Climate Change as an Opportunity Rather Than a Threat
The Economist this week features a cover story and 15 page report on how business is tackling climate change. Here in Northeast Ohio we’ve spent a great deal of time–especially in examing the potential of the Cuyahoga River Valley–looking at the same issue as a way of generating new industries and business opportunities.
A quick hit from the report that supports the importance of the work being done by the CVI as well as the Cleveland Foundation and NorTech’s work on advanced energy:
“[C]ompanies are not driven purely by fear of regulation. Cleaner energy means new technologies, and new money to be made. Business people concerned to position themselves well for a carbon-constrained future must do more than get themselves photographed with Al gore: they need to invest in technologies that will produce cleaner energy…
“The best news in the fight against climate change is that business is starting to invest in clean energy seriously. But these investments will flourish only if governments are prepared to put a price on carbon. The costs of doing that are not huge. The costs of not doing so might be.”
Hello, Columbus–are you listening?