Jose Luis Blasco, Head of Sustainability Advisory Services at KPMG in Spain:
Transport is the source of 14 percent of the total amount of emissions in the world. I think that it could be one of the main sectors that will be challenged by the CEOs here in Copenhagen. Here with me is Barend van Bergen, an associate partner in the Netherlands. Barend - what is your position about the new agenda for transportation after Copenhagen?
Barend van Bergen, Associate partner at KPMG in the Netherlands:
I think irrespective of Copenhagen we see the transport sector going to a low carbon economy and this means that carbon will be driven out of the supply chain. So, I think every modality and transport will have to think for itself, what is the carbon footprint currently? And, basically they have three priorities: measure, measure, measure. Because if you know your carbon footprint you can take informed decisions on action and reduction.
Yes you’re right it’s either market based by taxation or cap and trade or regulation will kick in. So it’s either market based incentives or regulations. I think for aviation it’s clear that it will, in the short term, be cap and trade as aviation is to be included in the European Emission Trading Scheme. And for other sectors it might be regulation. So I think COP-15 and the carbon agenda mean different things to different modalities.
Well I think in the current market logic, it’s very hard, sometimes, for some companies, to reduce carbon, because the margins are not always that great. But I think we get to a situation where, well carbon is a new currency, so in addition to financial values, more and more companies will have to look at carbon.
If carbon gets a price, than we will see rerouting of logistics and rerouting of production. So it is not only understanding your carbon footprint and reducing it in the current market logic but it is also thinking about new scenarios, where we go from globalization to regionalization and we will see that things might change over time.
I think companies have to work on both ends - both in the current market logic – to think about what is their footprint; how can I reduce it; how can I drive out carbon in the supply chain and on the other hand to think about a new sort of paradigm shift, a new market logic. Carbon is a currency and really more fundamental things will change.
Jose Luis Blasco, Head of Sustainability Advisory Services at KPMG in Spain:
I think this is the issue. How to use multidisciplinary teams to attack these kind of strategies. This is the point of view from KPMG from Copenhagen.