“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” This is a phrase often quoted during crisis situations, most recently and notably quoted by President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. Thus, the Obama administration has made huge investments in areas of healthcare, energy, and education, in an effort to change the way the US economy is structured. He has used the crisis to frame his investments as a way to stimulate the economy. Absent a crisis, President Obama might not have received the cooperation of so many people to make those investments.
The economic crisis is showing signs of abating, but the specter of a climate crisis gets worse each passing day. Developed nations have been using tons of energy for years to feed their economies. Developing economies need to meet rising energy needs too, often using dirty coal to do so. The melting of the ice caps, rising sea levels, longer droughts, larger floods, and more violent storms…these are just some of the huge effects of climate change. The international community has so far not taken any limits on pollution seriously. But, the US and other governments finally seemed poised to take action.
The US Congress will probably pass climate legislation this year, forcing companies to reduce their environmental impact. Chances are that the Congress will choose to pass a cap-and-trade bill, meaning there will be a certain amount of ‘units’ of pollution that companies will be allowed to emit, and if they want to pollute more, they will have to buy ‘units’ of pollution from another company that doesn’t need to use their ‘units’ of pollution. The idea is that companies will, on their own, reduce their pollution because of the possibility to sell their allowances for profit. If a company really wants to pollute, they will have to pay for it.
Hara has a long-term vision of environmental legislation and they see an economy that no longer ignores the cost of polluting. Up until now, the environmental degradation was never taken into account when businesses figure out their year-end profits. Hara wants that to change, to reflect the impact of business on the environment. Afterall, the word “hara” means “green” in Sanskrit. Here are a few excerpts from the article in The New York Times
“A post-carbon economy is arriving in this decade,” he said, “This creates an environmental record for your company.” (Amit Chatterjee, Hara’s founder and owner).
Hara’s Web-based software tracks the resources used by the company, like electricity and water, and emissions like carbon and other waste.
The Coca-Cola Company has been using Hara’s software as part of a pilot project to track greenhouse gas emissions for its 1,000 facilities worldwide. It helps Coca-Cola keep track of projects that vary by country. In South Africa, for example, Coca-Cola is switching from heavy crude oil to natural gas. In the United States, where plants have not been using heavy oil, the company has been updating its lighting systems.
The coming climate crisis is going to have very serious consequences on our environment. Our land, water, air, and food supply will all be affected. Social entrepreneurs often take a look at some of the most serious problems our society faces, and try to apply business principles to solve these problems. Hara knows that the climate crisis is serious. They are using their software expertise to help all businesses reduce their climate impact. If we are going to make progress slowing the effects of climate change, we will need companies like Hara to make the process easy and quick for the business community to do their part.
