| Don't Think "Climate Change," Just Think Change! Location: Copenhagen Author: Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D. Date: Monday, December 14, 2009 People often naturally resist change. It's both threatening and unsettling. The atmosphere in Copenhagen currently, however, is one of tremendous optimism and excitement at the prospect of exactly that—fundamental change. Confidence is growing that COP15 will be, if not the definitive agreement then certainly the moment at which historians can say with confidence—that's when the changes started. It's quite infectious, actually. A Bigger—Much Bigger Picture … One thing that I have learned here in Copenhagen is that it is simply too easy to get trapped into arguments about the science. It's easy to be skeptical; especially in the light of “Climategate” and to lose sight of the big picture. As a Greenpeace demonstrator said to me—“think of this as an insurance policy. If the science is wrong, then we will have achieved many good things anyway and if it is right—we may have saved the planet.” As if to prove his point, last night I attended a side event put on by Climate Spark—A business forum with a nightly program (www.climatespark.com). The range of speakers included representatives from two “green” businesses; a Swedish company that removes agricultural waste usually left to rot on farms which it then converts and adds back to soils to help crops to grow while selling the carbon sequestered from the product and another Swedish concern that specializes in building energy efficiency—citing improvements of as much as 75 percent! Additionally, Dr. Thomas Becker of BMW spoke about its electric Mini program and plans to introduce all new electric powered vehicles in the future. What was interesting about Dr. Becker's research was his view that fuel choice was no longer in the hands of the auto manufacturer as consumer's sought true “green” solutions rather than simply electric powered vehicles. In other words, regulation was needed to ensure that the use of electric vehicles didn't just switch the point of CO2 emissions from the tailpipe to the fossil generation facility. “The market is made by regulators and the media. Consumers are about the entire value chain,” he said. Josue Tanaka, Corporate Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also made some interesting observations including the need to preserve public transportation infrastructure in ex-communist countries and not allow the “L.A. Effect” in which the move to automobile's resulted in the closure of effective public transportation only to then have to recreate it later at huge cost. He remarked that under communism energy was “officially free” with huge wastage and the movement to a market based economy in which energy efficiency is valued can be difficult. Even more interesting to me was his view that the key challenge is to “translate the carbon reduction proposal into a business profitability proposal.” Other speakers included Wayne Sharp, founder of the Carbon TradeXchange—an internet-based solution designed to help facilitate voluntary carbon credit trading and James Cameron, Chairman of Climate Change Capital which runs $1.6 billion in private equity funds targeting the green sector. Mr. Cameron is a respected veteran of COP meetings and he said that COP15 was different as there “was a sense that people have come to agree” and that he is confident that “we will get a good political deal that will be an “accord” which is designed to enable the United States to work with it” and that “it makes a big difference to have the United States involved.” Indeed, all the speakers were confident that COP15 would deliver. Regulatory Certainty I came away with a perception that COP15 has legs and that this is not so much about climate science as about fundamentally changing the way we live. It encapsulates all of the hot topics of our day; alternate and renewable fuels and energy, smart grid, cap and trade markets, energy efficiency, new transportation models, new approaches to city planning, de-forestation and environment. It is the catalyst for the changes that we truly need to make in the way that we live on this planet with its finite resources. It can be the inspiration for entrepreneurship and thinking “out of the box.” All that is required is the regulatory certainty that COP15 and follow up agreements can provide and, as one of last night's speakers put it, once “green” energy projects look more profitable than traditional fossil fuel investments, private money will flow in addition to the public funding that will drive this along. COP15 can and most likely will act as the impetus for this to happen. Exciting stuff! UtiliPoint's IssueAlert® articles are compiled based on the independent analysis of UtiliPoint consultants. The opinions expressed in UtiliPoint's® IssueAlert® articles are not intended to predict financial performance of companies discussed, or to be the basis for investment decisions of any kind. 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