Not Industry, That's For Sure
Who Says Industry Is Awakening to Climate Change Threats?
Sloan Management Review
Late last month, The New York Times published a piece about businesses finally opening their eyes to the realities of climate change. Don’t get too excited, though. It makes sense that Coca-Cola and Nike, the companies featured in the article, would be taking proactive positions: Their value chains are heavily affected by commodity costs and the global economy. But most companies aren’t making much headway. The vast majority of respondents in a new Sloan and BCG survey say climate change isn’t a significant issue (11%) even though 67% agree that it is real (which is still a pretty sad number in 2014). And of the 27% who acknowledge that climate change is a risk to their businesses, only 9% say their companies are prepared for the risk. How to bump that percentage up? Sloan points to peer pressure and louder calls to action coming from important voices. In the end, “the more quickly industry does awaken to the threats of climate change, the better chance companies will have to prepare.” C’mon, companies.