Tom Scott-Redford

Well here’s something I’m sure a few on the left of the party will be a tad suspicious of: “The Prince of Wales’s Business and the Environment Programme“. Lets see, we have outdated and elitist royalty, co-operation with big business, and the potential for greenwash. And all that is just in the title! A part of the Programme, the Corporate Leaders Group (so we can add rich businessmen onto the list), has issued a call for “transformational change” in the economy to face up to climate change.

So back to that list: I don’t care about the royalty aspect of it, if Prince Charles wants to help the environment, then good for him; I like the idea of genuinely working with large businesses if they’re willing to work meaningfully, and are sincere; but I am slightly concerned about greenwash.

If a massive company makes decent changes to lessen its environmental footprint, then the sheer scale of that organisation should mean that the benefits from those changes are great. If a massive company makes insignificant changes, for example, an oil company making tiny investments in renewables, and calling itself a “green energy company”, then it confuses the public as to what “green” actually is, and stalls efforts to tackle a pretty urgent problem.

I don’t know how sincere the leaders of Anglian Water Group, AXA, B&Q, BAA, BSkyB, Centrica, E.On, F&C Asset Management, Faber Maunsell, John Lewis Partnership, Johnson Matthey, Lloyds TSB, Reckitt Benckiser, Shell, Standard Chartered Bank, Sun Microsystems, Tesco, Thames Water, Unilever, and Vodafone are in their letter. Most of those companies are on many environmentalists “naughty lists”, but if they’re willing to actually do some good, then (perhaps in this alone) they should be supported.

Comment and tell me how much I’ve lost my path in the green movement at will.