This global online survey was conducted in November-December 2007.
Of the 1,122 respondents, 42% were based in Europe, 23% in Asia-Pacific and 19% in North America (US and Canada).
ANOTHER BIG ISSUE ON CSR is Climate Change:Government proposals for strengthening the Climate Change Bill
February 2008
The Climate Change Bill completed committee stage in the House of Lords on 4
February. In light of views expressed and following further consideration, the
Government has provided a comprehensive response and tabled a number of
amendments to the Bill to further strengthen the provisions, underline the UK’s
leadership role and increase Government transparency and accountability in tackling
climate change.
2050 Target: Statutory Review by the Committee on Climate Change
The Government’s proposed long-term target is CO2 reductions of at least 60% on 1990
levels by 2050, and as the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the Government will
be asking the Committee on Climate Change to consider whether this target should be
tightened up to 80% as it considers its advice on the first three five year carbon budgets.
The Committee will have the independence and the expertise to provide the best-quality
advice on the level of the 2050 target, and this review will ensure we have a full,
credible, analytical basis for decisions on the level of the 2050 target.
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Department for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsHowever the government and the companies are planning to reduce the CO2 there is a discrepancy. Let me show you what is it.
One of the biggest industrial polluter Drax, the largest coal-fired power station in the UK.
Drax the Destroyer Drax produces over 20 million tonnes of CO2 a year. There are more than 100 countries that produce less. Knowing there is no way they can defend their position positively, Drax try to downplay it. They say they take our environmental responsibilities very seriously, explaining how they are a clean and efficient coal-burner. Coal generates far more CO2 per unit of electricity than any other fuel; proudly being the least polluting coal power station is like proudly being the least murderous serial killer. This might sound like overstating the case, but as climate change extends deserts, submerges or dries up fertile lands and provides new opportunities for epidemics, willful climate change is indeed akin to mass murder.
Drax burns 13 million tons of coal a year. There is nothing clean about that. Burning coal has no place in a society that wants to avoid catastrophic climate change. They trumpet their mixing coal with biomass fuels to cut down on their emissions. What they don't mention is that their use of biofuels peaked at a mere 2.5%.
Despite saying Drax uses biomass as part of continually looking for ways to improve its business and environmental performance, in March 2006 they slashed their biomass use by 90%. So it's now 99.75% coal. Cutting your green fuel in favour of the most CO2-intensive is not improving your environmental performance. More to the point, there isn't enough land to replace coal with biofuels. As oil and gas become more expensive, so the agri-chemicals they provide become uneconomical for many farmers. This decreases the yields whilst the global population rises.The real battle is about change as its coming whether we like it or not. Capitalism loves a good crisis. The crisis of climate change provides an opportunity to change the world, to sweep away existing barriers to growth and to realise new profits. Markets for carbon and the farce of carbon-offsetting are ingenious new ways to make profits. It’s hard to see them delivering 90% cuts in carbon dioxide emissions before 2050. But easy to see them delivering bumper profits, insane inequality and a PR-disguised drift towards climatic catastrophes.
Our responsibilities as designers:
"Our discussion on the ethics of designers always gets impaled on the issue of whether a client’s desire for profit can be reconciled with our ethical desire to do no harm. Or, put another way, can we serve a client and the public at the same time?" Milton Glaser.As a designer we have to be honest. What ever we are working on we need to find out how we can do our job in an objective way. We have to thing about sustainability. Not to cheat on people. And as an individual we must show/inform public whats going on in our planet. Show them the reality behind the virtual.
