Business

Introduction. The international community is currently confronted with the biggest challenge affecting human development  the climate change challenge. At no other time has the science of climate change, as many call it, been more full-bodied than today. At no other time have the impacts of climate change become more evident and fatal, particularly for susceptible and developing countries in the world.

These factors should bring focus on the issue of addressing climate change as it is now taking place in the public forum. At present, climate change may be the most significant global challenge which threatens to defeat all global objectives of change if we choose to ignore it. Facing this challenge that climate poses inimically raises the bar of addressing other challenges as well. Being a complex challenge in itself, climate change must be addressed now.

The climate change challenge. The climate change challenge is indisputably remarkable. The solution intended to solve this would entail a standard shift in the way energy is consumed and the facilitation of monumental improvement in the way we deal with the issue of environment concerns. A careful perusal of CSR Asia report named The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility (Climate Change, 2009), at least more than 70 experts recognized in the field of corporate social responsibility in the Asia Pacific region were surveyed and asked as to whether or not climate change has actually become the highest corporate social responsibility issue, being second only to issues of corporate governance, and labor and human resources. With this ratio, indeed it has been proven that the hightest ranking among all issues of the global community, particularly in the Asian region are environmental issues and ventures with stakeholders. Accordingly, the CSR Asia report also indicated that governments and politicians primarily are the key factors which influence corporate social responsibility, trailing behind are non-governmental institutions and organizations of the civic society as well as the companies themselves. (Climate change, 2009.)

Corporate Social Responsibility. A review of the seemingly considerable literature on corporate citizenship and social responsibility would show that the justification and theory which addresses the idea of corporate social responsibility. Banerjee (2008) postulates that, first, corporations should think beyond making money and pay attention to social environmental issues second, corporations should behave in an ethical manner and demonstrate the highest level of integrity and transparency in all their operations and third, corporations should be involved with the community they operate in terms of enhancing social welfare and providing community support through philanthropy or other means. These ideas should be set in motion through the functions of a dialogue with stakeholders and corporations, in turn should arrange on building formidable relationships with them, which consequentially would result to good financial performance. Part of corporate social responsibility is to confront the dimensions of climate change as a social issue, suggesting in fact that more companies should think strategically about climate change and its potential impact on the competitive context in which these industries operate.

Assumptions to climate change. A strategic framework for linking corporate social responsibility to the issue of climate change was presented in a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled Strategy  Society (2006). The interdependence of business and society should learn on prioritizing on bringing more focus to social issues which are attuned to their business strategic financial objectives. Being a significant global social issue, climate change poses a great impact on the underlying competitive context for more companies and industries. (Wigder, 2006) In a paper of Edward Weber (2008), he postulated two basic assumptions underlying climate change, which are the speed of change and the expected severity of climate change effects. (Weber, 2008 p. 3) These in assumptions, as Weber terms them, are necessary due to the fact that climate change science poses an uncertain yet inevitable fact which affects the global scale. This uncertainty poses a problem in facing the challenge of climate change in a sense it is difficult to formulate answers to address the speed of change as well as the possibility of confronting an inevitable insurgence of an expected severity of multiple, varied and interconnected effects of climate change. Corporate social responsibility therefore comes into play in addressing this challenge. In the end, the response to climate change would no longer be a scientific question, as the Brian ONeill of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research notes opines, rather it is a value judgment. (Weber, 135) The impacts of climate change in our society would be societal or energy related, thereby calling for the mandate of societal forces to intervene and make such steps as to address this issue.

International views on climate change. In the early 1990s, when climate change became an important policy issue, corporate measures have already been set in place, which are primarily geared towards creation of opposing measures. The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997started the trend in the creation of concrete measures which have become visible in market responses. This climate change challenge has proven to operate also in international markets since large multinational companies have been confronted by this global issue discourse and challenge, which intensified when the issue widened in scope and efforts of firms have actually started to converge. According to Kolks Multinationals Political Activities on Climate Change (2007), he proposes that climate change is multidomestic due to the existing variations between countriesregions in policy design and response mechanisms. (2007, p. 202) Findings have shown that activities directed towards the address of climate change by firms varies in terms of methods, such as information strategy and strategies of self-regulation. Kolks research has laid out that most firms have opted to take a more cooperative approach wherein policy makers are forced into formulating market-based solutions involving emissions trading and other measures. (Kolk, 2007 p. 202) Another strategy of self-regulation was also formulated which is geared towards the increased involvement of international institutions, business groups and environmental non-government organizations. This ordeal would then contemplate a collective action on the part of multinational firms, which predominantly involve an integration of working with competitor through the medium of program participations set up by governments or even of non-governmental organizations.

A concrete example would be to look at pluralist countries like Australia and the United States who have implemented and followed the practice of cooperating with business groups and environmental non-government organizations, as opposed to the strategy followed by European and Japanese firms. This being so, majority of firms still have the national government as their focal point in the implementation and exercise of its activities in response to this global issue. The difference hereon lies, not only as to the method of strategy implemented, but also on the effect of the pressure of the government in their efforts to respond to climate change, as evidenced by a clear trend that countries with strong government pressure for climate change are more inclined to implement an information strategy approach, whereas countries with low governmental pressure, were more inclined to implement a strategy focused on participation in government programs and activities.  (Kolk, 2007 p. 225)

Response to Climate Change. Climate change is indeed a very controversial yet intimidating issue faced by societal communities today. It is of common knowledge that climate change has already caused a disturbingly large blow on the relatively poor population in the world.  Lohani (2009, p. 302) argues that an estimated ratio of the serious impact of climate change on the lives of at least 325 million people, made by the Global Humanitarian Forum, results to leaving at least 300,000 people dead and causing economic losses of US125 billion every year. There exists a need for a further exploration in depth of this issue, due to the fact that there is a continuing non-involvement of social consciousness and awareness of climate change notwithstanding the growing seriousness of the problem as well as the unremitting resistance of certain officers in business industries, particularly those engaged in the field of energy resource, in accepting the consequences of the problem posed and generated by their own industries. Social awareness, as well as the continued infiltration of this issue and the problem that it poses to the business community in order to get them to participate in becoming a part of the solution, rather than be a source of an impending disaster that climate change poses. In Goodalls article Why Have the Leading Journals in Management (and Other Social Sciences) Failed to Respond to Climate Change(2008), he concluded that top business journals have in fact failed to respond to the shock to knowledge of climate change. He considered five possible explanations on the reason for the dearth of climate change articles, thereby showing the decrease in awareness and positive response our society urgently needs to address the issue of climate change. Goodalls possible explanations (2008, pp. 414-417) are the following

Explanation 1 The Science of Climate Change Has Only Just Been Confirmed
Explanation 2 There is a Time Lag Between the Discovery of Scientific Knowledge, Its Interpretation in the Social Sciences, and Its Eventual Publication in Top Journals
Explanation 3 Climate Change is a Practical Problem and Not a Conceptual One
Explanation 4 It is a Reflection of Political Bias
Explanation 5 Promotion Incentives Are Skewed in Business Schools Toward Incremental Additions to Known Knowledge

These postulations, conclusively presuppose the idea of the existence of a kind of ghettoization, as Goodall (2008, p. 415) terms it, that paved the way to an adverse lack of awareness and knowledge amongst business industries who are the main audience of these social science publications and journals. Therefore, the analysis and scholarly study on the issue of climate change has indeed, been marginalized intellectually, thereby leading to the scarcity of discussions on climate change and its appearance in social science journals to which leading business entrepreneurs receive knowledge from.

The high importance of addressing the issue of climate change, generally to businesses and the society, delays as evinced by these revelations are inexcusable. If only industry leaders are knowledgeable about this global issue, then they would in turn be able to take up the task of spreading what they know regarding the issue of climate change, it would therefore result to an effort of addressing climate change along with companies gaining a clear marketing edge with an increase in brand value and creating a positive perception among their consumers. To achieve greater consciousness and exercise social responsibility, knowledge about the issue of climate change should be addressed and dispersed to inspire a response to the climate change challenge.

Addressing the issue of climate change. To address the issue of climate change, many companies have already taken different steps in contributing to effectuate a positive response. Society is the biggest as we say, stake holder in business and in turn, these businesses have to take society seriously into consideration if they fear for their own stakes. Day-light Harvesting measures have already in fact been implemented by American business entities which made a significant dive in the requirements of light producing capacities in their stores, thereby resulting in energy savings of massive proportions. By setting a good example as a company in its own right, it thereby extends its responsibility to its stake holders, its consumers. By being socially responsible as well as being a mindful corporate citizen, it could generate a team of formulating an expression of a communicative message of corporate social responsibility to its partners and to its consumers. This would help all the players in the chain of companys distribution to adapt and formulate measures that would contribute to the idea of addressing the issue of climate change. In the Philippines, for instance, the GreenPeace campaign combines public outreach (school, village, and office tours), media (television commercials, print ads, and radio spiels) and new media (online petition and email groups) to introduce and amplify energy consciousness in Filipinos. (Jabines, 2007) By leading such campaigns, one simplifies the science of climate change alongside making Filipinos less aware of other raging issues. This also provides a medium for educating people about the climate change phenomenon and the challenge it poses to our society to the point that it will instill in them further action. Corporate social responsibility is an investment, as Miguel R. Camus (2009) argues, it should not be discarded as companies cut budgets. For Camus, there is no greater medium than a sustainable corporate social responsibility program which is a part of the private sectors goal of giving back to society what it deserves. He further postulates that climate change can be addressed either through mitigation or adaptation. (2009) Mitigation, is the act of companies in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly in airlines and utility firms whereas, adaptation is the act of targeting communities which are most affected by climate change such as the rural poor and agricultural areas. Adaptation to climate change is the adjustment of a system to moderate the impacts of climate change, to take advantages of new opportunities or to cope with the consequences. (Adger, et.al., 2003, p. 192) This would involve the reliance on past experience of dealing with risks which are related to climate, thus adaptation by rural dwellers, farmers and residents of the same will be made possible by their own social capital and resources. In the United States, during the last two years, there have already been legal and political developments under way which impacts on the climate change challenge. In Massachusetts vs. EPA, No. 05-120, April 2, 2007, 127 S.Ct. 1438, the Supreme Court of the US has ruled that the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) can and should regulate Co2 as a pollutant under the existing language of the Clean Air Act. Penned by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court held that Massachusetts had legal standing to sue because it was faced with the concrete injury of inundation of its coastal lands, U.S. automobile emissions were contributing meaningfully to that threat, and reduction of those emissions would at least slow global warming. On the merits of the case, he concluded that the EPA had both the authority and duty to regulate carbon dioxide emissions if those emissions may endanger public health or welfare and could not decline to do this for policy reasons unrelated to this threat. (Rockwood, 2008 p. 434) Corporate social responsibility to climate change is not just for big companies. While most large companies are able to procure and subsidize wide-ranging CSR projects, small firms can likewise practice being responsible in their business in simpler and unique ways. Having limited resources, small firms and companies have a more strategic viewpoint. By practicing good green habits in their office effected by utilizing energy-efficient lighting measures and reduction of use of energy-releasing equipment as well as proper garbage or waste disposal and recycling of water and the like can be practiced by them. The practice of doing small things, when taken altogether, will make a great big difference in addressing the issue of climate change.

Conclusion. Climate change is formidably one of the most important issues which mankind is faced with today. There is a scientific consensus that the earths surface temperatures are rising and that greenhouse gases are contributing factors to the warming trend, resulting from which, human kind is already starting to experience various different climatological effects related to the warming world. (Weber, 2008 p. 148) The speed of climate change makes it highly impossible to develop clearcut answers to address the confusion that this challenge poses. Without authoritative answers on how fast climate change is happening and ultimately what disastrous effects it would pose, assumptions are thereon thus formulated by decision-makers and scientific associates in concluding variables of change related to the speed and severity which climate change will cause. There exists a need for a further exploration in depth of this issue, due to the fact that there is a continuing non-involvement of social consciousness and awareness of climate change notwithstanding the growing seriousness of the problem as well as the unremitting resistance of certain officers in business industries, particularly those engaged in the field of energy resource, in accepting the consequences of the problem posed and generated by their own industries. Social awareness, as well as the continued infiltration of this issue and the problem that it poses to the business community in order to get them to participate in becoming a part of the solution, rather than be a source of an impending disaster that climate change poses.

The climate change challenge has proven to have operated also in international markets when large multinational companies have started to confront this global issue discourse and challenge, which continually intensified when the issue widened in scope and efforts of firms have actually started to converge. The most recent attempt by the international community in addressing this issue is the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to reduce emissions in industrialized nations by 2008-2012 period. (Dooley, 2000 p. 217) This protocol is a short-term preliminary measure in dealing with this global issue. According to Kolk (2007), climate change is multidomestic in view of certain variations between countries in policy design and response mechanisms.

Climate change is clearly a unique social issue that differs from most others in universal impact and breadth of potential influencers. It is not feasible for businesses and industries to escape from the impact of climate change for this will involve all industries whether directly or indirectly. There also exists a greater risk for an unexpected change to already existing competitive global interaction and dynamics than other social issues due to the fact of the existence of potential instigators of change, i.e. non-governmental organizations, governments, businesses and consumers, which are far more different, copious and comprehensive than other social issues.  Being so, climate change may influence essential competitive framework for more companies and industries than other social issues may affect.

The high importance of addressing the issue of climate change, generally to businesses and the society, delays as evinced by these revelations are inexcusable. To achieve greater consciousness and exercise social responsibility, knowledge about the issue of climate change should be addressed and dispersed to inspire a response to the climate change challenge.  To address the issue of climate change, many companies have already taken different steps in contributing to effectuate a positive response. Society is the biggest as we say, stake holder in business and in turn, these businesses have to take society seriously into consideration if they fear for their own stakes. In the Philippines, the GREENPEACE campaign simplifies the science of climate change alongside making Filipinos less aware of other raging issues. This also provides a medium for educating people about the climate change phenomenon and the challenge it poses to our society to the point that it will instill in them further action. By being socially responsible as well as being a mindful corporate citizen, it could generate a team of formulating an expression of a communicative message of corporate social responsibility to its partners and to its consumers. This would help all the players in the chain of companys distribution to adapt and formulate measures that would contribute to the idea of addressing the issue of climate change.

The impacts of climate change in our society would be societal or energy related, thereby calling for the mandate of societal forces to intervene and make such steps as to address this issue. We should aspire to continuously lessen our impact on the environment thereby mitigating our destructive role in contributing to climate change. We should also seek to support initiatives to pave the way for adaptation of our society to climate change. This will be our challenge. To reduce our impact on the environment is not an easy task, for it requires revolutionizing our ways in how we work as well as considering the factor of time and management and policy changes as part of governance measures. A reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can prove to be exigent but rewarding for it is indispensable to formulate a possible solution in addressing climate change.