Greenwashing fears shouldn't prevent action
At a Wheeler Institute for Business and Development event in the run-up to Earth Day 2023, Dr Ioannis Ioannou, LBS associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, and Christos Stylianides, Greek minister for the climate crisis and civil protection, discussed the need for concerted environmental action from business and government.
Dr Ioannou writes in Raconteur magazine:
“Tesla used criticism about its vehicles’ reliance on lithium-ion batteries as a catalyst to invest heavily in battery recycling schemes and research into more sustainable energy storage tech Businesses worldwide have found themselves in a tricky situation. On the one hand, consumers, investors and regulators expect them to make serious commitments to environmental responsibility. On the other, greenwashing and allegations thereof have cast a shadow over many well-intentioned corporate initiatives and left many firms fearful of erring in this sensitive area.
“The harmful effects of greenwashing are extensive. This deceptive practice takes management focus and valuable resources away from addressing real environmental challenges. Where a case is discovered and publicised, it damages customer loyalty to the affected brand and public confidence in business generally. It undermines the corporate social licence to operate and, more generally, poses legal, regulatory and financial risks.”
In the same article, Minister Stylianides writes the following:
Understanding the global consequences of climate change
By Christos Stylianides, Greece’s minister for the climate crisis and civil protection
Climate change is the most pressing challenge of our time. Extreme weather events and natural disasters such as wildfires and floods are the new normal around the globe. The facts speak for themselves. We’re in a crisis and time is running out.
A failure to proactively address the ramifications of the climate crisis will result in a social, environmental and economic cost running into billions of euros every year.
If we’re to see fewer climate-related disasters, national governments will need to remain steadfast in their commitment to sustainability pacts such as the European green deal and the Paris accord. But the current macroeconomic volatility and factors such as the war in Ukraine are making it harder for some signatories to remain committed.
To overcome these challenges and make progress towards their sustainability commitments, countries will need to be adaptable. This will require not only leaders with real vision, but also practical policies that will help to drive change. These include policies for promoting investment in green tech such as that handling the production, storage and transportation of hydrogen energy.
The recent wildfires around the world have shown that countries cannot respond effectively to natural disasters alone. They highlight the need for collective action and a ‘European umbrella’ in the shape of the EU civil protection mechanism. Despite Brexit, we have worked to persuade the UK to stay close to this mechanism, pointing out that a concerted approach is more cost-efficient and effective than working separately. The only way to address the challenges of the climate crisis is to do it together.
We are all in the same boat, so we must act in unison. The cost of inaction is higher than ever. Cooperating with a clear common vision for a greener sustainable future is the only way forward.
The full article in Raconteur can be read here.
