Global warming induced by human activity is now well established. The key driver in increasing global temperatures is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natrural gas. In order to reduce our dependency on these materials and to improve the environment more and more businesse are switching to renewable sources or energy, such as wind, hydro and wave, and energy derived from waste and organic residues.  A key site for the Irish market is the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, http://www.seai.ie/Home/ where you will find lots of explanatory information. One of the principal initiatives to consider is implementing Combined Heat and Power, CHP. Producing power or heat in a generator or boiler on its own is inefficient (~30%), whereas producing both together in the sense of capturing the waste heat as part of power generation increases efficiency into the 75-80% range with obvious benefits. A good explanation of this technology can be found at http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your_Business_Publications/Guide_to_CHP_in_Ire_low_.pdf

A growing area of interest is anaerobic digestion of organic wastes and biomass, see UK Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association website www.adbiogas.co.uk/for access to wide-ranging information on this exciting area.

The UN has invested its credibility in the IPPC which last published in 2007 (http://www.ipcc.ch) and will publish again in 2013.

A good summary of the case for man-made (anthropogenic) climate impact can be found at http://www.ecocem.ie/index.php?p=news&q=2010&id=80. If you would like to check out the skeptic views, see this website http://notrickszone.com/. We all love a good conspiracy theory and like to thumb our noses at authority from time to time. The climate deniers exploit this. While the majority view is probably broadly correct, the variations in climate from year to year, specifically the recent severe winter, is causing confusion. While the earth is undoubtedly warming on average, natural variations always occur, counteracting the manmade influence to some extent. A very good explanation of the issues can be found at http://royalsociety.org/climate-change-summary-of-science/ . We recommend you look at authoritative climate websites such as, in the US http://e360.yale.edu/ and in Germany http://www.pik-potsdam.de/

While most businesses will look for economic benefits in addressing environmental and corporate responsibility issues, it is important to realize that there is also a strong ethical imperative. We live in the western world and arguably have exploited the environment to build our own prosperity. One of the consequences of our success is a series of negative impacts on less developed areas of the world. An example is rising sea levels leading to coastal flooding. A number of websites explore this area persuasively such as the recently formed Mary Robinson Foundation http://www.mrfcj.org/, and PennState University, http://rockblogs.psu.edu/climate/.

Achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 14064, OSHAS 18001. If you trade internationally you will find that it is an increasing requirement to comply with well-recognised management standards. The benefits of compliance usually far outweigh the challenge of achieving compliance, which can be made easy with the right leadership and coaching.