November 2005Inter Press Service News AgencyJulie Fox Gorte and Warren Evans
In the past decade, 2.5 billion people in developing countries have been affected by climate disasters and the damage hits hardest those with the fewest resources to cope, write Warren Evans, Director for Environment at the World Bank, and Julie Fox Gorte, vice president and chief social investment strategist for the Calvert Group, Ltd. In this article, the Evans and Gorte argue that we must move towards a 'low-carbon' economy -- and business has a central role to play. There are opportunities to grow healthy, competitive, and profitable businesses in both rich and poor nations by finding and implementing cost-effective measures to lower greenhouse gas emissions. This year, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force. With it, the EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme was launched, complemented by carbon trading on other exchanges such as the Chicago Climate Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. Each of these are greenhouse gas reduction schemes that have put a value on what can not be felt or seen: greenhouse gas emission reductions. Companies can help transform the energy and industrial sectors of developing countries through transfer of clean technologies, while generating saleable carbon credits; they can support carbon sequestering activities in forests and agricultural systems, and form partnerships to develop the technologies, skills, and capacity to manage emissions. It is a winning combination: a better bottom line, greenhouse gas reductions, and a contribution to sustainable development in the developing world.
