Climate change as an international issue: Strategic implications for business

Climate change has serious long-term implications for the sustainable development of countries across the globe. In recent years, global carbon emissions have reached record-high levels. There is scientific evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the environmental climate system, may already have been reached or passed. Ecosystems as diverse as the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic tundra may be approaching thresholds of irreversible change through warming and drying. Mountain glaciers are in alarming retreat and the downstream effects of reduced water supply in the driest months will have consequences that transcend generations.

Accordingly, the United Nations (UN) has long been proactive in portraying climate change as an international issue. Since the late 1980s, the UN has worked on several important legal instruments to establish climate change as an international issue and help member countries prevent damaging human interference with the climate system. The aim of this article is to highlight some important initiatives by the UN and discuss key climate change strategies for business.