Main content | back to top
Carbon constrained
David Struhs, Vice President Environment, Health and Safety, International Paper, offered his stance on preparing for a low-carbon economy in a capital-constrained world at Shell Global Solutions' Regional Symposium in Calgary.
President Barack Obama has called for an 80% cut in the USA's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Political intent such as this is unsurprising, given the language of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which describes manmade global warming as "unequivocal" and lists climate change impacts as including widespread human famine, disease and displacement.
The latest IPCC report can be sombre reading, although it goes on to say that many of the impacts can be reduced, delayed or avoided by reducing GHG emissions. And there is growing political will to legislate for the reduction of emissions. The current debate is what form this legislation should take.
Struhs has a unique insight into both forming and working within environmental legislation. He has served as Environmental Secretary in Florida, as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and as Chief of Staff at the President's Council on Environmental Quality. He has also helped his company, an international paper and packaging organisation, to realise substantial carbon-management opportunities.