With heads of state now arriving at the Copenhagen climate summit, politics and negotiations are in the headlines. But behind the scenes, there continues to be immense activity from the business community. GE’s Ann Condon, who’s the director and counsel for GE’s environmental, health and safety programs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has been at the summit talking about GE’s ecomagination line of more energy efficient products. In a post she penned for greenbiz.com, she explains how the real demand for solutions to environmental problems is producing new growth opportunities for those companies that are at the forefront of cleaner technologies.With heads of state now arriving at the Copenhagen climate summit, politics and negotiations are in the headlines. But behind the scenes, there continues to be immense activity from the business community. GE’s Ann Condon, who’s the director and counsel for GE’s environmental, health and safety programs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has been at the summit talking about GE’s ecomagination line of more energy efficient products. In a post she penned for greenbiz.com, she explains how the real demand for solutions to environmental problems is producing new growth opportunities for those companies that are at the forefront of cleaner technologies.
Ready to roll: GE was one of the companies displaying technology solutions at the Bright Green Expo, which brought together businesses and thought leaders to discuss the energy efficiency that can be gained from a number of technologies that are already deployable.
Ann Condon
In the audio clip below, Ann — who phoned in from Copenhagen — gives a quick update on the progress being made at the summit and the focus of the GE team.
As Ann wrote on greenbiz.com: “There’s been a big evolution in business thinking over the last two years. On Friday, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and Dansk Institute hosted a business day. We heard from CEOs around the world — and fairly consistently — that with the right policy, the business community is ready, willing and able to invest, innovate and deliver solutions. And, we’re willing to do so because of the opportunities we’re seeing.”
“For example, this weekend, GE announced that through the end of the third quarter GE’s sales of ecomagination products in China had grown 50 percent over 2008 third quarter levels. This kind of growth is what is capturing the attention and interest of business leaders and politicians around the world.”
As Ann explains, “Many of the solutions we need to address our climate, energy security and economic growth challenges are already available” and there are an array of “breakthrough ideas in our research centers around the world for the next generation of products.”
“So, our team here has been communicating a clear message that we can grow the economy, create good jobs, improve our energy security and address the climate challenge if we get the right policy direction. In other words, we need to be focused on the opportunities side of the climate challenge.”
* Read Ann’s full post
* Read “Google & GE call for home energy info in Copenhagen” on GE Reports
* Read Marc Gunther’s blog coverage
* Read more ecomagination stories on GE Reports
