Just because the Kyoto Protocol hasn’t been ratified in the United States doesn’t mean both treaty and agenda aren’t being pushed elsewhere. Of late, for instance, it seems the corporate world is under concerted pressure to conform to the strict environmental provisions contained within the U.N. treaty; witness, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and its recent “Facts and Trends to 2050: Energy and Climate Change.”
The WBCSD report aims at instilling environmentally responsible consciousness in the business world, and does so by using compelling statistics that lead to a worldwide doomsday outcome if immediate energy policy reforms are not adopted. Of notable concern is the seeming correlation between last century’s rise in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and a simultaneous hike in “global average temperature, up by nearly a degree Celsius,” according to page one.
“If these trends continue,” businesses are told, “global temperatures could rise by a further one to four degrees by the end of the 21st century, potentially leading to disruptive climate change in many places. By starting to manage our carbon dioxide emissions now, we may be able to limit the effects of climate change to levels that we can adapt to.”
Carbon dioxide emissions reductions
