Precautionary Principle

If these predictions are questionable we could waste, time money and effort on solving non- problems. One climate change sceptic, the American politician Senator Chuck Hagel, has been vocal in leading a campaign against taking any action and advocates a "do nothing " approach. The danger with this route is that if experience shows that the problems are real then there may not be any time left to take remedial action. Some environmental problems have very long lead times. As explained above for example greenhouse gas emissions typically take 30 years to show their full effect. Waiting for unequivocal proof of global warming (or other environmental problems) will be too late! The precautionary principle says that we should take immediate action in a programmed way "just in case". By adopting intelligent management and technical strategies we can reduce our dependence on finite resources, reduce pollution and hence reduce financial losses.

	This latter statement is generally borne out by the experience of companies adopting a formal or informal environmental management system. Their financial savings almost always outweigh the cost of setting up and maintaining responsible environmental practices. There is an obvious extrapolation to national programmes. If the environmental problems turn out to be overstated then we will still enjoy an improved economy.
Consensus
The precautionary principle can be applied to all possible environmental problems. In fact there is broad consensus on issues such as ozone depletion and global warming. In its 1995 report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reached full consensus. The data of average annual temperature and concentrations of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere indicate that rapid changes are taking place and that these changes are particularly over the last 50 years.
How does all of this affect your company? And why should you do something about it?
Governments, including the UK, are strongly encouraging industry to address their environmental problems. They can do this fairly simply via legislation, setting tighter emission limits and taxing disposal of wastes. There is also though, a second less adversarial, more co-operative approach which is to promote the adoption of good environmental practice. Formal and informal environmental management systems are outward manifestations of good practice.