Breakfast runs hot and cold

By Shaun Inguanzo
CLIMATE change made for a hot topic on a cold morning.
Greater Dandenong’s business community was given a crash course on climate change and its economical implications at a South East Networks (SEN) business breakfast at Sandown Racecourse on Wednesday morning.
State Government planning body, VicUrban, co-organised the SEN event with the theme of sustainability as a source of competitive advantage.
There were two guest speakers – Dan Atkins, the director of Sustainable Business Practices, and former environmental policy manager for Toyota Australia.
Joining Mr Atkins was Marcus Barber, the director of Looking Up Feeling Good, who is a strategic futurist.
Mr Atkins spoke largely of the consequences facing businesses who had not prepared for the effects of climate change.
Mr Atkins said there was no doubting climate change existed.
“The debate about the science is over, and now it’s all about the impacts,” he said.
Mr Atkins – in an almost prophet-of-doom manner – sent sharp warnings to Greater Dandenong’s business minds, prompting them to think green if they were not already, or face the consequences.
He said within the next three years every Greater Dandenong business was likely to have an asset or liability on their accounts regarding climate change.
Mr Atkins said policy changes to drive down carbon emissions in developed countries was beginning to harm relationships with developing nations.
He said those nations believed they were missing out on the advantage developed countries had after years of focusing on business and not carbon emissions.
Mr Barber presented the audience with a crystal ball perspective on the future for businesses, and how global trends could be of benefit to local businesses, given they have the foresight.