Business and Industry Leaders to Discuss Threats and Opportunities Posed by Climate Change

Internationally renowned business and industry leaders will discuss the threats and opportunities posed by climate change in a panel discussion on “Trading for Carbon: The Business Response to Climate Change,” on April 17, at 5 p.m. in Sage Hall of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

The panel will feature Dave Findlay, vice president for corporate development for Dupont Canada, which has 3,000 customers in Canada, the United States and 40 other countries. Other panel members will be Anda Kalvins, director of climate change strategy for the Canadian utility, Ontario Power Generation; Andrei Marcu, executive director of the International Emissions Trading Association, which is comprised of 53 companies committed to addressing climate change; and Lee Solsbery, director of climate change for the U.K.-based consultancy Environmental Resource Management (ERM).

Gus Speth, dean of the school, and Brad Gentry, lecturer in sustainable investments, will serve as moderators.

Marcu will discuss the creation of an international market for trading greenhouse gas emission reductions. Kalvins will discuss her company’s generation and sale of carbon credits. Findlay will discuss how Dupont has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent since 1997. Solsbery will discuss how ERM helped form and implement the United Kingdom’s Emissions Trading Scheme.

Concern over climate change has inspired actions by governments and businesses around the world. In the United States, these actions have included the recent launch of a voluntary coalition of businesses called the Chicago Climate Exchange; the introduction of various versions of multi-pollutant legislation in Congress; and the pursuit of many different initiatives in individual states. Internationally, the United Kingdom has set up its own nation-wide carbon trading scheme and recently completed its first round of trades. The European Union is expected to approve a program by the end of this year.

“Many businesses recognize the threats and opportunities that climate change poses to their bottom line, and have already taken steps to participate in the development of these new markets,” said Gentry. “This panel will examine how businesses in the United States and abroad have been responding to climate change as government programs continue to evolve.”

The discussion is sponsored by the Industrial Environmental Management Program, the Energy Student Interest Group, the Dean’s Office at F&ES and the Yale School of Management. For more information, contact Michelle Portlock, 203-432-6953, or at michelle.portlock@yale.edu.