Climate Inc. and the Business of Climate Change

Climate Change needs to be approached by several points of view. Various disciplines can contribute in dealing with Climate Change. The scientific world and the academic field cross the rails of policy and business; these educational themes mix together in the same realm of journalism. Several ways of spreading the word, several ways of studying the causes, of predicting the future, of looking for solutions, collaborate in shaping a new society around some truths that are sometimes not acknowledged.

Climate Inc. – The Business of Stopping Climate Change is a blog which seems to start with this postulate. To realise this aim, the blog brings together the views of academics, business managers, policymakers, journalists, and professionals. Joined in the same virtual space, together these different voices examine Climate Change, and the related change of society, focusing on how climate change will affect business in the near and far future. The editor, Professor David Levy, is the director of the Centre for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness (SERC) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, College of Management. His mission is “to foster a transition to a clean, sustainable, and prosperous economy”.

In his website, Professor D. Levy examines how business is or is not responding to the current social changes, the economics of business action, and how public policy can support action on climate change. Conscious of the wide potential audience of the blog, of its educational purpose and of the requirements of the Internet medium, Professor Levy writes in an analytical but simple language with a light, sometimes witty tone, although the declared focus target is composed by academics, policymakers, business people, consultants and students.

The Pages of the website are simple, intuitive, and easy to navigate. The colours of the cloudy sky and melted ice create a blue and white layout where guest posts and debates are hosted which anyone can join to reply to the articles. The welcome debate develops around themes like the carbon markets, the growth of carbon accounting, finance and consulting, and the measure of corporate carbon performance. Renewable energy and the clean tech sector, low-carbon technology and market strategies, as well as government, public relations and education around the climate are other important topics for Professor Levy, whose articles deepen the core news with the intent of creating a debate around them. Readers do not get lost in this build-up of information because the posts are well classified and because the editor filters the blog of miscellaneous news. He selects relevant issues and delves into them.

Several links bring the visitor to other worlds dealing with climate change. Subscribing to the RSS service, the reader can constantly follow the weekly up-dates of the website, and select among various analytical articles.