Is Your Company In The Ostrich Block?

Posted on 30. Oct, 2009 by Ross in Corporate Policy

Companies around the world are changing their business practices - becoming more energy and resource efficient, tracking the impact of their products from cradle to grave and lessening their negative environmental and social impacts.

Then there is the Ostrich Block.

The Ostrich Block don’t see the business opportunity which fighting climate change brings. The Ostrich Block don’t get the business case for energy efficiency - who wants to save money by being more efficient when you can just sack some workers to cut costs or double your output to increase income. The Ostrich Block carry a can of green paint around to daub onto press releases so that environmentalists moan about the greenwash, rather than the worse business practices lurking behind the PR gloss.

The Ostrich Block isn’t content with polluting their own little corners of the planet either. They’re intent on making sure that governments don’t stop any company from belching as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as is industrially possible.

Didn’t See That One Coming

The Ostrich Block, however, is falling apart at the seams.

A decade ago, environmentalists viewed all companies as being in the Ostrich Block. Times have changed, though, and a new breed of corporate executives have seen that acting responsibly brings great benefits not just to people outside the company. Strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies can routinely yield significant increases in profitability through boosts to energy efficiency, product lifecycle analysis, worker productivity / happiness and the public relations initiatives.

The growing number of major companies who have brought CSR to the heart of their operations and profited from it has emboldened politicians who previously had shied away from environmental legislation which could harm business profitability. Around the world, carbon taxes and cap-and-trade schemes are being debated by governments more confident that their country will not be the only one taking action any more.

The Ostrich Block stand against such legislation. Anything which could put a dent in their profits is anathema to the Ostrich Block, and powerful lobby groups continuously pile pressure onto governments and opposition parties to resist any carbon-controlling laws.

Cracks are beginning to show, however. The US Chamber of Commerce - one of the world’s most powerful Ostrich Blocks - has recently seen some very high-profile defections due to its vehement opposition of both the American Clean Energy and Security Act and the EPA’s proposed regulation of carbon dioxide using the Clean Air Act. Tellingly, it was a trio of big energy companies - a sector generally though of as the core of the Ostrich Block - who started the split.

Take Your Head Out Of The Corporate Sand

The Ostrich Block isn’t just those core of companies who think that the world is their own private rubbish dump. It also contains all those companies which remain unaware of either the legislation being concocted both internationally and locally, or of the impact that climate change will directly have on their business in the future. This silent majority inadvertently adds weight to the heaviest polluters by not standing up to be counted, but simply standing in line in the Ostrich Block.

In this regard most companies still have their head in the sand. In the UK, 60% of companies have done nothing to prepare for the forthcoming CRC Energy Efficiency cap-and-trade scheme, and this is a trend repeated globally. Ask a company what its long term strategy to deal with the impacts of climate change on its business is, and in over 90% of cases you’ll receive a blank look and a shrug.

Help your company come out of the Ostrich Block. Ask what your business is doing to cut carbon emissions. Ask what it is doing to boost the bottom line through energy efficiency. Ask what impact rising sea-levels will have on out-sourcing to the developing world, or how rising fuel costs will affect shipping costs, or how lower crop yields will affect margins and pricing on food products.

Pose the questions, help find the answers and start looking forward. Climate change is coming whether we like it or not, and being an ostrich will give your company less time in the future to look up and run to safer financial ground.

Credit to John Laumer at Treehugger for coining the ‘Ostrich Block’ phrase, and to Witchdoctor Files for the image.