The corporate diaries

3rd July 2020


Web p15 coronavirus shutterstock 1671505876

Related Topics

Related tags

  • Politics & Economics ,
  • CSR

Author

William Barrett

“I suspect an awful lot of the environmental agenda and targets will be put on the back burner,“ said Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary at an event hosted by the Financial Times last month. “I think the much greater political issue is going to be massive unemployment across Europe and massive government indebtedness.

From what I have seen, this thinking represents the exception, not the rule. You can't move for stories about the “green recovery“, “building back better“ and, a new one for the hospitality sector, “reopening right“.

In some countries, government bailouts are being linked to carbon commitments. Air France-KLM, for example, has secured ‚Ǩ10bn (£9bn) in emergency coronavirus funding, but in return has to slash 40% of its French domestic flights by next year. In Canada, large businesses that apply for government loans must publish annual climate disclosure reports.

Consultants have noticed a spike in interest related to risks, including climate change and resource scarcity. “It will be quite hard to explain why you are not consulting experts about risks, to make informed decisions,“ says Peter Skinner, chief operating officer at SLR Consulting.

Forward-thinking companies were already getting to grips with resilience – and there are signs that firms with decent environmental, social andgovernance (ESG) scores are faring well during the pandemic. But could coronavirus see this spread?

Interest in the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is also up. The TCFD was launched by Mark Carney, former governor of the bank of England, in 2015. Writing in The Economist recently, he said: “After the COVID crisis, it's reasonable to expect people to demand improvements in the quality and coverage of social support and medical care, greater attention to be paid to managing tail risks, and more heed to be given to the advice of scientific experts. The great test of whether this new hierarchy of values will prevail is climate change.“

Momentum was strong pre-lockdown, but will it be enough? In its COVID-19 Risks Outlook: a preliminary mapping and its implications report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned of a “vicious cycle“ of climate degradation, biodiversity loss and infectious disease outbreaks. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals could also be in jeopardy. But this is all in the balance.

“Single-use plastic has had a good pandemic“

“On the one hand,“ the authors wrote, “calls for a green recovery by a range of leaders, sustainability-focused stimulus packages by large economies, and potential changes in production models and consumer behaviours may support the sustainability agenda. On the other hand, brown stimulus measures, cuts in sustainability investment, weaker commitments to climate and nature action, and the impact of low oil prices create new risks of stalling progress.“

Take oil prices. Waste was a hot topic at January's WEF meeting in Davos, with Nestl√© chief executive Mark Schneider promoting a £1.68bn package to accelerate the shift to recycled plastic. Nestl√©'s website states: “It's cheaper [...] to produce virgin plastics than it is to produce food-grade recycled plastics. Our plastic suppliers need to receive financial assurances to make the leap.“

That price gap has since widened further – and single-use plastic has had a good pandemic. Lobbying to delay plastic and packaging policies has intensified, and the 'single-use is safe' message is seeping into the consumer psyche. Whether this is scaremongering or science-based is hotly debated.

But let's keep the (reusable) cup half full. The challenges we face have not changed. Rather than stall progress, we could see it speed up, leaving O'Leary – like the end destination of one of his flights – an outlier.

David Burrows is a researcher and freelance writer.

Picture credit: Shutterstock

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

Facing the climate emergency challenge in local government

It’s well recognised that the public sector has the opportunity to work towards a national net-zero landscape that goes well beyond improving on its own performance; it can also influence through procurement and can direct through policy.

19th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated, Carbon Tracker has warned.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s climate adaptation plans are ‘inadequate’ and falling ‘far short’ of what is required, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned today.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK’s net-zero economy grew 9% last year while delivering higher paid jobs than average and attracting billions of pounds in private investment, analysis by CBI Economics has uncovered.

28th February 2024

Read more

A consortium including IEMA and the Good Homes Alliance have drafted a letter to UK government ministers expressing disappointment with the proposed Future Homes Standard.

26th February 2024

Read more

Campaign group Wild Justice has accused the UK government of trying to relax pollution rules for housebuilders “through the backdoor”.

14th February 2024

Read more

Three-quarters of UK adults are concerned about the impact that climate change will have on their bills, according to polling commissioned by Positive Money.

13th February 2024

Read more

All major housing developments in England will be required by law to deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity under new rules that came into force today.

12th February 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close