The Impact of Climate Change to the Global Community

The Impact of Climate Change to the Global Community

 

The problems that climate change poses for the global community

Climate change refers to the shift caused by human-made and natural activities, specifically deforestation, as well as the burning of fossil fuels, which are increasing the number of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (UNICEF Office of research, 2014, 24). The global community is faced with numerous challenges that are because of climate change. These problems are:

1. Increased frequencies and intensities of weather-related calamities such as floods, hurricanes, droughts, rising of the sea level, and cyclones (UNICEF Office of research, 2014, 18)
2. Childhood health risks, as well as health problems in general, have increased as a result of climate change
3. Increased levels of air pollution that result in the diminishing of the ozone layer as well as causing air related diseases such as asthma
4. A change in climate causes an increase in the frequency of fatal heatwaves
5. A reduction in the food supply is also experienced as a result of climate change
6. Climate change negatively affects the tourism sector of the affected nations as well as the financial market and businesses
7. A loss of asset value is experienced due to climate change, which significantly impacts a country’s economy

 

Discussion

The degree of intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters is increased by climate change. The change in climate, which represents the increase in the number of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere due to natural as well as human-made activities, increase the occurrence of floods, hurricanes, droughts, rising of the sea level, and cyclones. Floods occur as a result of heavy rainfall, and the natural watercourses cannot withhold excess water. The excess rain is caused by the increased warming climate and increased temperatures that are a result of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect (Pomeroy & Dumanski, 2017, 18). A large quantity of these gases into the atmosphere cause trapping of more heat by the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the Earth to warm up. Flooding may occur as an areal flood due to the accumulation of water on a saturated ground as a result of heavy rainfall. Flooding may also happen as an overflow of water from natural water bodies or artificial such as lakes, oceans, and rivers, whereby the water escapes its natural boundaries due to an overtop.

Flooding negatively affects the global community whereby it causes death due to drowning, sweeping away of the property, causing damages and loss of property as well as displacement of families whose homes have been destroyed.

Droughts are prolonged periods of water shortage, which are conditions drier than usual. Global warming causes drying up of water bodies, whereby there is a high rate of evaporation due to high temperatures experienced on Earth. Irresponsible human activities such as deforestation, over-farming, and over-irrigation also are a cause of droughts. Droughts lead to famine, which is a shortage of food supply that can result in the death of a large population of people. Droughts also cause migration of people in search of settlement in places where there is sufficient water supply. Migration cause increased numbers of refugees in nations, which affects the host country’s economy. Hurricanes and cyclones are intense tropical storms that result in damage to property along the oceans and seas where they occur. Lastly, the rising of the sea level causes loss of valuable assets and property due to damage caused, especially along the coast.

Climate change increases childhood health-related risks, which affect the human race, both economically and health-wise. Children are more prone to being attacked by malnutrition and infectious diseases that come as a result of climate change, causing famine and floods. For example, nutritional deprivation affects children more than it does affect adults because children are more vulnerable.

Calamities such as drought and floods that cause famine to lead to the death of children as well as adults and increased infections of diseases such as waterborne and vector-borne diseases including bilharzia and malaria as well as deficiencies such as malnutrition, and kwashiorkor. Children are at risk of transmitting infectious diseases due to their immature immune system that makes it weak thus more susceptible to the disease pathogens, for example, cholera. Apart from the children, adults, too, are affected by the diseases that come due to floods. For instance, malaria is reported to be a killer disease for both adults and children, especially in an outbreak. The stagnated water that collects as a result of floods creates breeding areas for the mosquitos causing massive reproduction. Cholera, too, is a disease that has been reported to be a killer disease for both adults and children. Some of the conditions that come as a result of floods and droughts can lead to death, which significantly affects the global community. A high death rate reaps a nation its workforce and its potential investors of tomorrow. Individuals, as well as the country, suffer economically since when an outbreak of these diseases is experienced, many finances have to be used to offer proper medication as well as relief food, which may mean importing food from countries that have not been affected.

Heatwaves are hot weather conditions that last for a  couple of days, with the temperatures being higher than usual. An increased rate of deadly heatwaves being experienced is another problem faced in the world as a result of global warming and climate change in general. Heatwaves can cause heatstroke, heat exhaustion, as well as heat syncope. They are related to an increase in death rate because of the fatal diseases they cause that include cardiac conditions, psychiatric illness, and acute cerebrovascular conditions (Guo et al., 2018). For example, in the year 2003, many heat-related deaths were encountered in Europe, responsible for killing thousands of people. The heatwaves are estimated to be experienced in places around the Mediterranean region. As global warming increases, so does the rise in heatwaves. Physical and social environments significantly affect the growth in heatwaves; thus, heatwaves-related health cases differ between cities and countries.

Another significant problem that faces the global community due to climate change is the increase in air pollution—burning of fossils, as well as the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, result in the contamination of the air before affecting the ozone layer. Research shows that the ozone layer is thickening day by day due to the high quantities of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere, especially from the gases produces in industries as well as emission from vehicles, which have significantly increased in number. Air pollution results in respiratory diseases such as asthma. This is because this polluted air is the same air that humans, as well as all other living things, breathe. Air pollution is a cause of many deaths annually since it results in long-term health defects that cause death; for example, lung cancer, heart, and respiratory diseases. Research also shows that air pollution can affect the unborn babies causing congenital disabilities.

The climatic disasters caused by climate change, such as floods and droughts, harm the global economy, especially in the sector of agriculture. For instance, when there are floods as water overflows, they sweep away all the vegetation on the ground. Stagnation of water also leads to the death of plants because not all plants grow in wet environments. Droughts, on the other hand, cause dying of crops due to lack of enough water to help in growth and photosynthesis. Excessive exposure to high temperatures causes the plants to wither due to lack of water. The impact that the climatic disasters pose on the plantation and the agricultural sector significantly affects the economy of the affected country in terms of the food supply. In many states, farming is the back born of the economy. This means that these countries depend on farming and agriculture as their primary source of income, especially to countries that export agricultural products on large scales. If the weather-related calamities affect such countries, there will be a shortage of food supply. People starve to death due to lack of food for an extended period, and the governments of the affected countries have to incur more on the importation of foodstuff from neighboring countries.

The costs incurred in purchasing food as well as transport is a lot for a government to cope with because, in most cases, these calamities do not give signs that they are about to happen. Apart from damaging and sweeping away the crops, livestock is also affected by weather disasters leading to the death of many animals, thus having the involved nation suffer significant losses. A good example is Nebraska floods that are reported to cause damages of cattle, costing a worth of $440 million (Cho, 2019). Livestock in many communities is a source of income as well as a source of food to people. Animal products, too, are a source of revenue and to some farmers, it is the only source of income they have. Death of these animals due to drought or floods results in a shortage of food as well as affects the economic status of the livestock farmers. Due to the waves and droughts leading to increased food shortage, the farmers are struggling to adapt to the changes of climate, and with doing that, they will raise the prices in the market, which affects the customers.

The impact of climate change in the world will affect the businesses and financial markets in many different ways. The rising sea level that is a result of floods causes damages to infrastructure such as business premises as well as factories. This leads to a fall in the affected businesses since they have to start from scratch in finding another location to establish their business as well as finding the funds necessary to start again. Floods, in particular, are a significant disruption of transport in many countries, especially the developing and underdeveloped countries that are still struggling with improving their transport sector. On roads that bear potholes as well as all-weather roads, there are challenges faced when there are floods since water stagnates on the streets and makes it muddy to the extent of some vehicles getting stuck on their way. In the case of a business vehicle that is transporting goods, being stuck will delay the delivery of the intended products, thus dragging the business behind, especially is this condition is experienced in an extended period. Drought, which involves a shortage of water, will result in high prices of water that will increase the cost of production as well as that of raw materials. Investors and business people also worry much about the assets considered to be stranded, recorded as losses due to floods such as fossil fuels whose location is believed to be in the ground. The waves hinder access to these assets. The Carbon Disclosure Project conducted an assessment of financial risks that result from climate change in 2018, and according to their results, 215 of 500 world’s largest companies are at risk of losing a considerable amount of money estimated to be one trillion dollars in the next five years (Cho, 2019). The businesses that have a relationship with the stranded assets, in this case, the fossil fuels, run at a loss since they do not have their raw product to work on in the production of the related finished outcomes.

Rapid global warming is a cause of the melting of the snow, which results in a loss in the recreation of winter seasons because of reduced snow and ice. In the countries that depend on winter recreation as a tourist attraction, thus gaining foreign income from it will face a negative effect on their economy. Moreover, an increase in water temperatures leads to the suffering of water quality due to the increased intensity in algae blooms that can be toxic, affecting freshwater fishing activities as well as recreation activities. Deforestation is one of the human activities that cause climate change to lead to destructive effects on biodiversity, making the tourists’ attraction sites less attractive. The cutting down of trees without replacing them also increases cases of erosion, especially if deforestation is done along the coast. Forests act as water catchment areas, and therefore cutting down of trees causes reduction of the water sources such as springs. Trees also provide shade to crops that are planted under them, helping in preventing intense sunlight rays from damaging the crops, especially during high temperate seasons. Cutting down trees, therefore, exposes plantation to harsh heat rays that cause damage to the plants. Deforestation happens mostly in forests whereby you find that a large part of the wood has been cut down, which tampers with the homes of wild animals such as baboons. Deforestation does not only affect human beings, but it also affects wild animals and crops, leading to an economic loss when tourism is affected as well as vegetation.  Also, submerging of the coasts as well as small islands drive away tourists in the areas affected. Climate change has proved to be a significant threat to the human race as well as its environs. Human beings must reduce their unfavorable activities that affect the climate, which is by ensuring that there is minimal emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere to help in reducing the negative impact that climate change brings to the global community.

 

Which business will be most affected by current and future policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG)?

The reduction of emission of greenhouse gases is an issue that has led to the implementation of many policies to help in dealing with it. The instruments included in the reduction of emission of gasses to the atmosphere are technology-based, economic, and fiscal instruments that include subsidies and taxes, research and development, as well as voluntary approaches. The policies used to help in reducing the emission of gases into the atmosphere should have both economic efficiency and environmental effectiveness. For instance, the strategies should yield in a reduction of emission of gas rather than displacement of the emissions, and the policies should be least costly. The industrial business, which concerns the production and manufacturing of products, will be the most affected by the current and future reduction of greenhouse gasses emission policies. This is because the technology-based plans, for instance, will require the industries to advance or change the machines and instruments they use in the production of finished goods to reduce the number of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere. Besides, to achieve the reduction of emission goals, the industries should change their mode of production to produce energy-efficient products. Adapting to these changes might cost a company some losses because changing of products means that the firm has to bring new products into the market and incur all the costs that are involved, including the fee of advertisement of the product.

Some of the policies that can be used in ensuring that there is a maximum reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are such as cap and trade, regulatory approach, and carbon tax. The cap means that the lawmakers set a limit on the number of greenhouse gases to be emitted annually. This involves the government whereby it issues permits for emissions. This policy helps reduce emissions since there will be a reduction in the number of companies that emit greenhouse gasses, because some companies are private and might decide not to get the government involved in their business, thus changing their production cycle. Also, the policy of companies having to have permits for emissions will reduce the unnecessary discharge of gasses from the companies since they will all be cautious about the limit set. Cap and trade help in the reduction of emission of gases by providing a particular limit in the amount of gas to be emitted, leaving the marketplace to decide the cost. The carbon tax, on the other hand, is the obverse of cap and trade. The carbon tax specifies the prices of the emissions without having to fix the limit of the amount. The production industry is the primary source of greenhouse gases that feels the impact of the policies used in helping to reduce the emission of gas into the atmosphere since there are either prices set for the amount of gas to be emitted, or there is a limit of gas emission. This limit may also be a limit of production since a company cannot emit more gas than the deadline provided, forcing a delay of production, especially concerning products that involve fossil fuels.

 

 

In what ways will policies to reduce global GHG emission impact on business behavior?

 

Business behavior simply refers to the reaction of the business over a specific policy or action. Business behavior involves both its employees and the environment surrounding it. Systems that are implemented to reduce gas emission into the atmosphere have a significant impact on business behavior. The effects on business behavior include:

1. Firms engage in greenwash which is defined by misleading communication of information to people to lure them into adopting to positive believes about the performance of the company as well as products and practices, when in a real sense, the positive beliefs are overrated to have customers stick to the company despite any implemented policies
2. Voluntary managerial practices on the company’s environmental performance (Dahlmann et al., 2017)
3. The implementation of strategies to help in the reduction of gas emission affect the company’s range of symbolic and strategic intentions about improving the environmental performance of the firm.
4. More efficient use of raw materials as well as recycling of the plastic materials.

 

 

Discussion

Greenwash is involved with differing performance and environmental communication at the company level (Dahlmann et al., 2017). The pressure that comes with the implementation of policies affects the company meaning the business is affected as well. The management of the company, therefore, reacts to the systems that cause a change in how the activities run in the company. The reaction means that there is experienced a change in behavior concerning the environment of the business. Greenwash is intended to be of help to the company since the policies implemented will one way or the other result into a reduction of production, which will raise the alarm to the customers, driving away some of them. Providing false information about a company is not ethical according to business behavior. However, business stakeholders are forced to use it to help in adapting to the changes that come as a result of policies that are meant to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. In most cases, companies deliver factual information about their companies, which is according to the code of ethics in any firm. Still, the pressure imposed by the reduction of emission of gasses leads to greenwash. Greenwash, therefore, is a negative effect on business behavior.

 

Another impact on business behavior as a result of gas emission reduction policies is the voluntary managerial practices on the company’s environmental performance. Apart from causing a negative impact that is greenwash, the systems also create a positive impact to the company concerning its behavior. After realizing that the company is on limit concerning gas emission limits and costs, the managers to executives of companies take the responsibility of volunteering to assess and evaluate the environmental performance of the company. This includes more research on the change required in raw materials as in the aid to reduce gas emission. The environmental performance of a company relates to the ecological aspects which link the business to the environment, for example, the goods and services that the company provides to the community. The management will volunteer to go out to their customers, for example, using a marketing strategy to mobilize the customers to still stick by the company selling out their policies. The managerial practices on the environmental behavior of the company help in developing and managing the firm in the right way because, in many cases, the management does not keenly put into consideration much about the environmental performance when money is not involved. A company’s development depends much on the firm itself as well as its environmental performance because poor performance in its environment means weak interaction of the company’s elements and the environmental elements resulting in poor results.

 

The policies implemented to help in the reduction of emission of gases into the atmosphere cause a change in routine or behavior of how things are run in many companies. This means that the company invents more strategies and symbolic intentions to help in environmental performance development as a result of the pressure imposed by the policies. Improvement of the environmental performance includes ensuring that the company manages how it uses its finances in purchases of raw materials, transportation of finished products, and other costs that are related to the company’s performance. For instance, improvement of environmental performance leads to a cut in the cost incurred in the production of finished products in a business. In the case of a production or manufacturing company, the reduction of usage of resources that are related to production such as water, energy, using enough raw materials, and reduction of packaging done will help reduce the cost of production. For example, in the case of transportation of raw materials, the company should ensure that the source of their raw materials is near instead of getting the stuff from far. This will help save on transportation costs, which, in return, will help develop the company since the avoided cost is effectively utilized elsewhere to benefit the firm. Another strategy that can be implemented to assist in the improvement of environmental performance is the conservation of water as well as the installation of renewables. In a company, many waste products come as a result of production. The impact that the policies imposed to help reduce gas emission is that the company shareholders and workers see the importance of conserving the environment in general and not just the reduction of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Therefore, the company can implement strategies like properly disposing of waste products, ensuring that there is no waste from the company that is directed into water bodies. Also, the company can ensure that there are fewer travels concerning the business to help reduce gas emissions into the atmosphere. Conservation of water will help in developing the environmental performance of the company since the company needs the water as much as other human beings need it.

 

Reusing and recycling of waste help in conserving the environment. In most cases, the waste that is mainly plastic from the companies is burnt as a way of doing away with the garbage. The smoke that comes from the burning of the plastic has greenhouse gasses that increase the intensity of the gases in the atmosphere. A strategy to help solve the waste disposal matter can be through recycling and reusing of waste products. For instance, all plastic waste can be recycled to help avoid burning or disposing of waste that cannot decompose into the environment. However, burying the waste products into the ground is also a strategy that can be used to help get rid of waste products instead of having them disposed into rivers and open fields. In a company that has a history of poor disposal of waste products, the implementation of policies to curb the emission of gases will help in encouraging the company to implement new strategies that concern the placement of waste products as well as recycling and reusing.

Generally, the policies used in the reduction of emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere impact business behavior, which in most cases is positive, thus helping in the growth of a company, especially concerning environmental performance. The reduction of emission of greenhouse gases into the environment is for the benefit of all living things in the universe. Thus it should be taken seriously, and the policies implemented should be strictly followed. The government, as well as individuals, should be at the front line to ensure that they help in reducing the number of gases being emitted into the atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Cho, R. (2019). How Climate Change Impacts the Economy. State of the Planet. Retrieved 5 March 2020, from https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/06/20/climate-change-economy-impacts/.

Dahlmann, F., Branicki, L., & Brammer, S. (2017). Managing Carbon Aspirations: The Influence of Corporate Climate Change Targets on Environmental Performance. Journal Of Business Ethics, 158(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3731-z

Guo, Y., Gasparrini, A., Li, S., Sera, F., Vicedo-Cabrera, A., & de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, M. et al. (2018). Quantifying excess deaths related to heatwaves under climate change scenarios: A multicountry time series modeling study. PLOS Medicine, 15(7), e1002629. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002629

Pomeroy, J., & Dumanski, S. (2017). Floods, droughts, and climate change – what will the future hold?. Usask.ca. Retrieved 5 March 2020, from https://www.usask.ca/hydrology/papers/Pomeroy_Dumanski,_2017.pdf.

UNICEF Office of research. (2014). The challenges of climate change: Children on the front line. unicef-irc.org. Retrieved 5 March 2020, from https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/ccc_final_2014.pdf.