‘Learning from nature – the new agenda for business success: a Tomorrow’s Natural Business Conference’ This event will focus on how businesses can succeed in an increasingly challenging climate.  Businesses will learn from the resilience and sustainability of nature to survive unpredictability.  The day promises to be inspirational and exciting with keynote addresses, high quality panels and practical workshops.

This is an executive summary report on the “Coal Plants in Transition: An Economic Case Study” prepared by Natural Capitalism Solutions in Colorado. The report makes a strong business case for energy providers to consider transitioning away from coal to a combination of renewable and energy efficiency technologies.  The transition becomes cost effective and quite profitable when combined with revenue streams that result from selling pollution credits (NOx, SO2), carbon credits, water rights, and also fuel savings.       The study specifically considers the Navajo Generating Station as an example. But the report is designed to provide information to utility managers all over the country who are faced with serious economic decisions regarding the future of their coal plants as we enter a carbon and water constrained world.

Global climate change has been our greatest market failure. Now it’s our greatest market opportunity.  Market mechanisms are enormously powerful tools to apply to such challenges as climate change. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions worldwide will require a crash program to use energy more efficiently, and to use renewable energy sources.  Doing this can cut costs and drive competitiveness, spread the use of clean energy technologies that already are cost-competitive and available and develop next-generation technologies in virtually every sector of the economy.

We manage what we measure (and report) - it's a truism, but no less valid for that.  We believe that the time is now right to ask whether we have been measuring the right things in the right way and communicating them appropriately to the right people.