NEW YORK — Several big-name companies across multiple economic sectors put their money behind climate change efforts Tuesday, attempting to strike a tone that shows taking environmental steps doesn’t mean they will surrender profits.
Some observers said the moves underscored both the private sector’s preparation for policies that could make emitting greenhouse gases more expensive and the threat a changing climate poses to bottom lines.
It marked a change from recent years in which private companies avoided involvement in international politics, said Lou Leonard, vice president for climate change with the World Wildlife Fund. That, he said, could mean potential support for eventual government actions to address climate change, either through domestic policies or in a U.N. treaty.
“The way I sometimes think about it is everybody was waiting on governments to act. And then basically the companies moved on,” he told the Washington Examiner. “I think here you saw some re-engagement between companies and governments.”
The pledges made to coincide with the U.N. climate summit Tuesday were wide-ranging.
Unilever N.V., the parent company of major brands such as Dove soap and Lipton tea, voiced support for a price on carbon. So too did oil companies Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil.
A group of companies that include food-makers Nestle and Mars, furniture manufacturer Ikea and electronics manufacturer Philips said they would convert to 100 percent renewable energy by 2020.
Six major international oil and gas companies announced they would band together to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Most scientists blame greenhouse gases for exacerbating climate change, particularly by burning fossil fuels.
And companies such as Cargill, a major food and agricultural company, agreed to adjust their supply chains to prevent deforestation. The effort aims to cut in half natural forest loss and restore 150 million hectares of degraded land by 2020, with hopes of completely eliminating natural forest loss and adding another 200 million hectares by 2030.
Many companies say preparing for climate change is necessary financially, and some are spending big bucks to have the best information.
Monsanto, a top food and agricultural company, spent $930 million last year to buy weather and climate forecasting firm the Climate Corporation. Monsanto, which is known for its genetically modified food products, bought the company to get a better handle on how changes in floods, drought and precipitation linked to climate change affected growing patterns and crops.
“We’re going to see drought-ier weather,” Robb Fraley, vice president and chief technology officer with Monsanto, told reporters Monday at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. “Big production areas aren’t going to turn into deserts. But a 1- or 2-degree change in temperature will change when insects will hatch or when diseases will break out.”
White House officials have noted that while nations still have plenty of work ahead to secure an international climate accord next year in Paris, companies will play a crucial role in addressing climate change in the coming years.
“Negotiations are very important, but they’re only part of the puzzle,” Todd Stern, the State Department’s chief climate negotiator, said last week in a media call.
That’s not to say markets alone can solve the problem.
Part of the problem is accountability, Leonard said. Companies have made bold environmental pledges before, seeing it as a good publicity move. Ensuring they follow through will be key, he said.
“These declarations, all of them … they don’t mean anything if this is where the work ends,” Leonard said.
Henry Paulson, a Republican Treasury secretary during former President George W. Bush’s administration, said implementing climate policy is the only way businesses will make the necessary changes to seriously combat climate change.
“You can’t expect businesses to do the things they need to do without the policy,” Paulson said Monday at a New York event hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative.
Jamie Henn, a spokesman with climate advocacy group 350.org, said the pledges from the oil and gas industry in particular were “window dressing.”
“It’s understandable why people applaud them. But they’re living on a different planet,” Henn told the Examiner. “We’re not going to settle for that.”
