More than ever the challenge of climate change and how we tackle it demands effective leadership. Leadership from whom though is an important question. Arguably it comes from many different levels within society; from international bodies to central and local government, from international charities to charities focused in a specific location. As Lord Giddens, author of ‘The Politics of Climate Change’, explained at the Ecobuild conference in March 2011, climate change is accumulative in nature and like no other problem we have encountered. There is no solution that will terminate it, or reverse it. Therefore, to address such complex issues, we need great leadership.
Two important sources of leadership come from government and industry. Government can set the regulatory standards that need to be followed and industry can encourage producers, suppliers and customers to take up greener technologies. To make these alternatives attractive government needs to ensure that there are incentives for industry and consumers.
At the Ecobuild conference, the role of leadership was hotly discussed. Sir Crispin Tickell, Director of Policy Foresight Programme, at James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation, University of Oxford, argued that at present one of the main hurdles is to find effective leadership and he maintains that we have not got it yet. He further argues that great change happens when normal citizens apply pressure; industry responds to the questions that customers ask and if customers don’t have the incentives to demand greener technologies there is a reduced likelihood that they will be adopted. Therefore is it customers that are the leaders? Whatever the role of industry, there is one vital point that we must harness and that is the ability to innovate. The ability of individuals to be innovative is hugely exciting and something we must celebrate and encourage as part of the solution to reducing the effects of climate change. Industry provides the platform for this innovation, a chance to lead and illustrate to people that there are alternatives that we can adopt.
Another important aspect of ensuring that we have leadership on a variety of scales is to get people to identify their interests, as this influences the leadership response. This issue was also raised at Ecobuild. Governments have been identifying their interests for a while. For example, even though China is one of the most polluting countries in the world it is also one that is making considerable investment in greener technologies. China knows that with its ever-growing population and depletion of fossil fuels there is no alternative but to develop other forms of energy production. The extensive construction of the Three Gorge Dam, however controversial, is a prime example of China turning its attention to accessing the power of alternative and renewable fuels.
Another source of leadership that has the potential to be hugely successful but perhaps at the moment is leading to pessimism is leadership from the media. Whatever else may be argued, there is no doubt that the media helps to set the tone for public opinion and has played a decisive role in scaremongering about climate change. Whilst we shouldn’t mollycoddle people about the truth, to get people on board, especially the everyday lay person, and get customers asking the right questions, we need to present the challenge of climate change in a more manageable and positive way. Although the negatives are scary – think of what a 2 degrees rise in temperature could do to some parts of the planet – people need to believe that with the correct action we can do something about it. The media should have a role in providing a more positive image of what can be done and thus create a higher chance that people will start to explore new technologies. As Paul Morrell, Chief Construction Advisor to the UK Government and Chair of the Low Carbon Construction & Innovation Growth team explained, the first barrier to tackling climate change is that of belief. You have to get people to really believe they can make a difference.
Leadership is incredibly important and it comes from all sections of our society, from the role of Government in regulation to that of the construction industry in providing opportunities to adopt affordable green technologies. Finally the customer has to have the belief to ask for those technologies and lead from the grass roots up.
