Q&A: Environmentally Sustainable Growth
This story was originally published on Sipa News.
In his new book, Environmentally Sustainable Growth: A Pragmatic Approachprofessor steven cohen Provides a positive vision of an environmentally sustainable future and outlines realistic pathways to a renewable resource economy.
Cohen is one of the longest-serving faculty members at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, serving as the school’s director MPA Environmental Science and Policy Course as well as MSc in Sustainability Management program.
In the Q&A below, Cohen discusses the impact of globalization on policy regulation, how governments can influence the behavior of consumers and producers to achieve a more environmentally friendly economy, and more.
What inspired you to write this book now?
I want to make it clear that the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy is an important goal. We’re not going to fix the climate problem, but we’re going to make it less bad, and hopefully we can adapt to the warmer world we will unfortunately live in.
How do we address the political polarization surrounding the climate crisis?
In trying to address polarization, we must consider what we have in common. Circumstances make it easy because we are all living beings. No one wants to be poisoned. We need to look for these commonalities and build on them.
How do we get the Global North to care about the climate impact of its policies on developing countries?
Developing countries need to protect themselves from these effects, but they don’t want developed countries to somehow pay the price to protect themselves. They need to have other solutions. When we think about foreign aid, part of what has happened historically is that it is dwarfed by remittances from people who migrate from one country to another, generate surplus wealth, and send some of that wealth back home. This is one way capital is formed, and it happens all the time in developing countries.
How do you see the role of globalization in environmental sustainability?
In general, humans benefit from technologies because they affect economic life, which in turn affects culture.Our economy is increasingly dependent on Service and Creativity Less manual labor and manufacturing. So if you think about environmental sustainability, part of the answer is not to assume that globalization will go away, but to learn how to ensure sustainability across supply chains.
How does policy regulation affect enterprises?
One role of regulation is to provide incentives for innovation. We’re now asking New York’s large buildings to be more energy efficient and eventually get rid of fossil fuels. This is spurring the development of alternative energy technologies. Regulation doesn’t just affect companies – its costs and benefits affect society as a whole.this [U.S. Office of Management and Budget] The costs and benefits of air pollution regulations have been studied for 50 years; for every dollar you spend on air pollution control, you get $15 in benefit. So the benefits of creating a cleaner environment are worth the cost.
How can we influence the behavior of companies and individuals to be more environmentally friendly?
Governments have a role to play. The role doesn’t assume you’re going to turn the company into a good actor. You have to ask them to be good actors. Companies report their financials honestly because they have no choice. They are honest because in order to raise capital in the public markets, they must comply with the financial reporting rules required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reporting requirement will soon include environmental risk indicators. Both the SEC and the EU are issuing carbon and environmental risk disclosure requirements. Now, companies need to share honest and accurate financial and environmental performance reports.
What is the government doing to make companies more honest in this industry?
The government requires public companies to submit quarterly financial reports, and these companies hope to continue to access the stock market to raise funds. In the next month or so, the SEC will begin requiring quarterly carbon and environmental risk disclosure reports. This specific government reporting requirement will determine what companies report and how they measure climate risk. Currently, many companies publish voluntary ESG reports, and the sustainability indicators used are far from uniform. SEC rules will bring us closer to uniform sustainability metrics.
What are the main takeaways you want people to take away from your book?
We are on a path to address the climate crisis and we are on our way to an environmentally sustainable economy. An economy that does not focus on the well-being of the planet is increasingly costly, so we will start transitioning to a circular economy. I believe that eventually, instead of mining minerals from the ground, we will extract them from our waste streams because it is cheaper to do so than to mine them from the ground. Governments, companies and communities are increasingly concerned about environmental sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and social justice. Despite our current political problems, these large-scale cultural and social changes give us reason to believe that we can successfully transition to an environmentally sustainable economy.
This interview has been condensed and edited by Giulia Campos MIA ’24 for clarity.
