Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Essay Example

Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions Introduction Global growth is stimulated by economic and political activities (Erikson, 2013). Exponential growth is not sustainable and therefore economic and political activities result to risks. According to World Economic Forum (2012, P. 38), rising greenhouse gas emissions is a major environmental risk that can affect an economic system, ecosystem and a society causing conflict, destruction of resources and destruction of living creatures. Rising greenhouse gas emissions is core risks that lead to other environmental risks such as climatic changes, severe weather, and environmental degradation among other risk. To ensure sustainability, organizations must embrace strategy to mitigate the risks associated with their business. In addition it also leads to vitality in prices of goods and services as well as introduction of regulating policies that can have a negative impact on businesses. This note will critically analyze the existing literatures on rising greenhouse gas emissions. Literature review Rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a core environmental risk that is connected to other environmental, economical, social, geopolitical and political risks (World Economic Forum, 2012, P. 38). Man made risks associated rising greenhouse gas emissions include unregulated urbanization, overexploitation of natural resources and mismanagement of transport systems. According to World Health Organization (2013), environmental risks also lead to climatic change, destruction of ozone layer, change in water system, destruction of natural resources and alternation of food producing system. This directly affect human being in form of drought and malnutrition due to climatic changes and water borne diseases due to flooding and lack of water. Sustainability is a major strategy to increase competitive advantage of business organization. Most companies are for sustainable business (D’Amato, Henderson and Florence 2009, P.1). This can be attained when an organization is concerned with the well being of all its stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers and community. Governments are supporting organizations and other stakeholders in their effort to reduce and manage greenhouse gases emissions. GHG emission is a complex global risk that have both direct and indirect affects different stakeholders such as international organizations, businesses, education institutions, governments, non-governmental organizations and general public (World business solutions for sustainable development, n.d.). Increase in GHG emission has been accompanied by decrease in absorption of the gases by sinks due to decreasing forest covers especially in developed countries (Creyts at el, 2007, P. xiii). There is need to mitigate GHG emission to reduce damages (Chichilnisky and Heal, 1993 P. 65). GHG emission reduction to sustainable can be achieved through commitment of different goverments as indicated by Meinshausen at el (2009, P. 1158), where about 100 countries has committed to reduce emissions by the year 2050. GHG emission can through capital investment, changes in development patterns, investment in energy saving technology and innovation in new technology. These could reduce Greenhouse gases emission as well as management cost. USA is a major contributor of GHG emission with is annual emission expected to rise from 7.2 gigatons by 2005 to 9.2 gigatons by 2030 due to economic expansion, infrastructure development, use of non renewable energy (Creyts at el, 2007, P. xiii). GHG emissions of China are expected to rise until 2030 compared to USA due its economic growth but government regulation has mitigated these emissions (Leggett, 2011). These arguments have also been supported by International Transport Forum (2010), which indicates that developed countries like Germany, France and Japan has achieved GHG emission reduction despite their economic growth from 2008. UK has recorded decrease in Co2 emission since 1990 to 2012 due to use of environmental friendly fuels. Use of environmental fuels has also been supported by Searchinger at el (2008). However UK recorded an increase in emission in the year 2012 and this call for reforms (Department of Energy and climate change 2013). Effort to reduce GHG emissions requires capital and technological investment that might not have immediate financial benefits but it has long term benefits to an organization as well as other stakeholders (Deloitte, 2010, P. 18).The GHG emission mitigation through transport system include using few vehicles, walking and cycling. This has led to other benefits to public such as health benefits to public, reduction in pollutions, reduction in transport cost, reduction in traffic congestion and temperature regulation (Woodcock at el 2009).Economic benefits of GHG emission reductions methods include reduction in energy cost, health cost and management cost (Michaelowa and Rolfe , 2001). GHG emission reduction efforts have also some disadvantages. Most organization wants to investment with returns in short term. According to Deloitte (2010, P. 18), sustainability is profitable in the long term not in short term. The same report by Deloitte also indicate that sustainability activities are not effective if are done without proper planning and should be integrated in the overall organization strategy and in daily operations activities. The Famous Kyoto Protocol requires developed countries to reduce their emission while ignoring the other countries and there it has not been fully effective (Development Research Centre of the State Council, n.d. P. 389). The early approach in Kyoto Protocol in preventing GHG emission can be costly if the expected carbon emissions are reduced by other natural and economic factors. Various approaches to regulate carbon emission can lead to loss of investment (Michaelowa and Rolfe, 2001). Recommendation and Conclusion Rising greenhouse gas emissions is a major concern due to its effects on environment, economy and society. It is a major environment risk that result to other environmental, geopolitical, technological, social and economical risk and therefore it cannot be ignored. The stakeholders in the GHG emission include government, non-governmental organization, international bodies, universities and general public. Mitigation on GHG emission therefore requires global effort of all the stakeholders. Reduction in GHG emission has its advantages and disadvantages and therefore there is need for further research to ensure the objective of mitigation activities are achieved without wastage of the resources that the activities seek to protect. References Chichilnisky G. and Heal G. 1993, “Global environmental risks.” Journal of Economic Perspective Vol 7, Number 9 Pages 65-86. Creyts J., Derkach A., Nyquist S, Ostrowski K. and Stephenson J. 2007, “Reducing U.S. greenhouse gases emissions: How much at what cost.” U.S. greenhouse gas abatement mapping initiative executive report, D’Amato A., Henderson S. and Florence S. 2009, “Corporate social responsibility and sustainable business: A guide to leadership tasks and functions.” Center for Creative Leadership, North Carolina. Deloitte. 2010, “Sustainability in business today: A cross-industry view.” Deloitte Development LLC Department of Energy and climate change 2013, “Statistical release 2012: UK greenhouse gas emissions, provisional figures and 2011 UK greenhouse gas emissions, final figures by Fuel type and end-user.” National Statistic Development Research Centre of the State Council, n.d., “Greenhouse gas emissions reduction: A theoretical framework and global solution.” People’s Republic of China Erikson J. 2013, “What global environmental risks mean to 10 sectors.” greenbiz.com, viewed 15 November 2013,http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/06/21/report-shows-environmental-trends-10-sectors International Transport Forum 2010, “Reducing transport greenhouse gas emissions: Trends & data.” OECD-ITF Leggett J. A. 2011, “China’s greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation policies.” Congressional Research Service Meinshausen M, Meinshausen N, Hare W, Raper S, Frieler K, Knutti R, Frame D and Allen M. 2009, “Letters: Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 C.” Nature, Vol 458| 30. Michaelowa A. and Rolfe C. 2001, “Early action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the commitment period of the Kyoto protocol: advantages and disadvantages.”Environ Manage. 2001 Sep;28(3):281-92. Searchinger T, Heimlich R, Houghton R A, Dong F, Elobeid A, Fabiosa J,Tokgoz S, Hayes D and Yu T. 2008, “Use of U.S. croplands for bio-fuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land use change.” sciencexpress Report, Princeton University, Princeton. Woodcock J, Edwards P, Tonne C, Armstrong B, Ashiru O, Banister D, Beevers S, Chalabi Z, Chowdhury Z, Cohen A, Franco O, Haines A, Hickman R, Lindsay G, Mittal I, Mohan D, Tiwari G, Woodward A, and Rober I, 2009, “Health and Climate Change 2:Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport.” www.thelancet.com Vol 374. World business solutions for sustainable development. N.d., “the GHG protocol: A corpotarte reporting and accounting standards.” viewed 15 November 2013, http://www.wbcsd.org/pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=13590&NoSearchContextKey=true World Economic Forum. 2012, “Global Risks 2012.” Seventh Edition World Health Organization 2013, “ Children's environmental health: Environmental risks.” viewed 15 November 2013, http://www.who.int/ceh/risks/cehchange/en/ Theory Grid Key sections references Introduction Erikson: 2013 World Economic Forum: 2012 Associated risks World Economic Forum: 2012 World Health Organization: 2013 Stakeholders D’Amato, Henderson and Florence: 2009 World business solutions for sustainable development GHG emission reduction Creyts at el: 2007 Chichilnisky and Heal: 1993 Meinshausen at el: 2009 Leggett: 2011 International Transport Forum: 2010 Searchinger at el: 2008 Department of Energy and climate change: 2013 GHG emissions advantages Deloitte: 2010 Woodcock at el: 2009 Michaelowa and Rolfe: 2001 GHG emission Disadvantages Deloitte: 2010 Development Research Centre of the State Council Michaelowa and Rolfe: 2001 Read More