“The chapter for us is closed,” Peter Löscher, the chief executive of the Munich-based conglomerate, said in an interview with Der Spiegel, (NYT, September 18, 2011)
Perhaps one of the most powerful statements made by any trans-global corporation in decades, Siemen's announcement that it would discontinue its investment in nuclear energy production is long awaited good news to the environmental communities.
According to the NYT article, Germany is targeting 35% of their energy to come from renewable resources by 2020. Such ambitious efforts reflect a growing trend in concerns about how the natural environment is being affected by human activity. More importantly, as corporate leadership takes ownership of accelerated climate change, we get closer to achieving a more sustainable path.
Important in understanding decisions about climate change is the pathology behind it. The EPA offers the following as a way to explain the process for determine climate change concerns regarding indicators: "An indicator represents the state of certain environmental conditions over a given area and a specified period of time." With indicators we can more accurately assess what is happening and how human activity is affecting what is happening. Is Siemens decision based on such indicators? It would seem so. With over $100.b in revenue from investments in nuclear energy, one can assume Siemens considered all possible angles including EPA indicators which are also driven by ICCP (International Climate Change Panel, a UN entity) reports.
Where do we go from here? Hopefully Siemens decision will influence more business organizations to take a leadership role. While nuclear energy is cheap in dollar terms, the economic externalities of nuclear energy vastly overshadow any benefits. Our faith in the monetary system is being tested; along with that it might be a good time to challenge our faith in financially inexpensive energy. There are multiple
In a 2004 article of Industry Market Trends, their author reported the following: Over the past 10 years, the installed capacity of solar power has increased by 700%, while wind energy capacity has expanded more than thirteen-fold. That translates to 10-year annual growth rates of nearly 22% and 30%, respectively, which far exceed the single digit growth rates of many current energy economies. Twenty-four years later than the original time-line, where are we? In a June 2011 article from enn (Environmental Network News), the global research director for General Electric Co., Mark M. Little stated "...that solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels within 3-5 years." A likely next step, following a natural progression, would be to launch major campaigns that shift consumer thinking to persuade them to be more aggressive about their individual commitment to climate change. With companies like Siemens and General Electric playing key roles, change will be a lot easier to accept-- where positive social change will help us avoid human induced climate change.
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