It is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.”
As climate change intensifies its impact on the planet, pressure on countries to reduce carbon emissions is no longer just an issue led by environmentalists.
At the end of October, world leaders gathered for the crucial COP26 climate change negotiations to accelerate the 2015 Paris Agreement, which determined global warming must be limited to preferably 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. It is intended to.
US President Joe Biden has no illusions about what will happen if we fail to stop the climate crisis. A recent climate adaptation report released by 23 US agencies suggests that every part of life will be affected, from housing to food.
The South African government is understandably concerned.
Therefore, although this is easier said than done, it is proposed to limit annual greenhouse gas emissions to between 350 and 420 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
As an example, electricity utility Eskom has been identified as the world's largest emitter of sulfur dioxide.
In 2019, Eskom produced 1,600 tonnes of pollutants that can cause everything from asthma to heart attacks, according to a new report from the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.
That amount is more than any other company and more than “the total emissions of the power sector of every country except India,” according to a Bloomberg report.
This is not good news for the private sector.
The spotlight on Eskom will put even more pressure on local businesses to follow suit and make deep cuts to reduce their carbon emissions.
For many industries, cuts in line with the government's proposals could be a bridge too far, with a significant impact on profitability and a loss of shareholder confidence.
At least, that's what they may believe.
Failure to comply with climate laws poses an even greater threat to businesses as they can be fined hundreds of millions of rands.
However, compliance should not be viewed negatively.
In fact, Mohamed Ali, Managing Director and Chief Auditor of WWISE, South Africa's leading International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards training and implementation specialist, says that subscribing to environmental standards can actually improve your business. He says it can increase sales.
Each standard within the ISO scope describes the tools (such as policies, process flows, procedures, work instructions, form reports, and statistical analysis) that organizations need to achieve their objectives.
ISO 14001:2015 is a standard program that helps organizations develop an environmental management system (EMS).
The focus of EMS is the use of an environmental lifecycle approach, where each activity within an organization's process scope is managed through an environmental aspect and impact identification process that is aligned with a risk methodology.
“The Paris Agreement really helps companies when they are trying to get shareholder buy-in on green management,” Ali says.
“Shareholder buy-in stems from the fact that ISO standards that align with legal requirements reduce liability costs. This means companies can avoid fines from, for example, Green Scorpions in the South East. The legal fines for failure to comply with the National Environmental Management Act can reach hundreds of millions of rands and clearly have the potential to cripple or bankrupt organizations.”
Some companies already recognize the importance of environmental compliance in their operations.
Unica Iron and Steel is a well-known manufacturer of light and medium structural steel based in Hammanskraal, outside Pretoria, which began operations in 2007 and trades in the South African Customs Union (SACU) region.
The 36,000m² facility consists of a melting plant, a water cooling system and a billet forming plant.
Unica is keenly aware of the changing landscape of environmental compliance and has therefore decided to obtain ISO 14001 certification.
“It has changed our business,” says Unica's Lesego Mashaba.
“[We were struggling] Includes development of process flows, procedures, forms and templates, training, competency assessment, implementation of processes and systems, and continuous monitoring and improvement. However, we now have standardized and systematic processes in place, resulting in lower costs.
We have reduced the number of accidents, improved customer satisfaction, and improved legal compliance. ”
The implementation of Unica's standardization took approximately two and a half years.
Ali said the process was targeted and delivered great results for the company.
“We spoke their language and broke down the legal requirements into understandable language,” he explains.
“We started implementing the policy through awareness training and providing benefits, while explaining the potential harms of not implementing the standards. Visually explain what can happen with posters, hold daily employee environmental responsibility discussions, display videos summarizing policies, processes, and procedures in different languages, and create infographics to help people understand what can happen. provided.
“We also looked at the impact of non-compliance and what other African countries like Rwanda are doing to move forward. We want top management to set an example for others. He emphasized the importance of showing.
WWISE has also established an environmentally responsible waste management and recycling culture.
“We have also introduced incentives. Environmental observation reports and actions have been rewarded. In this way, we have established a proactive culture with built-in controls to manage waste and reduce pollution. Did.”
Mashaba said the process was very enlightening in terms of what businesses need to do to become compliant.
“Thorough groundwork must be done, a corporate strategy defined, and detailed process flows developed.
We have codes of practice, system procedures, standard operating procedures and work instructions, and employee training and retraining,” she says.
“Control measures must be put in place to ensure employee buy-in and compliance. This can be achieved by introducing health and safety, environment and quality clauses into employment contracts.”
The ISO 14001 standard can be implemented by both small and large businesses, but costs can vary widely.
For companies with 15 to 30 employees, implementing a complex standard costs approximately R350,000, increasing to approximately R650,000 if there are two such systems or standards.
“For large companies, this can amount to more than R10 million, due to legal obligations, capital costs to monitor environmental conditions, etc.,” Ali concluded.
