It will not have escaped many of your attention that I have been vocal of late about the importance of good governance. Indeed this is my second speech on the topic for our hosts today in the space of a week!So whilst I make a small apology to those who may be experiencing a slight feeling of déjà vu at this point, I make no apology for reiterating the point. Well-run companies are founded on sound governance. If the global banking crisis has taught us anything, it is that poor decisions were made. Decisions went unchallenged.Decisions were allowed to stand.Good decision-making requires three things.It requires excellent judgement to identify opportunities and spot emerging risks.It requires robust governance to ensure that those judgements are in the long-term interest of the company, and to ensure that when judgement fails, there is a back-stop.And it requires owners to care. It requires shareholders and those who act on behalf of shareholders to take an active role in holding...

The Black-Scholes model provides an important foundation for mathematicalmodels used for pricing options. Myron Scholes won a Nobel prize for this and related work. It has always been recognised that blindly following models exposes the user to unexpectedrisks since they are often at odds with reality. For some, such modelssymbolise the absurdity of much of modern financial structuring. Nicholas Taleb’s Black Swan theoryrefers to a large impact event beyond the realm of normal expectations, andhas come to represent an event, like the credit crunch, that conventional wisdom said could not happen.A White Swan is different.

In 2007, the CNA Military Advisory Board (MAB) released the landmark report “National Security and the Threat of  Climate Change,” which found that climate change constitutes a “threat multiplier” to existing security risks in some of the most volatile regions in the world. A 2008 National Intelligence Assessment con?rmed the report ?nding that climate change is a serious threat to national security and long-term global stability. The MAB, which is comprised of some of the nation’s most respected retired admirals and generals, also found that “Climate change, national security, and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges.” The following is a report produced by CNA expanding on previous findings.

This booklet is for UK businesses of all sizes. It presents the case for action to make cost savings, grasp new market opportunities and address strategic risks in an economy where resources such as energy, raw materials and water need to be used more effectively. It also highlights the benefits of engaging staff, costumers and suppliers in the pocess of change.

Among the questions this Tomorrow's Company report asks is if companies are prepared for the scale of the energy revolution in prospect whether the system should be updated to take more account of emerging risks of runaway climate change as well as the widely accepted evidence of global warming - and if so, whether business should be proactive in driving reform? It also looks at what policy frameworks business should work with government to prioritise, so that business can play its full role in building tomorrow's green and clean economy and what the transition to the low-carbon world might cost.