Climate change - Australian business continues action where the Australian Government fears to tread

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The launch this week of the  Australian chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative Network by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) continues the now established trend of business action to address climate change. Major corporations, industry peak bodies, central banks, government regulators to name a few, have all accepted the science behind climate change, albeit almost too late. This definitive recognition contrasts with the Australian Government which continues to operate with the ponderously slow objective of reducing carbon emissions by 2050.
 

The Climate Governance Initiative Network has been developed "due to the urgent need to address the climate emergency and requires government and business to accelerate the transition to a new economic model which seeks to limit global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, consistent with the 2018 recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)" 

The network operates by supporting groups of directors around the world to form networks, known as Chapters. The core mission of these chapters is to promote the implementation of the 'Principles for Effective Climate Governance' published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

Information about the network can be found at this link: Climate Governance Initiative Network

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) position is well described in the opening comments in the Forum's guidance to company boards -

"The links between climate change and business are becoming increasingly evident and inextricable. Business decisions and actions will slow or accelerate climate change, and climate change will drive risks and opportunities for business. Increasingly, board directors are expected to ensure that climate-related risks and opportunities are appropriately addressed. However, limited practical guidance is available to help board directors understand their role in addressing these risks and opportunities...  good governance should intrinsically include effective climate governance'

A resource for boards on the Climate Governance Principles by the WEF can be found at this link:

World Economic Forum - Creating effective climate governance on corporate boards

The question immediately arises is to whether this objective is already too little, too late. The newly released report by the IPCC has found climate change is already underway and limiting a temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius is now impossible. The challenge is now to prevent the situation getting any worse and adapting to the inevitable difficult environmental conditions already evident.