Tipping Points
6 years, 5 months, 3 days, 3 hours
19 February 2023
Tipping points are the scariest thing about climate change.
It is the term given to the points at which elements of our planetary ecosystem are pushed beyond their breaking points and are therefore irretrievably altered. Last September a study published in the journal Science showed that 4/15 planetary tipping points will breach at 1.5 degrees.
But there is a tipping point that gives me hope. Hope that the world will manage to curb its carbon emissions and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. It is the tipping point in attitudes, when awareness and concern and action become so widespread that doing nothing is no longer acceptable, and suddenly we have a cascade effect where lots of change happens very quickly. I have seen examples of tipping points in other areas of attitudes in my lifetime in the UK – for example in drink driving, in smoking, and in racism.
We are getting close to the tipping point on climate action, I believe. What will push us over the edge is mounting pressure on organisations from their stakeholders.
The week before last I became aware of how Singapore is cleverly enabling that pressure. First, listed companies are now required to report against 27 ESG metrics. Second, the Singaporean government is leading by example by requiring that the public sector reports against them too, and, having set a net zero target for the country of 2050, has committed the public sector to reach Net Zero before that, in 2045. Third, a free ESG reporting portal has been launched, use of which is highly encouraged, and will therefore soon offer transparent benchmarking of ESG impacts by businesses across sectors. Former colleague Jonathan Jong, now Group Chief Sustainability Officer at ComfortDelGro, told me ‘It will raise the bar for everyone, and put tremendous pressure on management’.
Transparent, comparable and trustworthy data on the ESG impact of different businesses vastly amplifies the power of their stakeholders (which is why I remain so excited about the importance of our role as a business in ESG assurance). The significance of that power is succinctly set out in this letter published at the end of last year in the Harvard Business Review: ‘2023 Will Test Companies Commitment To Social Responsibility’. It also explains why in the face of economic adversity businesses must double-down on purpose and ESG, not give up. As concerns about the impact of inflation continue to mount, it seems more relevant than ever.
My thanks to Emad Bibawi for sharing it.