Report produced by Alex Steele

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Contextual Summary

Provocateur 1: Rob Thompson, British Energy

How will climate change affect commerce and industry?

Location: Will we have to locate to areas away from flood hot spots, so it doesn't damage our offices and our staff can get to work safely? And how will this affect investment in certain areas of the local counties eg Tewkesbury, Evesham, Gloucester, Worcester, Ross, etc? Will insurance premiums for flood hot spots make particular areas unattractive?

Buildings: How much will it cost to make existing premises flood-safe if re-location is not an option? Will our offices be cheaper to heat or will they have to have better, more expensive air conditioning systems? Will there be better opportunities to recycle rainwater for our office needs and industrial processes? Will there be a greater need for car parking spaces, as cycling in the rain is not popular?

Staff: How will the warm wet weather affect morale? How will it affect their health? How will it affect their 'environmental enthusiasm'?

Product demands: Will there be less demand for electricity, and more demand for products associated with warm wet weather eg ice creams and umbrellas!! Should we all invest in Centre Parcs?

Climate change levy: Will we be able to access renewable sources of energy to alleviate the climate change levy on us?

Planning: What investments are the government making to protect businesses as well as homes, and how is this convincing us to stay in this area for the long term future?

Stakeholders: Will we have to demonstrate our green credentials even more obviously? How will you deal with other companies who are contributing more to climate change than you are? Will there ever be legislation on the use of electricity and cars?

Provocateur 2: Carole Bond, Business Link Gloucestershire

The mission of Business Link and all business advisors is to promote economic growth. However, the reality is that over 99% of businesses in the UK are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and that SMEs do not engage with environmental issues until they are forced to do so. Drivers and threats include customer pressure, pressure from banks and insurance companies, and regulatory pressures. Unfortunately, business practices in this area tend to be nothing more the 'knee jerk reactions'. On top of this, SMEs tend not to have sufficient resources (people or money) to deal with these matters.

Education is a key challenge. The Millennium Bug is an example of where businesses for a long time paid little attention to the issue, as they were not convinced that this was really an issue which could have a real impact on their businesses. However, as the moment of 'impending doom' loomed closer, and with increased promotional campaigns to encourage preventative actions, many businesses did come to understand the business impacts of the issue, and the majority of businesses took appropriate action. There may be a lesson to learn here in terms of dealing with climate change and its impacts on businesses.

Such an 'educational programme' must however be packaged appropriately for the business audience to enable them to develop sufficient understanding of the issues and to be able to respond appropriately.

Business advisors are already out there talking about the need for emergency responses, crisis management and risk assessment. These are good business practices which we should all be doing anyway. To introduce climate change in the context of these existing business practices is a good way forward.

All business advisors need to be suitably informed of these issues. Not just those in business links, but in banks, insurance, and particularly accountants.

Provocateur 3: Dr David Roe, Environmental Business Services

Whilst we continue to focus on the broad activities of businesses and the role of governments in tackling climate change and its impacts, we appear to forget that we are all to blame, at the individual level, as a result of our consumption patterns and lifestyles.

Those attending this workshop might be perceived to be 'at the forefront of the revolution', but in the room where this workshop is taking place, the heating is on high and the window is open, the lights are on and the blinds are down whilst the sun is shining outside, the overhead projector is still on and we're not using it. Many have driven to this conference when alternatives are possible. Shouldn't we know better?!

But dealing with all of this is like trying to make sense of Chaos Theory. There is so much uncertainty, that as businesses, none of us can be sure what the implications are going to be.

However, there may be some clear business priorities and opportunities arising from all of this. A first priority might be to 'head for the hills' to avoid flooding problems! Business opportunities might include the manufacture of 'flood defence kits' or air conditioning services. But the latter is not without its problems in that air conditioning requires the consumption of energy which in turn can exacerbate climate change! As such, the free market alone is probably unlikely to solve our problems.

Unfortunately, most businesses are unenthusiastic about climate change, and even at the most practical levels, are difficult to engage with good energy management practices. Moving on from energy, most businesses have a poor understanding of the amount of resources they consume and wastes they generate.

It is us who are the problem here and most of us refuse to confront this, with a continuation of existing patterns of living in our consumer society. One way forward will be for us to have the tools and techniques to measure clearly the environmental consequences of our actions. So driving the car from Plymouth to Cheltenham is not measured just in terms of money, but with a clear understanding of impacts on our climate and the environment. At the moment, none of us really knows the latter and it is therefore almost impossible to act accordingly.

2. Workshop discussion and conclusions

A: Mitigation - reducing our impacts

How can we mitigate against the impact of climate change - how can we reduce our impacts?

Resource efficiency: Businesses need to focus on opportunities for using resources more efficiently. Given that such actions tend to provide financial savings concurrently with environmental improvements, then such actions may be achievable, given sufficient advice and education to businesses. Resource efficiencies may be achieved with respect to electricity, gas, transport, water, raw materials, waste minimisation, and pollution/emissions reduction.

Adoption of alternative fuels & technologies: Businesses need to be able to adopt alternative fuels and technologies which have less or no impact on climate change. Renewable energy technologies and new 'clean technologies' may be appropriate. Such approaches may be appropriate for power, heating, cooling and transport options.

More measurement leading to better management: More measurement is required by businesses to enable better management of these impacts. By understanding impacts clearly, business will be better able to respond. This is important in terms of mitigating against impacts of climate change, and also in being able to adapt and plan for the future.

B: Adaptation

How can we adapt to make the most of potential opportunities associated with climate change?

Commercial opportunities - new markets & products: There are potentially many opportunities associated with climate change for businesses. We may see a growth in environmental consultants, energy efficiency industry, energy-from-waste industry, technological solutions, renewable energy, air conditioning manufacturing, and perhaps more sales of beer and ice cream!

Eco-design opportunities: There is a growing incentive to understand the life cycle impacts of products, for financial as well as environmental reasons. Products which are resource efficient and recyclable are likely to increase in demand. Eco-design is clearly associated with cost reduction, profit enhancement and reduced environmental impact. Increasing amounts of legislation (producer responsibility) are encouraging this also.

C: Future - agenda for research and action

What can be done for the future? What might be some key areas for future research and action?

Market research - sector specific: There is a need for a considerable amount of market research to be undertaken into the threats and opportunities of climate change. This market research needs to be undertaken by sector rather than a generic study. We need to know which sectors are at risk, which sectors could have greatest opportunities, which types of products or services may arise, and which products or services may need to be adapted or modified.

Guidance & dissemination: We need to be able to translate this research into tangible guidance for business so that they can act accordingly. Such guidance needs to be mindful of typical business planning timeframes, and the need to encourage companies to consider considerably longer timeframes, thinking in terms of at least decades rather than years. The ultimate challenge is to provide guidance and disseminate information to the SME business community which constitutes approximately 99% of business across the UK and 85% of businesses in the South West. The ability to engage with the SME sector will undoubtedly have significant consequences to commercial activity and the long-term ability of the region to deal with climate change and its consequences.

Alex Steele
Geography and Environmental Management Research Unit
Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education
March 2001