Citola Blog
US Elections and What it Means for the Environmental markets
“When it comes to green business, the election doesn't matter at all. Economic logic always wins out and sustainable businesses will be more profitable.” - Environmental Strategist, Andrew Winston.
The political landscape has changed in Washington and the United States in the last 48 hours with the mid-term federal elections. The Democrats have lost control of the House of Representatives, meaning that federal legislation for regulating greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. the Climate Bill) will face a conservative Republican party that has rallied around the politics of a slow US economy and high unemployment rate.
This is despite prominent Democrats calling a climate bill a “jobs bill” and Al Gore and Ban Ki-moon (UN secretary-general) stating a sentiment felt widely that: “Leaders everywhere, notably in the US and China, are realising that green is not an option but a necessity for recharging their economies and creating jobs.”
Despite US federal politics, there is progress from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will move forward with plans to regulate carbon emissions and mandate that the largest US organisations measure and release data on their greenhouse gas emissions.
Another economic and environmental victory was the broad consensus on building a clean economy future from "every political, ethnic, faith, and socio-economic spectrum" in California where voters rejected Proposition 23. The “No on Prop 23″ campaign, which included high-profile names including Al Gore, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, President Obama and Bill Gates, resulted in Californian voters rejecting Proposition 23 which would have suspended California’s climate change laws (AB 32). As Environmental Strategist Andrew Winston has stated, “… one of the main reasons the logic of AB32 won the day was that a range of business interests saw that tackling climate change was good for the economy. The greening of industry and society makes perfect business sense.”
This leads to the consensus that business can, will and must lead the environmental movement. “When it comes to green business, the election doesn't matter at all. Economic logic always wins out and sustainable businesses will be more profitable,” stated Andrew Winston. Furthermore, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has stated in relation to energy independence, “Pricing carbon is the key to energy independence… [and] once we do, every CEO will adopt a carbon strategy, no matter what the law actually requires.”
At Citola, we continue to develop and commercialise opportunities in the environmental markets and realise that the 'green' economy is emerging... and it will be large.
UPDATE: US President Barack Obama expected to announce US $700m Indonesian Forest Funding during his visit to Indonesia next week to assist the nation tackle climate change and reduce deforestation.
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