By Clay Nesler, VP-Global Energy & Sustainability, Johnson Controls, Inc.
It’s Climate Week in New York City, and a number of high-profile events are attracting more than 100 attending world leaders to come to agreement on a climate change treaty in Copenhagen this coming December. Johnson Controls is participating in a number of these events sponsored by the Climate Group (of which we are now a corporate member), throughout the week, and I will be summarizing some of the highlights.
Monday morning started with a presentation of the Carbon Disclosure Project results for S&P 500 and Global 500 companies. We have been reporting our greenhouse gas emissions, policies and plans for many years. It was great to see that the overall response rate by the Global 500 to the CDP questionnaire was 82% this year, up from 77% last year.
The big opening event featured UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Copenhagen conference chair Connie Hedegaard and the leading climate negotiators from the US, China, India. There was also an appearance by actor Hugh Jackman.
Tony Blair did a great job framing the challenge. He said, “the will is there, can we find the way?” He asked that we not let “the best be the enemy of the good” and that any agreement that starts the world on a path to meaningful carbon reduction would be a good outcome.
The chief negotiators from China and India showed a renewed interest in supporting a compromise agreement that would reflect differentiated responses and actions based on differentiated responsibilities for climate change.
Later in the day, at a panel session focused on US-China clean energy cooperation, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) gave a sobering assessment of the importance of climate change and the opportunity for businesses to profit from climate change solutions. He mentioned that only five of the 30 largest clean energy companies are located in the US. He said that the US is the worst of any country in the world with respect to energy efficiency and that energy efficiency is not being factored into the economic analysis of climate change. Sen. Kerry also said that energy efficiency pays for itself and that smart companies are investing today. He closed by asking, “What’s the worst that could happen if we get a global climate deal? More jobs, cleaner air, less imported energy, more national security.”
At the last event of the day, I participated on behalf of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, our division that makes batteries, in a Climate Group-sponsored panel discussion on electric vehicles that included global technology companies, clean tech investors and government officials. The consensus was that dramatic growth in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles was inevitable over time but that a coordinated approach to technology development, infrastructure deployment and public policy was needed to reach the tipping point of widespread adoption.
Upcoming summaries will include highlights from a media event for the Copenhagen Communique and an address by President Barack Obama at the Clinton Global Initiative.
