Report: Professional Associations Need to Acknolwedge Role in Addressing Climate Change
December 5, 2011
Professionals such as lawyers, engineers, accountants, planners, biologists and foresters are often relied upon to provide advice and help make important business and policy decisions. It is now clear that many of these decisions have climate change considerations and constraints, and professionals should have a clearer understanding of their obligations in this area. A new report by West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL), Professionals and Climate Change, highlights this. It finds that although professionals are advising clients on a wide range of issues that involve climate change and are responsible for mitigation and adaptation measures, their professional obligations concerning this work are unclear and require clarification from professional associations.
Professional expertise has been used to develop innovative solutions and responses to climate change and to take a role in adaptive management. Both the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project believe that financial professionals have an important role in advising clients on matters related to climate change. Their report found that 9 out of 10 senior business professionals believe that business has an important role in managing climate change and that through participation, these professionals could not only reduce risk but create new business opportunities. However, no mention of any professional obligations in addressing climate change was made.
The importance of professional obligations are clear: since professionals should provide advice on climate-related matters based upon the best science (which requires formal training/education) and are working with clients who face great risks from climate change, it is important that these professionals be responsible for upholding a certain standard of care. This is usually accomplished with industry-specific codes of conduct and ethics, standards of practice, policy statements, etc., but little has been done to incorporate climate change into these documents and ensure that professionals recommend ways to minimize risks associated with it.
To rectify this problem, West Coast Environmental Law suggests that professional associations address climate change by:
- Recognizing the urgency of climate change and calling for government to act;
- Putting in place decision-making criteria and structures to ensure that climate change plays a central role in decisions made by the professional association;
- Encouraging or requiring members to receive education and training on the implications of climate change for their professional work;
- Giving direction to members on best practices related to climate change;
- Recognizing the professional obligations that their members owe to their clients and the public in relation to climate change; and
- Cooperating with other professional associations to encourage all professionals to appropriately consider and address climate impacts.
Admittedly there are numerous challenges in modifying these professional obligations, such as the additional costs incurred by professionals in obtaining training. However, as the report states: if climate change is not addressed correctly, it “may result in lost opportunities to reduce emissions, or lock in planning decisions that will not be flexible enough to deal with changing temperatures. Such decisions may result in harm not just to their clients, but also to the public and the environment.”
For more information please see: Professionals and Climate Change
Blog Post by ZACL Intern Steph Vanthof
