Abstract | Commercial sector involvement responding to climate change

Among the 72 companies that responded to a 2010 survey on climate change adaptation conducted by Caring for Climate, 83 percent believe that climate change impacts pose a risk to their products or services and 82 percent believe that public policy is of ‘high’ or ‘very high’ importance to their company’s ability to adapt to climate change.¹ Around the world, we are seeing commercial sector involvement to help solve the wicked problem of climate change. Tunisia’s African Development Bank uses a Climate Safeguards System to reduce climate vulnerability at an early stage in project development cycle. Haiti’s Fonkoze launched the Microinsurance Catastrophic Risk Organisation to ensure micro-entrepreneurs have a more secure future following the devastating impacts of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change. In Australia, Rio Tinto has undertaken detailed site assessments to manage concerns about water reserves. Infrastructure planning in the United States of America has been assessing climate risks through SimCLIM offering adaptation options quickly and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to analyse these actions taken around the world to see if they are producing good environmental outcomes. Internal company procedures like African Development Bank and Rio Tinto, independent companies like Fonkoze and partnerships with companies through SimCLIM provide the varying levels and structures that can be used. This paper argues the environment does not need to be framed in commercial terms but there needs to be commerciality about private sector involvement with adapting to climate change. New technologies used by organisations like SimCLIM illustrate the internalisation and profit realisation that is often required to ensure the technology is affordable. As members of the environment profession, we should continually suggest to and work with the commercial sector to analyse the costs and benefits of responding to climate change.

[1] United Nations Global Compact, United Nations Environment Programme, World Resources Institute and Oxfam, ‘Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities, and Climate Change’ (2011) UN Global Compact.

Bio | Michael Bidwell

Michael Bidwell completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Science (Environment) in 2016. He spent the first 19 years of his life growing up in a small town in Michigan in the United States. He moved to Brisbane in 2012 on his own to undertake the dual degree at Griffith University and feels privileged to have been immersed in the planning and environmental legal context of Queensland and Australia. He spent nearly two years as a research clerk in the Planning and Environment team at McCullough Robertson and currently sits in the Real Estate team as a graduate. Michael has also advocated for domestic and sexual violence survivors. He co-created the first university club in Australia dedicated to preventing gender-based violence: Griffith Mentors in Violence Prevention.