As the climate debate rages, top managers are lying awake at night worrying about greenhouse gases, deforestation and waste management.
Corporate leaders have been forced to take a stand on the climate, which is why COWI has developed a new consultancy package designed to enable companies to develop a climate strategy to fit their individual requirements.
Sitting on the fence
"Many companies are being pressured by their customers to address climate-related issues," explains Martin Bruhn Petersen, an economist in COWI’s Industry & Energy Division.
"Transport companies are being asked to clarify how their actions are affecting the climate, and supermarket chains are demanding climate documentation from their suppliers,” he adds.
"It can be expensive for companies to sit on the fence when it comes to climate issues; that’s why those at the top need to find the ways and means of developing an appropriate strategy. We can be of assistance to these companies," says Petersen.
Four phases
COWI’s climate package leads companies through four phases: from acknowledging climate change as a strategic challenge and mapping a company’s impact on the climate, to implementing and profiling an appropriate strategy.
"The first phase is vital as this is where a company lays the strategic foundation that will ensure their climate-related initiatives succeed. This is where any pressure from investors, employees and customers is charted, and a framework created outlining regulations and costs for energy, transport, waste management and raw materials. We also examine new business opportunities arising from climate-related initiatives, in the form of production differentiation, new know-how, increased productivity and new markets," says Petersen.
"Only when the fundamentals are in place can a company decide on a strategy. Mapping, implementing and profiling the strategy to the outside world is the next step."
Varying conditions
Petersen emphasises that the problems companies experience vary greatly, and that the solutions are just as individual. As an example, he mentions a windmill, which in itself is good for the climate.
"However, if you calculate transport and the amount of steel required to build a windmill, the climate calculation suddenly changes. Managers need to take this into account in their dealings with the public, investors and customers," he says.
Familiar consultancy services, different subject
‘Carbon Management’ is not a science in itself. Petersen describes the consultancy package instead as a ‘conceptualisation’ of COWI’s existing consultancy services – one that can help companies meet strategic challenges.
"COWI has always sought the most climate-friendly solutions when providing consultancy, but these haven’t been marketed as a strategic parameter. The consultancy package’s primary purpose is to engage top management, because they are the ones who will determine their company’s climate strategy," Petersen concludes.
By Henrik Larsen, hkln@cowi.dkPublished: 21.08.2008