Going green a risky business

By Douglas Herbert, CNN.com Europe writer

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (CNN) -- Nobody said it would be easy to reach consensus on ways to reduce greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.

Indeed, the non-stop skirmishing that has marked two weeks of climate talks in The Hague suggests that the forecast for such summits in the future is for more storms ahead.

But if the mood has been dour at times, not everyone is down.

For Paul E. Metz and Klaus Milke, founders of a coalition of business lobbyists for environmental change, the conference offered a snapshot of how companies -- from multinational mammoths to small start-ups -- are warming to their cause of “sustainable business in a sustainable society.”

CNN.com Europe More news from our Europe edition    IN-DEPTH Climate change   • Bonn deal: Main points   • Q&A: Climate change   • Greenhouse effect   • Regional consequences   • Fossil fuel debate   • Message board   • Quick vote   • News search   In-Depth Specials   • Bonn 2001 summit   • Fallout from Kyoto

The business community is accustomed to being cast as bogeyman in the fight for greater environmental awareness.

Multinational oil companies and large lending agencies like the World Bank have been easy targets for environmental watchdogs in The Hague.

Friends of the Earth, for instance, urged the World Bank to call a complete “moratorium” on further financing of all oil, gas and mining projects.

“These investments,” read one media advisory issued by the group, “will result in billions of tons of (heat-trapping) carbon dioxide into the atmosphere unaccounted for under the Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

Milke and Metz have rushed to fill the breach by encouraging businesses in Europe to take a stronger role in pressing politicians to go green.

Their four-year-old brainchild, the European Business Council for a Sustainable Energy Future, which also goes by the catchy slogan “e to the power of five”, sees itself as a mediator seeking common environmental ground between businesses, industry, interest groups and politicians.

“We try to influence the mainstream of the business community, but you need pioneers to pull the mainstream more and more in the right direction,” said Milke, of Germanwatch, an environmental group under the Council’s umbrella.

Metz says the group offers a slight reworking of the business ethic "put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is."

"We urge prospective members to “put your voice where your future money is,” Metz said.

Already, about 100 businesses -- mostly small and medium-sized -- have joined the group, which had 35 members in its first year. For many firms -- especially the smaller ones -- the move is a financial risk.

Market forces throughout much of the West remain skewed against environmental do-gooders, says Milke.

For giant multinationals, being environmentally friendlier may mean little more than earmarking a small share of their research and development budgets for special projects. For smaller companies, future viability often rides on the success of such a strategy.

“Our technologies are not rewarded for being cleaner at present", said Milke.

The European Business Council for a Sustainable Energy Future was one of five sponsors -- including oil multinationals Shell and Statoil -- behind this year’s Climate Tech 2000 Pavilion."

The exhibition, a sidebar to the main Hague conference, offered a showcase for technologies, including renewable and more efficient energies, and programmes to cut greenhouse gases.

At one display, Vincent Nambombe stood by himself in a large display booth touting the achievements of his private company, Kilombero Forests Limited, in replanting forests in his native Tanzania to suck up excess carbon dioxide.

Such forests -- known as “carbon dumps” to critics -- have been the centre of controversy at the summit between the European Union and the U.S., which wants to use them as credit against its total gas emissions.

The EU regards such forests as a loophole the U.S. is seeking to use to evade tougher gas-cutting measures.

Nambombe says such debates are a luxury for rich countries. In Tanzania, much of the population uses wood residues in lieu of fossil fuels like oil and gas to generate electricity, he adds.

The rate of tree harvesting is 400,000 hectares annually, and deforestation has been exacerbated by the cash-strapped government’s decision to stop planting trees itself.

Nambombe concedes that tree-planting is not the most efficient way to reduce pollution. But, he adds, an undeveloped country like Tanzania has few other options.

“These industrialised countries are sort of conservative, sort of selfish.”

EU rejects crucial climate deal
November 24, 2000
Turning Soviet legacy into green future
November 24, 2000
Pie in the eye
the cream tart in modern politics
November 23, 2000
Chirac blasts U.S. over pollution
November 20, 2000

Friends of the Earth
e to the power of five
Kilombero Forests Limited
The World Bank Group
Climate change conference

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.