climate change we hear about it a lot
east
ever since elementary school I remember
hearing how if we don’t do something
soon temperature fluctuations will
affect vulnerable ecosystems coastlines
will flood and plant and animal species
will be severely threatened but exactly
how and when will it change I’m
concerned and I don’t see my peers my
school my community or the government
paying close enough attention to the
urgency of this issue which is quite
discomforting for the last few decades
scientists have fear the two degree
Celsius mark as this threshold is
perceived as the amount the planet can
heat up until it’s ecosystems and
weather patterns begin to drastically
alter it is speculated that surpassing
the tubular excels Celsius mark could
potentially result in wildfires
averaging four to eight times in size a
decrease in crop yields by as much as
thirty percent not only in the United
States but also in India and Africa a
decline in availability of fresh water
by twenty percent in approximately
twenty-five percent of planning animal
species would be at a severe risk of
extinction according to the National
Research Council which is an
intergovernmental panel on climate
change and the World Bank I think that
these effects are frightening and I
can’t see how someone else could think
other words we are all responsible when
it comes to finding a solution but today
I went to focus primarily on the
responsibilities of corporations when
dealing with climate change as
greenhouse gas emissions and
environmentally destructive methods of
increasing production are already making
the effects of climate change more
visible the Paris agreement represented
by a hundred and ninety five nations at
the 21st conference of the parties of
Paris was adopted on December twelfth
2015 118 countries have signed and
ratified the Paris agreement its main
objectives mail it mainly dealing with
emission mitigation art element a
temperature increase by 1.5 degrees
Celsius above pre-industrial levels
strength and the ability to adapt to
challenges posed by climate change and
encouraged developments to reduce
climate change in ways that don’t
negatively interfere with the
environment in addition to what
governments have agreed to do what our
business is doing or willing to do on
their own so I thought about this for a
while
and I’ve asked what are the ethical and
practical responsibilities of American
corporations in order to comply with
international initiatives regarding
climate change the unfortunate real
reality is that some people ignore their
ethics and you are more concerned about
money and profits but let’s just make
the reasonable assumption that the vast
majority of people aren’t unethical what
would be a legitimate argument against
regulation well limiting emissions
requires large sums of money to
transform companies and methods of
production to comply with international
initiatives since companies are run for
profit many people no matter what their
perspectives of climate change are
strongly believe that a substantial
number of American corporations will
focus their efforts on short-term
profits and selfish interests as opposed
to climate change related investments
additionally prior to the Paris climate
agreement in December 2015 governments
around the world accomplished very
little in terms of grid on global
commitments to fight climate change so
there has already been a history of not
doing enough even in several previous UN
climate conferences the business and
financial communities did not have a
strong voice now even without a strong
voice in international forums many
companies are trying to rush emissions
about eighty-one percent of the world’s
largest 500 companies have already set
targets for the future but there’s a
problem of the 70 most energy-intensive
companies in the world across the
chemical electric and cement sectors
which are collective collectively
responsible for about five to ten
percent of global emissions only six of
the seventy have created long-term goals
in addition other Americans believe that
this issue is not even of much
importance this view is based on the
belief held by some including Donald
Trump that the science today is flawed
president Trump does not accept the
scientific evidence supporting that
climate change is in fact real ever
since the Ice Age the earth has
continuously experienced cycles of
abnormal weather patterns with the
environment experiencing excessive
flooding prequel canna corruptions and
significant temperature fluctuations
there therefore he believes that the
combination of man and greenhouse gases
has a very trivial impact on the climate
and because the earth has gone through
periods of climate change in the past
people can do very little to benefit the
health of the planet just a few weeks
ago in fact President Trump submitted a
budget proposal to Congress calling for
budget cuts for the EPA by as much as
thirty one percent if enacted this would
basically get rid of the federal
government’s role in addressing manmade
climate change some programs like
Obama’s chief climate change initiative
the clean power plan which would require
a transition away from coal flyer
coal-fired power plants would be wiped
away completely in early November Donald
Trump explained on the topic of global
warming the concept of global warming
was created by and for the Chinese in
order to make us manufacturing
non-competitive now when I heard the
President of the United States say this
I felt alarmed and betrayed my
generation is going to have to deal with
this expanding problem and the fact that
is being dismissed by the nation’s
leaders is very disturbing to me the
future of the planet is being ignored
because some portion of our national
population believes that as with that
would it would be a waste of money to
address this issue now putting these
rather discomforting a fuse aside the
practical responsibilities of American
corporations are numerous business
managers work to generate new business
improve their products and services and
maximize recurring profits but they also
evaluate potential risks to their
businesses in order to repeat and even
increase their profits in future years
in regards to climate change initiatives
my research demonstrates that not only
is in the best interest of the planet to
support regulation it is also in the
best interest of corporations and their
investors investing now to slow climate
change is good for the planet and good
for business perhaps the most important
industry not only in the United States
but in the entire world is agricultural
industry and the urgency of climate
change initiatives is escalating as
scientists predict that food
Shin must increase by at least seventy
percent or significant reductions in
racing foods must be carried out 20 and
20 by 2050 in order to meet the rising
demand of food for potato chips lovers
pepsico’s recent developments in potato
farming for example are proof that is
very possible to benefit the health of
the planet while still increasing
profits just a few of these new
developments include innovative
irrigation methods the creation of I
crop technology which enables growers to
accurately track water application to
the crops new potato varieties new crop
storage techniques use of renewable
energy reliance on fuel efficient
vehicles in the creation of the cool
farm tool a greenhouse gas emissions
calculator when you eat a bag of chips
or drink some soda you don’t think about
how many resources and how much energy
was used to reduce both the food and the
packaging that are required but
considering a PepsiCo like considering a
company like PepsiCo whose production
numbers are very very large the company
uses up quite a lot of water energy and
resources just to sustain the required
productivity the developments that
PepsiCo is really recently making help
to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions
as well as water usage by fifty percent
on pepsico’s potato farms in the United
Kingdom although efforts to make these
improvements requires large of large
sums of money the corporation’s potato
yields have significantly increased
which directly results in greater
profits on the other hand if efforts to
improve a company’s sustainability are
delayed for an extended period of time
they will fish they will face the issue
of financially lagging behind other
corporations that begin earlier but what
exactly will happen if companies do not
start to comply with international
climate initiatives that have emerged
from the Paris agreement the disturbing
answer is that nobody knows for sure
ideally this problem could be avoided if
companies begin to try to meet concrete
in realistic goals but if these efforts
are delayed several things might happen
in the future one of the most
possibilities is outside pressure from
foreign nations on us emission standards
especially Mexico Canada which the
United States is largest trading partner
China and several other nations a part
of the European Union many of the
world’s largest economies including
those of the EU China and Canada have
already begun to implement carbon
pricing programs which charge excessive
carbon dioxide emissions within their
own nations in the u.s. co2 emissions
make up approximately eighty percent of
total greenhouse gas emissions with
speculation regarding Donald Trump and
his thoughts on a bed inning the Paris
climate a deal dismantling the EPA in
revoking many of Obama’s policies on
climate change countries that are
placing costs on their own carbon
emissions to meet international
regulations settled at the Paris climate
Accord would likely complain that US
corporations responsible for igniting
greenhouse gas emissions are operating
under unfair trade advantages as a
continued production without deducting
any costs for pollution Mexico and other
countries have already threatened to
punish United States with a detrimental
carbon pollution tax on imports of
American goods if Donald Trump decides
to withdraw from the Paris deal as a
member of the upcoming generation
witnessing the continued decline of the
planet’s health the lack of the lack of
education about this issue in schools
and even the denial of the existence of
climate change it is in the best
interest for the United States to
incentivize using cap and trade policies
this would require corporations and
industries that exceed carbon pollution
levels too high pollution permits from
others that don’t ironically President
Obama in 2010 failed to pass a
cap-and-trade bill that included a
carbon tariffs on imports from other
nations now the United States may soon
experience a similar reverse situation
due the fact that is unknown but quite
likely whether or not Trump will draw
from the Paris climate Accord it is also
important to consider the ethical views
of American corporations can we be
confident that American corporations
will seek new innovative ways to improve
their methods to benefit the planet
oral strict regulations be necessary it
is quite possible that president from
may remove many regulations are carbon
and climate and greenhouse gas emissions
as well as on the frequent usage of
limited natural resources so it is
crucial that American corporations
understand the benefits of preparing
early for the future many American
corporations including Mars nike levi
strauss and starbucks have already begun
to take the initiative to establish
emission targets regardless of actions
of the government kevin rabinovich the
global sustainability director at mars
says in response to the possibility of
Trump withdrawing from the Paris
agreement this doesn’t change their
commitments we’re doing this because we
see a real business risk I believe that
in the future US corporations must set
climate change goals Eve even if
government regulations don’t force them
to in the case of PepsiCo the ethical
responsibility is to take action and
taking action also seems to be practical
in the long room too however whether
it’s corporations taking action or
author or us individuals everyone needs
to be more conscious of the environment
even as a child at home and at school I
was told that as important to not waste
food and water to recycle and reuse and
even to make sure i turn the light off
when it’s not needed but simply knowing
these little pieces of advice and
actually acting are two very different
things similarly whether corporations
set goals and actually strive to meet
them or where they realize the
importance of caring for the planet but
failing to make this is the question and
we’ll have to wait to figure out the
answer but all in all the bottom line is
that to do nothing in raw is wrong and
americans need to put pressure on doing
the right thing as a change maker of the
future I know that it’s crucial that my
generation is informed in acts on this
issue so yes I am optimistic that
American corporations will do their part
but everyone including companies
governments and citizens will all need
to continue to adjust and make efforts
to slow climate change because the two
degrees Celsius mark is getting closer
and closer in fact on the rate at which
we are progressing today we’re on track
of reaching it before 2050
you [Applause]
east
ever since elementary school I remember
hearing how if we don’t do something
soon temperature fluctuations will
affect vulnerable ecosystems coastlines
will flood and plant and animal species
will be severely threatened but exactly
how and when will it change I’m
concerned and I don’t see my peers my
school my community or the government
paying close enough attention to the
urgency of this issue which is quite
discomforting for the last few decades
scientists have fear the two degree
Celsius mark as this threshold is
perceived as the amount the planet can
heat up until it’s ecosystems and
weather patterns begin to drastically
alter it is speculated that surpassing
the tubular excels Celsius mark could
potentially result in wildfires
averaging four to eight times in size a
decrease in crop yields by as much as
thirty percent not only in the United
States but also in India and Africa a
decline in availability of fresh water
by twenty percent in approximately
twenty-five percent of planning animal
species would be at a severe risk of
extinction according to the National
Research Council which is an
intergovernmental panel on climate
change and the World Bank I think that
these effects are frightening and I
can’t see how someone else could think
other words we are all responsible when
it comes to finding a solution but today
I went to focus primarily on the
responsibilities of corporations when
dealing with climate change as
greenhouse gas emissions and
environmentally destructive methods of
increasing production are already making
the effects of climate change more
visible the Paris agreement represented
by a hundred and ninety five nations at
the 21st conference of the parties of
Paris was adopted on December twelfth
2015 118 countries have signed and
ratified the Paris agreement its main
objectives mail it mainly dealing with
emission mitigation art element a
temperature increase by 1.5 degrees
Celsius above pre-industrial levels
strength and the ability to adapt to
challenges posed by climate change and
encouraged developments to reduce
climate change in ways that don’t
negatively interfere with the
environment in addition to what
governments have agreed to do what our
business is doing or willing to do on
their own so I thought about this for a
while
and I’ve asked what are the ethical and
practical responsibilities of American
corporations in order to comply with
international initiatives regarding
climate change the unfortunate real
reality is that some people ignore their
ethics and you are more concerned about
money and profits but let’s just make
the reasonable assumption that the vast
majority of people aren’t unethical what
would be a legitimate argument against
regulation well limiting emissions
requires large sums of money to
transform companies and methods of
production to comply with international
initiatives since companies are run for
profit many people no matter what their
perspectives of climate change are
strongly believe that a substantial
number of American corporations will
focus their efforts on short-term
profits and selfish interests as opposed
to climate change related investments
additionally prior to the Paris climate
agreement in December 2015 governments
around the world accomplished very
little in terms of grid on global
commitments to fight climate change so
there has already been a history of not
doing enough even in several previous UN
climate conferences the business and
financial communities did not have a
strong voice now even without a strong
voice in international forums many
companies are trying to rush emissions
about eighty-one percent of the world’s
largest 500 companies have already set
targets for the future but there’s a
problem of the 70 most energy-intensive
companies in the world across the
chemical electric and cement sectors
which are collective collectively
responsible for about five to ten
percent of global emissions only six of
the seventy have created long-term goals
in addition other Americans believe that
this issue is not even of much
importance this view is based on the
belief held by some including Donald
Trump that the science today is flawed
president Trump does not accept the
scientific evidence supporting that
climate change is in fact real ever
since the Ice Age the earth has
continuously experienced cycles of
abnormal weather patterns with the
environment experiencing excessive
flooding prequel canna corruptions and
significant temperature fluctuations
there therefore he believes that the
combination of man and greenhouse gases
has a very trivial impact on the climate
and because the earth has gone through
periods of climate change in the past
people can do very little to benefit the
health of the planet just a few weeks
ago in fact President Trump submitted a
budget proposal to Congress calling for
budget cuts for the EPA by as much as
thirty one percent if enacted this would
basically get rid of the federal
government’s role in addressing manmade
climate change some programs like
Obama’s chief climate change initiative
the clean power plan which would require
a transition away from coal flyer
coal-fired power plants would be wiped
away completely in early November Donald
Trump explained on the topic of global
warming the concept of global warming
was created by and for the Chinese in
order to make us manufacturing
non-competitive now when I heard the
President of the United States say this
I felt alarmed and betrayed my
generation is going to have to deal with
this expanding problem and the fact that
is being dismissed by the nation’s
leaders is very disturbing to me the
future of the planet is being ignored
because some portion of our national
population believes that as with that
would it would be a waste of money to
address this issue now putting these
rather discomforting a fuse aside the
practical responsibilities of American
corporations are numerous business
managers work to generate new business
improve their products and services and
maximize recurring profits but they also
evaluate potential risks to their
businesses in order to repeat and even
increase their profits in future years
in regards to climate change initiatives
my research demonstrates that not only
is in the best interest of the planet to
support regulation it is also in the
best interest of corporations and their
investors investing now to slow climate
change is good for the planet and good
for business perhaps the most important
industry not only in the United States
but in the entire world is agricultural
industry and the urgency of climate
change initiatives is escalating as
scientists predict that food
Shin must increase by at least seventy
percent or significant reductions in
racing foods must be carried out 20 and
20 by 2050 in order to meet the rising
demand of food for potato chips lovers
pepsico’s recent developments in potato
farming for example are proof that is
very possible to benefit the health of
the planet while still increasing
profits just a few of these new
developments include innovative
irrigation methods the creation of I
crop technology which enables growers to
accurately track water application to
the crops new potato varieties new crop
storage techniques use of renewable
energy reliance on fuel efficient
vehicles in the creation of the cool
farm tool a greenhouse gas emissions
calculator when you eat a bag of chips
or drink some soda you don’t think about
how many resources and how much energy
was used to reduce both the food and the
packaging that are required but
considering a PepsiCo like considering a
company like PepsiCo whose production
numbers are very very large the company
uses up quite a lot of water energy and
resources just to sustain the required
productivity the developments that
PepsiCo is really recently making help
to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions
as well as water usage by fifty percent
on pepsico’s potato farms in the United
Kingdom although efforts to make these
improvements requires large of large
sums of money the corporation’s potato
yields have significantly increased
which directly results in greater
profits on the other hand if efforts to
improve a company’s sustainability are
delayed for an extended period of time
they will fish they will face the issue
of financially lagging behind other
corporations that begin earlier but what
exactly will happen if companies do not
start to comply with international
climate initiatives that have emerged
from the Paris agreement the disturbing
answer is that nobody knows for sure
ideally this problem could be avoided if
companies begin to try to meet concrete
in realistic goals but if these efforts
are delayed several things might happen
in the future one of the most
possibilities is outside pressure from
foreign nations on us emission standards
especially Mexico Canada which the
United States is largest trading partner
China and several other nations a part
of the European Union many of the
world’s largest economies including
those of the EU China and Canada have
already begun to implement carbon
pricing programs which charge excessive
carbon dioxide emissions within their
own nations in the u.s. co2 emissions
make up approximately eighty percent of
total greenhouse gas emissions with
speculation regarding Donald Trump and
his thoughts on a bed inning the Paris
climate a deal dismantling the EPA in
revoking many of Obama’s policies on
climate change countries that are
placing costs on their own carbon
emissions to meet international
regulations settled at the Paris climate
Accord would likely complain that US
corporations responsible for igniting
greenhouse gas emissions are operating
under unfair trade advantages as a
continued production without deducting
any costs for pollution Mexico and other
countries have already threatened to
punish United States with a detrimental
carbon pollution tax on imports of
American goods if Donald Trump decides
to withdraw from the Paris deal as a
member of the upcoming generation
witnessing the continued decline of the
planet’s health the lack of the lack of
education about this issue in schools
and even the denial of the existence of
climate change it is in the best
interest for the United States to
incentivize using cap and trade policies
this would require corporations and
industries that exceed carbon pollution
levels too high pollution permits from
others that don’t ironically President
Obama in 2010 failed to pass a
cap-and-trade bill that included a
carbon tariffs on imports from other
nations now the United States may soon
experience a similar reverse situation
due the fact that is unknown but quite
likely whether or not Trump will draw
from the Paris climate Accord it is also
important to consider the ethical views
of American corporations can we be
confident that American corporations
will seek new innovative ways to improve
their methods to benefit the planet
oral strict regulations be necessary it
is quite possible that president from
may remove many regulations are carbon
and climate and greenhouse gas emissions
as well as on the frequent usage of
limited natural resources so it is
crucial that American corporations
understand the benefits of preparing
early for the future many American
corporations including Mars nike levi
strauss and starbucks have already begun
to take the initiative to establish
emission targets regardless of actions
of the government kevin rabinovich the
global sustainability director at mars
says in response to the possibility of
Trump withdrawing from the Paris
agreement this doesn’t change their
commitments we’re doing this because we
see a real business risk I believe that
in the future US corporations must set
climate change goals Eve even if
government regulations don’t force them
to in the case of PepsiCo the ethical
responsibility is to take action and
taking action also seems to be practical
in the long room too however whether
it’s corporations taking action or
author or us individuals everyone needs
to be more conscious of the environment
even as a child at home and at school I
was told that as important to not waste
food and water to recycle and reuse and
even to make sure i turn the light off
when it’s not needed but simply knowing
these little pieces of advice and
actually acting are two very different
things similarly whether corporations
set goals and actually strive to meet
them or where they realize the
importance of caring for the planet but
failing to make this is the question and
we’ll have to wait to figure out the
answer but all in all the bottom line is
that to do nothing in raw is wrong and
americans need to put pressure on doing
the right thing as a change maker of the
future I know that it’s crucial that my
generation is informed in acts on this
issue so yes I am optimistic that
American corporations will do their part
but everyone including companies
governments and citizens will all need
to continue to adjust and make efforts
to slow climate change because the two
degrees Celsius mark is getting closer
and closer in fact on the rate at which
we are progressing today we’re on track
of reaching it before 2050
you [Applause]
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