Poorer nations more climate conscious

Over the past two weeks, two new studies have come out showing that consumers in poorer nations are much more concerned about the environment and climate change than their counterparts in wealthier nations.

The National Geographic Society reported last week that in querying 14,000 consumers in 11 countries, those in Brazil and India were up to 50 per cent likelier to be mindful of environmental impact of their lifestyle than those in the United States.

The other study is from the world's leading communications consultants, Havas Media. The organisation announced, in what they assert is the largest consumer study of its kind, that, "[Consumers in] Brazil, China and India are among those who claim to be most alarmed by climate change, while respondents in the US, UK and Germany demonstrate far lower levels of concern. Likewise, consumers in China, Brazil, Mexico and India would be significantly more willing than their North American, British and German counterparts to spend extra on environmentally friendly products."

Such results should not be surprising, said Wanan Permpiboon, coordinator of Climate Action Network Southeast Asia. She noted that people here in Thailand and in other developing countries are aware that, on the whole, they face more exposure and are less financially equipped to respond to climate-change threats.

More importantly, she said, that given this relative complacency in wealthier nations, it is critical that countries such as Thailand exercise more leadership and not just wait to follow what the developed nations are willing to agree on.

"There's no question that, in general, the more money one has, the less fear one has of the impact of climate change, whether it be at an individual or a national level," Wanan said.

The activist said that was why developing countries cannot keep demanding that they sit on the sidelines and wait for an agreement on carbon-emission cuts to be made by the US or Europe. "We must work with other developing countries and start showing some initiative ourselves."

According to the Havas Media findings, there is worldwide frustration with the lack of public-sector leadership, generally on the climate-change front. Only 11 per cent of the 11,000 people they interviewed felt their governments were doing enough.

Havas Media concluded that such dissatisfaction represented a vacuum for businesses to fill, providing an opportunity to win over more consumers by demonstrating greater leadership by addressing climate-change concerns.

There is no doubt industries can and are doing a better job of addressing climate change and a whole host of social and environmental issues, said Thammasat University economist Dr Chalothon Kansantisukmongkol, who has studied multilateral agreements on climate change.

But asking businesses to fill in for government leadership is a bit naive, he  said. "The modern corporate model is not well-suited for addressing such long-term issues as climate change. Their success is evaluated on profits and stock prices from quarter to quarter, not how much their carbon footprint is reduced from year to year."

Such sentiments were echoed in a recent article in the policy journal Foreign Affairs by World Economic Forum's executive chair Klaus Schwab, titled "Global Corporate Citizenship: working with governments and civil society".

"The 'short-termism'… could lead some CEOs to assume that engaging in society is not worthwhile because the value of corporate engagement is typically realised only in the medium and long term," Schwab writes.

Business leaders attending last month's B4E (Business for Environment) conference in Singapore were also unanimous on where the leadership must come from. "Governments will set up the frameworks for business to follow," Business for Social Responsibility chief executive Aron Cramer said.

The December 2009 deadline set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was repeatedly referred to by presenters as the major signpost they would be looking toward to determine how they might better position their companies to contribute to worldwide efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

But pinning too much hope on the UN process may be risky, warned Göran Persson, former prime minister of Sweden, while attending the Singapore gathering. "Don't wait for some kind of master plan because it's not going to happen. Every country can try to take the lead now to support environmentally clean technology," he said.

A Thai climate-change negotiator says little more progress is going to be made here until the public demonstrates more concern. "Once the public speaks, the politicians know they should act. Only then will we be able to have a more forceful presence at the negotiation table."