Thought for the Day

Yesterday, I revealed that it’s a law (as opposed to greed) which keeps the directors of big corporations from stopping their company’s emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This begs the question, if the law keeps directors from stopping, why can’t it be changed?

The answer is that, so far, we haven’t tried. We’ve focussed on trying

to pass laws to make GHG emitting corporations stop--rather than laws

that would obligate their directors to make the emissions stop.

Twenty-seven Conferences of the Parties (COPs) have been held, they’ve all tried to get the governments of the

Photo by Richard Miller

world to pass laws which will require big corporations to reduce their emissions. This has proven to be a failed strategy.

Each nation has different environmental laws. Many have powerful lobbies

designed to delay and frustrate new environmental legislation. Governments and their constituencies usually won’t change the law when their economies are dependent upon maintaining the status quo (i.e., continuing the emissions).

To overcome the political impasse which has stymied tough environmental

legislation, a new strategy needs to be tried. If government can’t make companies stop emitting GHGs, how about changing the law to make their directors make the emissions stop? It can’t hurt to try. Absent a technological breakthrough, it’s probably the only solution.

We’ll explore this idea, and why it might find better political reception than new

environmental laws, next time.