Fireside Chat | Climate Action, Climate Justice and Humanity

A Sobering Reminder that Doing Less Bad is Not Enough At our most recent Fireside Chat— Climate Action, Climate Justice, and Humanity—we heard four experts discuss the interconnectedness of climate change and sustainable development. You may already know that continuing business as usual emissions will lead to more heat waves, rising sea levels, and an increase in severe weather events: here, we learned that climate change is affecting so much more. Dr. Sittisak Sugsaisakon is Climate Change and Energy Attache to the British Embassy of Bangkok. He reminded us of Thailand’s pledge to reduce emissions to net zero by 2065. In turn, businesses are also making climate commitments Reducing, accounting, and reporting are critical to understanding emissions reduction efforts.  In addition, Dr. Suthirat Kittiponvises of Chulalongkorn University’s Environment, Development, and Sustainability Program revealed how climate change exacerbates inequalities and disproportionately affects the disadvantaged. Mr. Phichet Munpa, Environmental and Social Safeguard Expert at WWF, argued that a sustainability plan must incorporate environmental and social safeguards, or ESS. These are policies, standards, and operational procedures designed to identify and minimize adverse environmental and social impacts that may arise from development projects. ESS can work to proactively deliver better outcomes to people and the environment. This is especially pertinent as more companies are looking to deliver impactful sustainability strategies. Among disadvantaged groups is the elderly. Mr. Chandit Sawangnate, Researcher at the Institute for Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, showed how climate change can affect the elderly through a case study of elderly living in flood-prone areas. Flooding puts the aged at serious risk, but technological advancement can help mitigate this risk with alerts and predictive tools. In short, businesses are now challenged to go beyond simply reducing emissions, diligently reporting, and forging integrative plans for addressing the interwoven SDGs. MacKenzie King joins the Sustainability & Entrepreneurship Center with a passion for finding innovative, business-driven solutions to the unanticipated consequences of capitalism run amok. The more she succeeds, the better off we will all be.