According to a study conducted by the CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project), more than 200 of the biggest companies around the world estimate that growing climate concerns could cost them up to $1 dollars. The report speculates that most of these costs will be incurred in the next five years.
Nicolette Bartlett, the author of the report and CDP’s director of climate change, said: “Most companies still have a long way to go in terms of properly assessing climate risk.”
The majority of companies, just like their CEO’s and boards of directors, tend to downplay or ignore these warnings in favor of maximizing profits. The dangers of carbon emissions are constantly underestimated, but groups like the CDP are pushing executive management to realize the risks that climate change poses to their companies, operations, and employees.
Factors that will lead to these expanded costs include: unpredictable and chaotic weather patterns, an increase in temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions, added employee training costs, the increased potential for catastrophic, nature-related accidents, etc. About half of these factors are “practically certain” and expected to occur soon – in the next couple of years.
The survey analyzed data from 215 companies, including: Apple, Microsoft, Nestle, Sony, Infosys, China Mobile, and many more. These companies have a combined market capitalization of roughly $17 trillion.
Organizations like CDP and similar movements often try to appeal to the common sense of these large companies and conglomerates. After all, what good is immediate profit, if we risk the downfall of the entire human civilization within our generation?
