climate change
27 Mar 2009
Is Earth Hour Working?
Image from here.
For many of Earth Hour's high-profile corporate supporters, the initiative is little more than greenwash, writes Ben Eltham
Earth Hour is upon us again and you may be tempted, as many of my friends are, to join the millions worldwide in turning off your lights and other home appliances for an hour. Penny Wong and Peter Garrett are doing it. So are Bunnings, Telstra, Macquarie Bank and 99 of Australia's top 100 businesses, according to Earth Hour's cheerleaders at Fairfax.While the effort will no doubt fill many with a warm inner glow, there is little evidence that the initiative actually leads to sustained reductions in energy use or greenhouse gas emissions — even from Earth Hour's official supporters. In fact, in some cases the green credibility these corporations receive from supporting the initiative works to obscure their lack of real action in reducing their carbon footprint.
The Earth Hour website has the glossy logos of a suite of major corporations on its supporters page, including Telstra, Bunnings Warehouse, Australia Post, Colonial First State, Macquarie and Woolworths. But how greenhouse-friendly are these corporations really? I did a bit of digging to find out.
First on my list was Bunnings Warehouse. Bunnings is an interesting case, because the home improvement giant is owned by the conglomerate Wesfarmers, which also owns some of the largest coal mines in the country.
Wesfarmers' wholly-owned coal mines include Curragh and Premier Coal and account for something like 12 million tonnes of coal mined annually, most of which is burnt in power stations or steel foundries.
I put it to Bunnings' media representative, Jennifer Glynn from Professional Public Relations, that there was a bit of a contradiction here. "How can the public take Bunnings' participation in Earth Hour seriously when the Wesfarmers group is such a major contributor to global warming?" I asked.
Glynn emailed me a statement by "a Bunnings spokesperson" stating that "Almost every Bunnings store in Australia is supporting Earth Hour this year for the first time, by switching off lights where possible. Bunnings has a substantial commitment to reducing its energy usage and thereby reducing energy related emissions - you can find details of this [here]. Whilst we make no claim to be perfect, Bunnings is actively working towards reducing its carbon footprint and there are real actions and plans in place to ensure that our goal of being carbon neutral by 2015 is achieved. Our participation in Earth Hour is one small part of this commitment."
Bunnings' commitment to carbon neutrality by 2015 is indeed impressive — the company is buying hybrid cars, installing night-metres to switch its lights off after hours and implementing water recycling policies across the company. But that doesn't mean it isn't a big greenhouse gas emitter. Last year, according to its sustainability report, it spewed out no fewer than 186,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent gases, up 2 per cent from the year before. Bunnings is going to have to plant a lot more trees to become carbon neutral by 2015.
But at least Bunnings responded. Of the other corporations I contacted, only Colonial First State bothered to get back to me. Even Telstra, who copped so much flak during the Trujillo years that they now have a dedicated journalists' hotline for enquiring media, neglected to answer my questions regarding their commitment to emissions reduction.
Colonial First State, however, is one corporate supporter for whom Earth Hour appears to be more than a bit of green-tinged window dressing. Colonial was one of the first corporations to get behind the initiative, and the firm claims the initiative has led to widespread changes inside the organisation. Media rep Noelle Waugh sent me a media release which quotes CEO Brian Bissaker saying "our primary role is to look after the long term investment goals of our investors, but more and more I'm hearing that our investors want us to do this in a way that is mindful of our environment and the impact we have."
The release cites examples, including "installing motion-sensor lighting in meeting rooms, bathrooms and lift lobbies to reducing the hours each day office lights are on, taking out vending machines, opening up stairwells to reduce the number of short lift trips between floors and installing waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets to save water."
Other corporations taking part in Earth Hour this year include Star City Casino in Sydney, which is turning off its "non-essential" lighting for an hour, including the giant neon star at Pyrmont. "It's more of a symbol to everyone that we are part of it and agree with the aim of Earth Hour," Star City's spokesman, Peter Grimshaw, told Fairfax journalist Peter Hawkins. Symbolic is about all we can say of it: Star City isn't closing its giant floor of energy-hungry poker machines — not even for an hour. That would cost too much, so it's just going to turn off some lights.
Also turning off a few lights include some of the nation's biggest polluters. Rio Tinto is turning off its lights at head office and even at a couple of mine sites. You can be sure the giant iron ore mines in the Pilbara will remain open. On the other hand, according to the Fairfax article, "the company had an Earth Hour-themed presentation to staff this week". BHP Billiton will also apparently turn off the lights at head office, as will Woodside Petroleum.
It's important to keep in mind that these are the very same corporations who have been whingeing for months now about how the Government's laughably timid emissions trading scheme will lead to the end of the world as we know it.
Woodside Petroleum's CEO Don Voelte, for instance, has been one of the most vocal critics in the country of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, taking every opportunity he can to attack it. (Of course, we at newmatilda.com have also been critical of the CPRS — but for rather different reasons.) Woodside was still at it this month, in a briefing to Bloomberg. But the nation's largest oil and gas company is turning off some lights for an hour on Saturday. No doubt Penny Wong can breathe a sigh of relief.
Which brings me to the bigger problem with Earth Hour that no-one so far has made any noise about — and that problem is directly related to the impending CPRS.
If and when the Government's risible 5 per cent carbon reduction target is enacted, that target then acts as a cap across the entire Australian economy. Any voluntary reductions in excess of this merely make it easier for big polluters to meet their targets. As Richard Denniss and others have recently pointed out, if the Rudd Government's proposed CPRS legislation is enacted, the carbon cap scheme means that voluntary reductions simply make it easier for the big polluters.
Which means that next year, if the CPRS is passed, every light you turn off during Earth Hour will actually be like giving money to coal miners and aluminium smelters. That's not something they're mentioning over at Fairfax.
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Great article.
Are Bunnings still using old growth timber including jarrah from WA?
Ben,
If we had a working ETS, many of the corporations would never support initiatives like Earth Hour. The drop in electricity demand would lead to decrease in the value of the emissions certificates held by those companies. For many it would actually make more sense (and profit) to have a reverse earth hour. The short term logic behind it is quite simple: drive up the demand for electricity and thus drive up the value of emissions certificates.
With regard to Colonial First State - rather than simply asking their PR department about the company’s sense of environmental responsibility, may I suggest that you go to their website, and inspect the top ten investments of any one of their many funds.
Its just pissing into the wind. Too many vested interests for any hope of change and by some reports its too late anyway.
Yes, I agree with most of this. I am in a bind as I feel it is an initiative that I feel obliged to support, in that it is an act of symbolism that shows (as with much of the climate change response) people are concerned and willing to do something, but they just don’t really know what to do. High-level corporate and government action is needed, and people are just desperate to send a signal they want this to happen. And Earth Hour is one of those ways of sending signal.
My objection to Earth Hour has always been somewhat different, and it is this: Opponents of mitigating climate change argue that we’ll go back to the dark ages in the process, and our lifestyle will need to change dramatically. So, what does Earth Hour do. It says, sit in the dark, burning completely inefficient candles for an hour, potentially walking in dangerous conditions (if councils actually did it) to approxiamte the dark ages etc. etc. This is somehow going to be proof that we can make the changes required and solve the problems, without totally losing our lifestyle!
I think then Earth Hour is going about it the wrong way. I think the aim should be to focus on totally NON-ESSENTIAL energy usage, firstly, to highlight to people that most of what they leave on all the time wasn’t needed at that time afterall (that they could do everything they wanted and it cost them very little, if anything, to save something. And secondly, it should be to so serious corporate sponsors could showcase something new and useful. For instance, a serious sponsor could install some form of technology or do come up with some initiative, which they monitor and measure during Earth Hour and show how great it was….then of course, they’ve proven it to themselves and they keep it going! Have an award or something for the companies that made the most saving, and award it to them again the next year if the change was permanent!!!
CORRECTION: Jennifer Glynn has contacted me to explain that she is a media representative for Bunnings, not Wesfarmers. I apologise for that error of fact.
Not to mention, Ben, that she didn’t address the contradiction :)
Ben, scrutiny of people’s motives is always a good idea but just one point - the Herald has consistently pointed out the problems with the notional CPRS in relation to voluntary household emissions cuts.
We were the first the float the idea, have examined the issue many times in the news and business pages and carried a 1000-wd story on it in relation to Earth Hour this week. Suggesting that this issue has somehow been dodged because of Earth Hour is inaccurate.
Earth hour is one hour in 8760 in the year. If everything is turned off it will save 0.01 per cent of Australia’s power. So we are almost there. Only another 4.99 per cent to go and we have reached our 5% target. Wasn’t that hard was it?
Lets turn the lights (and the TV) off for one hour every night. This would advance us to 4.1 per cent. By deciding TV isn’t worth watching we can all go to bed at 9pm instead of 10pm. Or even 8.30pm would be better. This emissions trading stuff is really easy.
Now if we also close down the aluminium industry and let them go offshore we can really make some emissions savings! And then there is the coal industry. Since they have almost sacked all their workers in the economic downturn, we may as well close all the coal mines as well. Now let’s build a new grid using sustainable wind and solar generators.
Australia doesnt need a complex ETS it just needs to make some sensible changes.
Hi Cubby,
I’m not suggesting the Herald is dodging the issue of voluntary reductions in the CPRS. Indeed, I’ve linked to a Herald article on the topic in this piece.
But I couldn’t find that piece in the SMH’s Earth Hour page on its website, and nor could I find the piece you mention. I am not critical so much of the Herald’s coverage of climate change and the CPRS as of Earth Hour itself, of which your own Editor writes:
I personally don’t believe that the Earth Hour concept is focusing attention on the drawbacks of the CPRS, or the Rudd Government’s response to climate change. That’s not to criticise the Herald’s commitment to environment reporting, but rather to question the value of the initiative itself.
Great article Ben. I’d like to hear your opinion on the doco "the great global warming swindle". Are we just foolishly arrogant to think we can shift massive and complex processes one way or the other?
Hi Ben, I would have thought that closing your piece with the line "That’s not something they’re mentioning over at Fairfax", along with some of the other links and comments, is unambiguously meant to suggest that Fairfax is avoiding the issue. How else are people supposed to read it?
Not every story about Earth Hour is going to talk about voluntary household emissions reductions, the CPRS, or the government’s 2020 target. There are other aspects of climate change to be examined too. But we have noted the contrast between public support for action on climate change and government policy in Earth Hour-related stories many times. You can find these in the paper, or via search engines.
The Herald and the event itself are fair game for criticism, and good on you for engaging with the topic, but in my view the slant you’re putting on it isn’t supported by the evidence.
Earth Hour started as a bold gesture, to grab politician’s attention and get changes started, to make us more efficient, to reduce waste and overall power usage.
So it is a failure. The politicians are not listening to the public, they are only tuned to industry. The changes are piddling. There is no overall plan for efficiency, reduction in waste, etc.
It is time for it to become more than just a gesture. It needs to be a demand for action, an ultimatum that cannot be ignored. Nothing less will achieve what is needed.
I will NOT be switching off anything during Earth Hour! Not for any of the supposed reasons proposed, anyway. Why, because for about 30 years I have been almost totally reliant on Solar and Wind Power for my power/heating requirements. My water is from the sky, stored in tanks. I am not connected to the Grid, because such a thing was unheard of back then, as much as anything. I paid every cent of the price of my set-up, because there was no such thing as any Govt. assistance/subsidies back then. Do they or anyone offer me any assistance now? No!
Just about anything that allows Big Business to involve itself becomes always an arm of that Business’ PR campaign, and I do not think ever sustains any enquiry.
With a Government that is more concerned with ‘spin’ than actual ‘anything’, which works to obfuscate facts concerning their CPRS proposals, there never can be enough pressure on Big Business to actually do anything to assist in the saving of the world as we presently know it.
And as for Big Business Polluters arguing against the CPRS proposals, what would we think if they were quiet??? That maybe we were being conned by Government?? Of course, they are upholding their side of the bargain by making a lot of noise. That helps ‘Climate Change’ (joke!) Minister Wong with her protestations that they are (Govt.) /she is being evenhanded. Sure does NOT look like that from where I sit, and what gets me is the pure arrogance in thinking that we would all be conned by all this garbage. Sure, the Fairfax Media have been to my eyes been at least partly responsible for bringing this Big Con out into the open. The reporting into that Vict. Govt. report has a lot of cred!
Or does Wong/Rudd really care, maybe they just want to can the whole thing, allow it to wither on the vine, as we, the people, wither on this world. After all, they must expect now to be only there for another 18 months or so, before they can pass the odure on to Turnbull and Co. for them to fumble the pass. No one wants to upset Big Business, after all, they are there for very lucrative post-pollie Directorships and Consultancies, are they not? Dazza.
Like Dazza, we’re on a remote solar supply so we didn’t really think a lot about earth hour last year. This year I was visiting a friend in Melbourne so we turned out the lights in his city flat and walked down to Fed Square for the free earth hour concert powered by people on bikes.
We were too late to yell out "Give up your day job" to Peter Garret but we heard some wonderful music. Young and old musicians rocked together. The incredible Bruce Haymes weaved magic on his keyboard. Sorry - this is sounding like a gig review. But what a gig! Everyone up on the stage at the end - Kram, some young bloke with an amazing voice from a group called The Living End, Ira Davies from Icehouse, the Bull sisters - all singing the Beatles’ Revolution.
In the audience were families, young people, older folk such as myself and my friend - all bopping away and having a great time. There weren’t many lights out in the city and it wasn’t an enormous crowd but it did happen. And when you read the histories of any movements, they always comprise many small incidents that may have seemed inconsequential at the time but all add up. Helen
Here in Melbourne Earth Hour definately seems like a joke, what with the Formula One cars screaming around the city.
When earth hour first came in I decided only to take part when 50% of Australians have signed up for green power. The figure is still about 8% at the moment . Daily efforts to reduce power are more of a challenge than a one off hour ,and that at night, to make any significant change in energy use. Earth hour is all "window dressing" to use a terrible pun
hey cubby,
can you post a link the the earth hour/cprs article you mention in your first comment?
cheers marni
I believe it’s both a positive sign and negative, especially if received by any aliens or extra-terrestial beings.
They may think its morse code for ‘Help!’ if they’ve seen our prior futile attempts to communicate with each other suddenly improve.
They may even think we’re close to total destruction, as our Earth lights all go off in unison. Perhaps we’ve finally learnt how to coordinate global efforts, in order to start to prepare for total darkness, or our impending global death - one hour at a time.
They would already see us as very strange creatures indeed, beings that while we endeavour to cure global diseases, we also conduct violent and destructive wars that kill many innocent of our species.
And at the same time we also manage to slowly and steadily destroy our once healthy environment, due to lifestyle improvements called progress.
I think Earth Hour is getting more traction but it is beyond me why office buildings have to have lights on after hours. Its an no brainer really and business could save a fortune just by turning off machines and lights and even better letting employees work from home. I have never understood this?
Great article Ben.
For those interested here is a Facebook group Beyond Earth Hour - Office Watch:
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1093513147748&mbox_pos=0…
It’s been set up to question the tokenism and greenwashing of an event like Earth Hour and looking it ways we can expose and make the participating corporations more accountable. Westpac, Suncorp, Grovenor Place and Westfield have been contacted and their office buildings are being photographed every night with photos posted on the group. All communication is also being posted - so far only Westpac has responded.
Do join and be part of some actions calling for real action on climate change.
Well, that didn’t take long, did it? After six months of economic hardship and one unusually chilly winter, it seems that Americans are beginning to conclude that perhaps global warming wasn’t such a big deal after all. Blowing $30,000 on a solar roof doesn’t seem such a great move these days. And for the price of a Toyota Prius you can now buy a three-bedroomed house in Detroit with enough left for a pick-up truck (this isn’t a joke - the median house price in Motor City is now $7,500).
The ranks of America’s “climate sceptics” have been growing quietly for some months now. And at the weekend a watershed was reached: the usually left-wing New York Times put the British-born physicist Freeman Dyson on the front of its Sunday magazine. The article inside revealed that Professor Dyson - 85 years old and based in Princeton - not only possesses one of the finest noodles on Planet Earth, but also happens to think that most of what Al Gore and his band of Unmerry Men preach amounts to little more than yuppie self-loathing.
“All the fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated,” is how Professor Dyson puts it. He adds that while it’s true that human-caused carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising, the Earth is still going through a relatively cool period in its history, and that most of the evolution of life took place in a warmer era. Professor Dyson is also fond of pointing out that carbon dioxide helps plants to grow - so having too much of the stuff hanging around might not be such a bad thing.
Out in the blogotwittersphere, the Greens can hardly believe that the same media that once helped Mr Gore to win both an Oscar and a Nobel prize are now promoting such heresy. To make matters more infuriating, Professor Dyson isn’t even a conservative: he’s a left-wing, Obama-voting, peace-marching, boho-academic genius who argues that coal-produced electricity has liberated millions in China from poverty, and that “greens are people who’ve never had to worry about grocery bills”.
I suspect that, as we all get used to our relative poverty over coming months and as it becomes politically impossible for President Obama to bankrupt power stations and impose carbon tariffs on imports, such scepticism will become ever more mainstream. Only last week a suggestion by California to outlaw black cars because they absorb too much heat and therefore require too much air conditioning was met with almost universal ridicule. All of which is both satisfying and unsettling - satisfying to see debate triumph over heavy-handedness, but unsettling because even if what Mr Gore was peddling was a lie, it was a convenient one, in that it seemed to be finally weaning the US off Saudi oil.
Still, honesty is always the best way.
And in America at least, it’s always so much more appealing when delivered by an awkward Brit.
Copyright 2009, The Times, 1 April 2009.