Climate Change Change Is Real
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by Richard Maltzman,
Dave Shirley
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Date
We DO NOT know if climate change is real.*
What we DO know, as an absolute, undisputed fact, is that climate change change is real.
Here's the executive summary, fellow project managers: whatever you believe or don't believe about climate change is actually trivial from a project management perspective, compared to the fact that businesses are initiating changes to their fundamental business plans and business cases based on what they perceive to be an issue important for their survival.
Projects - by definition - are about change. Projects are initiated to incorporate changes, and they are selected by businesses based on their fit with the portfolio of programs and projects that help them stay true to their long-term, sustainable success.
Back slowly away from this blog post, and read this article. Then return.
If you read the article - great. That means you can skip this pull-quote because you've already got the point. For those of you who didn't, please at least read this:
'...many businesses in Boston and beyond are taking matters into their own hands, preparing for a warmer world in which severe weather, rising sea levels, and increased flooding threaten property, operations, and earnings.
Developers have moved electrical units from the basements to rooftops of buildings in the Seaport District along Boston Harbor. Utilities in New England have elevated substations several feet above the ground and replaced wooden electrical poles with steel ones that can withstand powerful winds.
Insurance companies, in response to clients, are testing products designed to protect against varied effects of climate change, and providing more coverage against natural disasters. The Hartford insurance company now offers small businesses policies against losses due to widespread power outages, a growing concern as major storms occur more frequently.
“We think the time for debating [climate change] is over,” said Ed White, vice president of customer strategy and environmental for National Grid, a British company with its US headquarters in Waltham. “We see it occurring. We’ve lived through the flooding, we’ve seen the damage that it had to our communities and our equipment.”'
So, in other words, as we said in a previous blog post, "Get Your Head Outta The Sand", your sponsors are "on board" with climate change. This means:
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projects are already being launched by businesses in response to challenges posed by perceived threats (and in some cases opportunities) caused by climate change
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enterprises are more commonly connecting their fundamental mission statements and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with their portfolios
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a knowledge of the issues, the language, the nature of climate change is an advantage whatever your beliefs
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jobs - even entire career paths - are bending to the reality of organizations responding to climate change.
What kinds of organizations are reacting to climate change? Is it just biofuel companies, fair-trade clothing co-operatives, and organic food family farms?
Hardly.
Again, from the article:
'Insurers, too, are concerned about hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires occurring more frequently. Three of the top six years for catastrophic insured losses have occurred since 2005 with a combined $142 billion in expenses, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry research group that has tracked the costs since 1989.
Data about climate, which was primarily used by federal agencies and insurance companies in the past, is now sought by all types of businesses and organizations, from health care providers to banks to manufacturers, said Kyle Beatty, the president of Verisk Climate. Verisk, headquartered in New Jersey, bought a Lexington climate research firm six years ago in anticipation of growing demand for climate information.
A retailer may want to know the likelihood of major storms downing power lines and triggering blackouts that would close stores, Beatty said. A manufacturer might want to diversify suppliers if a particular contractor is in a flood-prone region.
“The business reaction is to the fact that they’re experiencing impacts to their operations and earnings that they haven’t in the past, they need strategies to address that,” Beatty said.'
So it's retailers, manufacturers, insurers, financial institutions. These are the types of organizations that get their work done through - you guessed it - projects. That means they need project managers who understand the background and drivers of these changes.
We insist that it's time to get smart about this, if only for increased job opportunities and security. Stay tuned to People, Planet, Profits & Projects. We'll continue to keep you knowlegeable about sustainability and project management - and the increasingly important intersection between the two.
*although the overwhelming majority (97%) of climate scientists will tell you that it is...
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: May 22, 2014 01:08 AM |
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