industrial revolution, internal communications were all about the top-bottom approach, the external stakeholders and the communication channel with them was also one direction approach only. During that period, companies used to hire the P.R. agencies, and those agencies used to handle all the activities of the respective companies. These PR agencies used to manage all the activities ranging from media releases to client identification; from media management relationships to company customer engagement to a relationship with the government agencies or the law enforcement bodies etc.. With such a vast range of tasks, these agencies sometimes were unable to measure the dissatisfaction/ disagreement (with the company product or services)/ consumer complaints; making the entire process a futile exercise, and the efforts of the companies were not appropriately communicated to all these external stakeholders.

With the invention of computers, there was a better approach to communicate with the external parties, and the gap between the two was somehow bridged. However, it’s the digital age that has brought about a radical shift in the way the companies now view the role of “Corporate Communications.” In today’s digital age, communications have been taken seriously, and companies dedicate a separate department for the same. Now, we plan how, what, when, where, why, for whom the information needs to be communicated and what medium needs to be approached for the same. The digital age has enabled corporate communications to take a front seat in the company’s board room, and marketing plans are devised after the communication strategy is decided extensively.

With the pace at which the digitization is growing, the future of corporate communications will be more targeted, interactive, effective, and informative. It has the potential to shape culture, enable better decisions, and significantly move the needle on building an engaged workforce. For all this to build up successfully, companies need to recognize the unique needs of each communication category and specialized communication tools will have the greatest impact and return on investment.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

If society is to adequately address the issue of climate change, the solutions must come from the market and, more specifically, from the corporate sector. The market is the most powerful organizing institution on earth, and corporations are the most powerful organizations within it. Without business, there will be no solutions. With that as the starting point, communication of the importance of climate change within the market must mobilize business leaders and stakeholders. The idea is that climate change must be presented as a market shift if it is to be recognized as a business issue that will gain the attention of business leaders.

Companies are currently wrestling with the dual-threat and opportunity climate change creates, communicating a plan of action almost remains almost as difficult as taking actions. Companies that excel in integrating sustainability and social impact into their businesses, somehow fail in communicating to the world at large about their good work. Communicating well on sustainability actions can serve as both a multiplier for achieving sustainability goals and a competitive edge to stand out. Surely, communications can make or break a company’s sustainability strategy.

So, what is needed to keep in mind about communicating about the climate, its impact, and the actions we are taking????

Let’s study………………