Daily Lessons from Life 03 September 2014 - Firms should be responsible for their impact on the environment: Balakrishnan

"Firms should be responsible for their impact on the environment: Balakrishnan - CNA 3 Sep 2014

SINGAPORE: Companies need to account for unintended consequences to the environment as a result of their business decisions. Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan made this point at the second annual Global Green Economic Forum on Wednesday (Sep 3).

More than 300 delegates - including environmentalists and policy makers - attended the event, for discussions on building a sustainable future.
Dr Balakrishnan said it is important that companies be responsible for their impact on the environment, especially following the recent haze episodes.

"There is nothing wrong with planting palm oil. But if the companies that plant palm oil do not have to pay for the externalities of polluting the air because they have burnt the forest in order to plant the palm oil, and they have privatised the gains and socialised the external costs, that is not sound economics, that is not sustainable development," he said.
“We recently passed legislation, not as a reflex fit of anger, but because we are trying to put this principle that you have to account for externalities.""

Lessons for me are:

1. are some of the 'suspected companies' attending this seminar? maybe some of they had been attending this or this type of seminars just as a formality without any intention of doing the right things? OK. I may be too cynical! Maybe some of the attended these type of meetings genuinely wanting to do the right things balancing the costs and benefits of being good Green Corporate Citizens!;

2. regardless of whatever they intent, the fact that the patience of the affected innocents have worn thin and legislation to punish the polluters who burned the lands to prepare for the next planting season ARE in place and ready to nab its FIRST offender!! This is a giant step forward. With the change of political leadership in Indonesia, where most of the recent years' forest fires started, maybe the time if ripe to hit the offenders, many of them, repeat offenders, HARD and make them realized that 'internalizing the saving from burning will NOT pay for the externalizing social costs'!;

3. with the business people, hit the wallets where they hurt is the most direct way to press home the message that we are serious about their reckless 'crimes'! The financial loss through the thick haze created by the annual forest burning are many more times the cost to incentivise the businesses to NOT burn! Even if the surrounding countries have to help defray the cost of 'clearing the land for the next planting season', it is worth it. Of course, the private enterprises will have to weight if it is still worth their while to dabble in palm oil planting IF there is NO public subsidy and the costs out weight the benefits.

Take EVERY polluters to task, mercilessly! That will be a start!! I look forward to 'No Haze Days...'