Uncovering Low Carbon's Untold Truth

19 May 2010 – John Schaetzl

Will all manufacturers be required to list their environmental side effects and have their advertisements approved just as just drug companies do today? Will polluters consumer liabilities exceed tobacco settlements? Will Walmart in the face of rising transport costs decentralize global manufacturing to be nearer its consumers. Tuesday’s roomful of lawyers listening to SustainAbility’s Gary Kendall and lawyers from Freshfields Bruckhaus reveal “Untold Truths about Low Carbon and Sustainability” establishes one more “untold truth” which is that companies see it as likely enough and are already paying countless billable hours to address the question.

While consumers and markets may not yet accept Kendall’s requirement of a carbon free energy system by 2050 or the resultant dramatic impact on every aspect of our lives, in every industry and every market smart corporations see it as likely enough and dramatic enough that those companies are making a massive investment in the early steps and stages of policy creation, regulatory implentation, and case law to shape early directions. Facing the possibility of regulatory intervention in environmental advertising to the consumer ten to fifteen years from now, corporations are today seeking legal advice while attempting to establish the standards and practices which will underly that ultimate intervention. The direction of the early miles of a long straight journey are most likely to have the greatest impact on the ultimate destination. We are in those first miles and while the journey will certainly not be straight it behooves us to carefully project and if neccessary correct those early miles. A ship full of lawyers is leaving the harbor. Is it heading in the right direction?