Asked how it self-corrects for climate change, the businessman, now shoulder-deep in water, replies: “By producing more lifeboats!”
Cathy Kling, Tisch University Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, said the cartoon illustrates that while private markets may drive some adaptations to climate change, public policy intervention will be essential to addressing the global challenge.
“You cannot make the kinds of changes needed at the scale needed unless you have some form of policy intervention that really changes the incentive to private markets,” said Kling, citing a carbon tax and emissions trading as potential examples.
Kling kicked off the panel, March 6 in Warren Hall, of SC Johnson faculty discussing whether business practices are the cause of, or part of the solution to, environmental degradation and the climate crisis.
“What mechanisms do we have for a better alignment between business decision-makers, households, consumers and the public good?” asked Ravi Kanbur, a Dyson economics professor, and organizer and moderator of the panel. “What is the right balance between market and state in achieving this goal, and how quickly do we need to move to close the gap between private interest and public interest?”
Businesses already have strong incentives to address environmental issues, said Mark Milstein, professor of management and director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
“It’s a question of competitiveness and value creation, plain and simple,” Milstein said. “When the science, the policy and cultural behaviors and attitudes are all heading in roughly the same direction, companies are going to pay attention to that.”
While policy may ultimately help hold laggards accountable, Milstein said, business leaders and local and regional governments are not waiting for federal action. Business students today, he said, “have got great opportunities to make this a central part of their careers and make change from the inside.”