February 17, 2023

Skref í átt að far­sælli fram­tíð

Speech by Tinna Hallgrímsdóttir, President of Young Environmentalists at Festa's January Conference 2023. Published in Festa's newsletter in February 2023.

Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires a transformation that reaches every corner of society and the economy. The working world plays a key role there, but then the question arises:

What do companies need to do to help us limit global warming to 1.5 degrees?

Svarið er lengra en kemst fyrir í þessum greinarstubbi, en hér eru nokkrir grunnpunktar sem við ættum öll að geta tileinkað okkur:

Measure your carbon footprint

The first point is obvious: measure your carbon footprint! But as obvious as it is, most of us have come very short.

It is no longer enough to just measure scope 1 and 2, and then maybe waste, aviation and transport and call it good.

Nú þurfum við að ganga lengra og greina alla virðiskeðjuna. Hvar eru raunverulega mestu loftslagsáhrifin vegna ykkar starfsemi?

Vaktið kolefnisbókhaldið

The measurement only takes us half way because what we do with this data once we have it in our hands is of the utmost importance.

Því miður er í mörgum tilvikum einungis dustað rykið af kolefnisbókhaldinu einu sinni á ári þegar ráðast á í sjálfbærniuppgjör, og bregður fólki oft í brún þegar það sér niðurstöðurnar.

Carbon accounting should have the same place as financial accounting. We should monitor it regularly, use it as a basis for decision-making and to ensure that we achieve our goals.

Set ambitious goals

In the current situation, nothing makes sense other than to draw the bow high. But when ambition is demanded, voices of doubt are often heard: aren't these too radical demands, don't we have to be realistic?

Mikið rétt, en það óraunhæfasta í stöðunni er að skorast undan áskoruninni og dæma sig þannig sjálf úr leik þegar á líður – því eina mögulega hagkerfi framtíðarinnar er lágkolefnishagkerfi.

Low-key goals are therefore simply not in line with reality.

A little inward

We all also need to do some navel-gazing and look inward. It is not enough to look at the emission accounting, but also to look at the business model. Is your core business harmful to the environment and the environment?

Það gengur nefnilega ekki upp að græða á tá og fingri en vera á sama tíma á yfirdrætti hjá náttúrunni. Sú skuld hverfur aldrei, heldur er það bara einhver annar sem þarf að borga brúsann, líkt og þær milljónir víða um heim sem hafa orðið fórnarlömb hamfara af völdum loftslagsbreytinga, afkomendur ykkar eða komandi kynslóðir.

The choice is ours

This decade will be the most fateful in human history. How well we manage to reduce emissions in the coming years will have a decisive effect on future generations' chances for a successful life. I think we all want to be able to look back and say with certainty that we have done everything in our power to deal with to this greatest challenge of humanity. The choice is ours and all we have to do is win.

Tinna Hallgrímsdóttir President of the Young Environmentalists and environmental and resource scientist.