Aggregate Industries' record on cutting CO2 would be laughable, if our bioclimatic crisis wasn’t so serious.
As we’ve said before, If AI’s record is an example of corporate action on climate change, we’re all screwed. Parent company LafargeHolcim has been named second worst company for increasing CO2 emissions. Not only that, but Resource extraction is responsible for half the world’s carbon emissions, and Concrete is the "the most destructive material on Earth".
Of course, it’s not just AI that should be ashamed of its climate record. In 2018, the government’s official climate change adviser criticised the UK housebuilding industry, saying the "the industry should be ashamed of itself".
But with the UK Parliament declaring a climate change emergency, with a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist prompting schoolchildren across the world to call for climate action, with mass civil disobedience from Extinction Rebellion protestors, with mothers demanding climate action in a London march yesterday, with the Committee on Climate Change saying the UK must set a zero-carbon target for 2050, with the Environment Agency warning that UK flood planners 'must prepare for the worst', with stark warnings from the Bank of England, with the UN reporting that one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, and now with just 11 years left to stem catastrophic climate change, it's perhaps not surprising that:
There has been a stunning surge in Brits ranking "environment" among the most important issues facing the UK.— Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) May 10, 2019
It now ranks joint fourth, alongside economy and above immigration.@leobarasi has this and many other great insights from recent polling:
https://t.co/UNv0UazvaT pic.twitter.com/osNwVjUx18
A majority of voters would now support radical action to slash greenhouse gases, a new poll has found.
@Konnie_Huq @mothersriseup @ExtinctionR #MothersDay2019 we are here for the mothers who’ve done least to cause climate change and are suffering most from it pic.twitter.com/XdeM7tRZkH— Jennifer Nadel (@jenniferdnadel) May 12, 2019
Why should the UK act? As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, the UK has large historical emissions, and – if global CO2 emissions are allocated using per capita calculations – is more responsible for global warming than any other country. As the chair of the CCC recently warned:
Animation: The countries with the largest cumulative CO2 emissions since 1750— Carbon Brief (@CarbonBrief) April 23, 2019
Ranking as of the start of 2019:
1) US – 397GtCO2
2) CN – 214Gt
3) fmr USSR – 180
4) DE – 90
5) UK – 77
6) JP – 58
7) IN – 51
8) FR – 37
9) CA – 32
10) PL – 27 pic.twitter.com/cKRNKO4O0b
In the last few days, some companies have been shaken into making promises to slash emissions. Bosch says it will be carbon-neutral by 2020, and even one company in the construction sector: BAM – a Dutch construction-services business – has committed to halving emissions by 2030:
Royal BAM Group group director of sustainability Nitesh Magdani said: "This medium-term CO2 reduction target will influence BAM to drive innovative solutions for our own operations as well as products and services which we provide to others. This target supports our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions in our business and through our value chain, and paves the way to meeting our strategic target for a net positive impact by 2050. We hope this motivates others as well to achieve the level of impact needed. We can only do this together!"
How do we get the industry to take collective action? As one of only 204 global companies with committed CO2 reduction targets validated by the SBTi, we need to move faster and together to make a difference!— nitesh magdani (@niteshmagdani) May 9, 2019
Climate change waits for no one: Bosch wants to achieve #carbonneutrality already in 2020 – as the first industrial company with locations around the globe to accomplish this. More details on our measures: https://t.co/3PyNvkGzuy #BoschAPC🍃 #fridaysforfuture pic.twitter.com/drtAxTuKBu— BoschGlobal (@BoschGlobal) May 10, 2019
Unless they want to be seen as pariahs, risking reputational damage and losing their social licence to operate, companies may have little choice but to change. John McDonnell has threatened that a UK Labour government would delist companies from the London Stock Exchange that don’t do enough to tackle climate change, saying his plans were about:
weeding out those that are not taking it seriously.
We’ve got to signal now that we’re being serious about tackling climate change. And we’re going to use every lever of government we possibly can to enable that to happen.
There is new urgency to the public discourse – both in the UK and overseas. Some would say we’re at the dawn of a new era – a frightening new era that will see our very existence under threat. Business as usual is not an option, if we want to survive. A low-carbon future is the only direction we have.
What future will there be for the polluters – Aggregate Industries and parent LafargeHolcim among them – in this new era, where the spotlight of attention will increasingly shine on CO2 emissions and the actions companies are taking – or not taking – to cut them, where companies will be increasingly judged – financially and morally – on their environmental performance, where the huge ethical issues of climate justice and climate equity will increasingly dominate?
"This is a crucial rendezvous" - François de Rugy @FdeRugy, @Min_Ecologie addressing #IPBES7— IPBES (@IPBES) April 29, 2019
"The two phenomena of #ClimateChange and #biodiversity are interrelated, and we are facing a worldwide bioclimatic crisis."
"We must bring all actors and stakeholders on board." pic.twitter.com/yYO2kT9kU6
