Business won’t go green until Bush does

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George Bush’s strategy for tackling global warming is wrong. The president thinks we can rely on the private sector to develop and adopt green production methods -but according to a new survey by the consultancy firm Accenture, it’s a strategy that is doomed to failure”. No more than 5% of the firms surveyed by Accenture described climate change as their priority, and not a single business in China did so.

One can understand why executives are more preoccupied with short-term sales growth and the recruitment of the best people than with the global warming crisis, but if they had an eye on the long term, they would realise that both those goals can be achieved by going green.

Consumers increasingly pay attention to companies’ green credentials. Most of the firms surveyed said that they struggled to understand the implications of climate change, that they were concerned about future regulation - and wanted governments to take the lead.

It’s time we persuaded Bush to so.