Sharing A Better Way

A recent trip to China, after an absence of seventeen years, let me experience the sheer rate of China's economic boom. This country’s economy is doubling every eight years and making waves around the world.

China’s rate of growth brings problems, both for itself and the rest of the world. While setting goals for efficiency and renewables, it is still adding polluting and emitting structures such as building a new coal-fired power plant every week. Half the world's new buildings between now and 2015 will be built there, accompanied by the migration of 400 million peasants moving to cities. Sixteen of the world's twenty most polluted cities are in China. And so on…

It brought home to me yet again; the separation between capital and operations, especially within budgets. Environmental implementations are often brought in after the buildings or plants have been built. Far better if buildings and factories, new settlements and towns are green from the ground up.

The June issue of Harvard Business Review includes a warning that pollution in China has "reached such epic proportions that it affects the way multinational corporations are doing business as usual" and outlines recommendations for corporations to practice exceptional environmental stewardship up and down the supply chain.

However instead of berating China and other developing countries we all need to work together. We all live in this small polluted world and need to consider everyone’s needs. Indonesia has recently stated that it cannot put environmental measures ahead of economic growth. For those in our developed countries this may seem irresponsible and certainly frustrating.

However for countries that want to raise their population’s living standards including the dreadful spectre of poverty, it will appear far more urgent for them (at this stage) then the thickening smog in their cities, the rising sea levels or the heating of the planet.

Growth need not be stopped, simply changed. Those with sustainable technology and knowledge need to help others implement greener, lower-emitting technology and practices for less-impactful growth. When we do business with other countries we can share our own sustainable practices and the reasons for them over more polluting systems. We can suggest and we can incorporate greener ways in our own global dealings.

It is not that developing countries are the problems (we all emit after all), it is rather that we all are part of the solutions.