Last week, HP Labs and Forum for the Future, a renowned UK-based sustainable development organisation, announced a report called ‘Climate Futures’. Unlike many other reports on climate change that we’ve seen recently, this report doesn’t focus on narrowly on environmental impacts and geographical changes but analyses the economic, political, social and psychological consequences of climate change. It describes five possible scenarios that result from different responses to climate change. I think it’s a very interesting, sometimes unsettling read.

The report is based on consultations with 60 climate change experts from across different sectors and countries. I believe it provides organisations with a good outlook into possible futures and allows them to consider and prepare for possible changes ahead. I personally hope it will encourage organisations to think about what their role can be in creating a more positive future. We still have a choice today, but the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be.

James Goodman of Forum for the Future is one of the authors of the report and gives a good overview of the most important findings in his blog.

I’ve copied below a summary of the five possible futures that the report identifies.

Let me know what you think!

Ulrike Haug
CSR Communications
HP EMEA

FIVE POSSIBLE FUTURES IN 2030

Efficiency First. Rapid innovation in energy efficiency and novel technologies have created a low-carbon economy with little need for changes in lifestyle or business practice. Artificially-grown flesh feeds hundreds of millions, supercomputers advise governments, and eco-concrete walls protect the USA’s eastern seaboard generating power from the waves and tides.
The result is an increasingly individualistic, consumerist and fast-moving world, which relies on ever more complex systems. Some call it a golden age of technology and freedom, others a shaky house of cards at a growing risk of crashing down.

Service Transformation. Carbon is one of the most expensive commodities, businesses have shifted to selling services instead of products, and good citizens share with their neighbours. No-one owns a car – it is far too expensive – and athletes have just staged the world’s first virtual Olympics, staying at home and competing in cyberspace.

NATO is ready to go to war if necessary to enforce the 2020 Beijing Climate Change Agreement, and water shortages have already forced the abandonment of Central Australia and Oklahoma. The dramatic transformation in business has been painful, with rising unemployment in the old high-carbon sectors. Booming mega-cities are only just managing to cope and fuel poverty is a huge problem.

Redefining Progress. The global depression of 2009-18 forced governments to regulate the economy tightly and encouraged citizens to put greater priority on quality of life than on making money. Countries compete to score highest in the World Bank’s Wellbeing Index and the EU Working Time directive sets a limit of 27.5 hours a week. The trend is towards economic resilience and simpler, more sustainable lives, but ‘free-loaders’ plunder resources, several big cities have set up as ‘havens of real capitalism’ and some governments are aggressively pro-growth.

Environmental War Economy. Talks about a post-Kyoto Treaty broke down and a global pact was only signed in 2017. Governments enforced tough action to make up for lost time, reshaping their economies to focus all resources on climate change.

Civil liberties have been stripped away. In some countries you need a license to have children and, if you go over your household energy quota, the carbon monitor will turn off your appliances. Climate refugees from Bangladesh and the Pacific islands make up 18% of New Zealand’s population and are expected to boost Antarctica’s population to 3.5 million by 2040.

Protectionist World. The 2012 Climate Agreement collapsed amid accusations of cheating and undeclared power stations. Globalisation fractured into protectionist blocs as countries launched go-it-alone strategies and fought violent wars over scarce resources. Soldiers fighting for nations and businesses are waging war over oil, gas and gold in the thawing north-west passage.

Violent factions exploit the chaos to launch devastating bio-chemical attacks. Cyber-terrorists operating from safe havens in failed states have already bankrupted two multinationals. Action to mitigate climate change is all but abandoned.