MGT 365 Week 9 Discussion - Post And Response

11 hours ago

Jake Griffith 

Climate changes

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One of the biggest changes/movements a lot of larger businesses want to start developing is investing in minimizing carbon-heavy assets and start creating lower emissions of planet-warming gases. In the NY Times article, it mentions “A coalition of major financial institutions, representing $4.3 trillion in assets, said it would take steps to minimize carbon-heavy investments in its portfolios and lobbied other investors to join it.” (Big Business Tackle Climate Change, Jan. 2020). It also mentions how a group of the largest companies in the world pledged to develop a core of common measures to help track environmental and social responsibility. The main key points that these companies are trying to get across is that there are plans to start this idea of going greener and trying to do more for the planet but companies are delaying pulling the trigger on this because of how expensive it can be to switch over.

Another common issue a lot of companies are facing with climate change is how its effecting countries’ economies. The World Economic Forum’s annual risks report found that, for the first time in its 15-year history, the environment filled the top five places in the list of concerns likely to have a major impact over the next decade (Climate Crisis, Jan. 2020). Issues like sea-level rise and climate fires are just a few examples of articles that will mention that are causing major property damage and infrastructure loss.

 

Gelles, D., & Sengupta, S. (2020, January 23). Big Business Says It Will Tackle Climate Change, but Not How or When. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/business/corporate-climate-davos.html

Elliott, L. (2020, January 15). Climate crisis fills top five places of World Economic Forum's risks report. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/15/climate-crisis-environment-top-five-places-world-economic-forum-risks-report

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6 hours ago

Kara Houser 

Climate Change

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Although the goal of large companies should always be to leave a minimal (if any) carbon footprint, many businesses have not taken it seriously until recently. With many people protesting companies for their large amounts of pollution, big business is finally starting to take the issue seriously. For example, according to New York Times “a raft of companies said this week in Davos that they would aim to lower their emissions of planet-warming gases to net zero by 2050 or earlier.” This is quite a big deal, but the article goes on to say that while the companies made this goal, they did not provide a means as to how they are going to accomplish it or when that process will begin. Many companies both internationally and domestically, are receiving a lot of poor press in relation to their stances on the current environmental problems. For these companies, a large opportunity is to simply listen to the public and start finding internal ways for them to become more sustainable. They can do this by even releasing a short-term plan; which is good as long as they are actually reaching the set goal.

With every opportunity however there are challenges. One of the largest challenges is simply implementing the plan in place to help with sustainability. Many of these companies have well-established factories that have been around for years, so taking the time to go in and switch up this process means a lot of companies lose time and money. With money being mentioned, it can be expensive to implement sustainable practices, especially if renewable energy sources are involved. For several companies, money is the main reason they have yet to become more sustainable. Finally, another challenge is finding substitutes for energy or products to make them more environmentally friendly. So many products are out there that have a well-designed formula, so messing with that formula will take away time from companies for a result that may be unstable.

Works Cited:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/business/corporate-climate-davos.html

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