Op-Ed: Here’s how companies can strong-arm their suppliers into cutting carbon emissions
While global climate negotiators have failed to meet in Copenhagen this week, the world is nonetheless moving closer to agreement on climate change.
On the issue of climate change, there is an important, overlooked aspect that deserves greater attention. We’ve written about this before, but it’s as relevant now as it was in the heady days of 2008. This is the issue of the ‘carbon economy.’
The carbon economy is where companies are using their purchasing power to buy emissions reductions from suppliers – or outsource these emissions at a lower cost to their suppliers.
At the same time, the carbon economy also has a significant impact on the sustainability of energy policy. Companies can now make money from reducing emissions, even when they reduce their own emissions. They need to find a way to sell it.
For companies, the decision to reduce emissions or outsource to a lower-cost supplier can be simple – the end consumer will pay. So will a company that doesn’t, or can’t, reduce their own emissions.
This decision is, of course, a very sensitive area. Some have suggested that companies outsource to other countries because they have a moral or ethical duty to do so. Others point to the fact that a company that can’t or doesn’t want to reduce its own emissions creates another market for emissions reduction among other companies, thereby removing that option from the market and creating a more difficult decision for consumers.
The carbon economy is an increasingly widespread phenomenon, and it has many benefits and benefits of its own. It allows companies to reduce emissions at a lower cost due to carbon prices.
In addition, it reduces the emissions profile of a company, including air emissions. This is beneficial because companies must pay a price to reduce their own emissions in addition to the carbon price they pay to outsource to third party suppliers. This means that a company that is more responsible for the emissions profile of their operations is able to take greater efficiency risks in their operations.
It also provides a valuable opportunity for companies that have poor emissions profile