Four out of five Australian business leaders believe it’s their generation’s responsibility to tackle climate change, with fears that rising temperatures will have a negative impact on their bottom line.
Deloitte surveyed more than 2,000 executives in 19 countries including 151 in Australia about how they are preparing for the disruption caused by the “fourth industrial revolution.”
It found 81 per cent of Australian business leaders believe climate change will have negative consequences for their businesses, well above the global average of 48 per cent.
While 83 per cent said it was their generation’s responsibility to address climate change, only half as many were prepared to invest in new technologies to counteract the effects of climate change.
Deloitte Australia’s chief strategy and innovation officer Robert Hillard said that was higher than the global average of 23 per cent.
Queensland is in the grip of a crippling drought, with 66 per cent of the state now drought declared. Source: AAP
“In terms of the top five greatest outcomes they hope to achieve with their investments, this is second only to driving greater revenue (62 per cent),” Mr Hillard said.
“Business is increasingly recognising its role in proactively contributing to society and acting to make a difference to local communities.”
The survey took place before the start of Australia’s devastating bushfire crisis last year.
Deloitte Australia CEO Richard Deutsch expected more corporate leaders to have been moved by the ongoing disaster.
“We can assume that Australian executives would feel even more strongly about businesses helping to address climate change and encouraging sustainability for the long term.”
The fourth industrial revolution refers to the increasing automation of physical processes through the use of advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), drones and the internet of things (IoT).
The survey also examined business leaders’ attitudes to the radical transformation of the workplace with just 3 per cent of Australians surveyed saying they believe they have the skills needed in the future, compared to 20 per cent globally.
“Technology is changing the workplace so quickly that many of the jobs of the future haven’t been invented yet. People need the chance to play with and explore new technology and work out new ways to use it. Problem-solving is also a very human skill,” Mr Hillard said.
RBA may have to buy coal mines
The survey results come as the world’s most powerful banks have warned that climate change could bring on financial disaster.
The Bank for International Settlements - which steers central banks, including the Reserve Bank of Australia - has detailed the financial instability climate change can cause.
Its report suggests central banks like the RBA may have to act as “climate rescuers of last resort” and buy carbon-intensive assets such as coal mines and coal-fired power stations in the worst-case scenario.
"The increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events could trigger non-linear and irreversible financial losses," Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of France's central bank, said in the report.
A general view of the Bayswater coal-fired power station cooling towers and electricity distribution wires in Muswellbrook, in the NSW Hunter Valley region Source: AAP
The report described the potential results as a “green swan”, a reference to the unpredictable and devastating “black swan” event developed by philosopher Nassim Nicoholas Taleb.
The report also said that central banks, which aim to preserve financial system stability, can help by developing the analytical tools to measure climate risks or by investing some of their monetary reserves in "green bonds".
Green bonds finance projects with environmental criteria and are the most common vehicles for green finance.
- with wires
