Business Leaders Urged to Heed Global Warming Science

The greenhouse effect “is real and intensifying,” according to a stark “executive action report” issued by the Conference Board, a New York–based nonprofit, nonpartisan business organization that does economic research for major corporations and other businesses. Based on a June 2004 conference on climate change, held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the report notes that while controversy exists about the exact causes of global warming, “there is widespread consensus that climate change is occurring.” The document sums up the views of scientists at the conference by saying that “the trajectory is set” for a warmer planet, and it warns the business community to expect increasing pressure to deal with the issue.

“This was designed to be a backgrounder for our members and business people generally,” said the report’s author, Charles Bennett, a geographer and a senior research associate with the Conference Board. “We wanted to provide our members a synopsis of the science as 10 leading American scientists see it.”

The report discusses the scientific evidence for sea levels rising, glaciers melting, and spring arriving earlier in the Northern Hemisphere. “The participating scientists … believe that human activity is now contributing to warming … especially through greenhouse gases that result from human activity,” the document says. Warming can’t be avoided, “but the trajectory can be jiggled and potential risks associated with warming can be mitigated.” The report advises businesses that “governments and markets are likely to act on their perception of the science. Increasingly, this perception is swinging toward a belief that climate change is an urgent priority.” The document also says that “corporate boards will be increasingly expected to evaluate potential risks associated with climate change,” and that “the global economy will become less carbon-intensive over time.”

Bennett cited the arguments of global warming skeptics, particularly the concern about the lack of precision of the global circulation computer models used to simulate and project the future of Earth’s climate. While the models do have some imperfections, he writes, “these imperfections don’t constitute an argument for waiting” to take action.

“I tried to underscore that there is controversy and differences of opinion,” Bennett said, “but there is also a consensus of opinion among scientists about global warming.”

Chemist Sherwood Rowland, of the University of California, Irvine, gave the keynote address at the AAAS conference. Nine other scientists also made presentations.