The need for Green Entrepreneurship in relation with its Impact on Climate Change

Climate change was once said to be reversible with human efforts and then we saw it getting worse in the last decade, so much so, that we aren’t sure anymore if we can stop it in time. These are the most crucial times when we understand how imperative it is to take all measures possible to save the climate. Our planet is constantly in a vortex of production, consumption, and depletion. Every single article produced leaves a dent in our environment. But can we stop production? No. What we can aim to do is create systems of sustainable productions that help us slow down climate change and perhaps stop if done on massive scale consistently as way of life. Green entrepreneurship is one solution that can ensure we adhere to Sustainable develop goals to function ethically and responsibly.

Fortunately, there are many business model that are responding to the needs of SDGs and acting socially and environmentally responsible. Our society is becoming proactive towards reusability, saving energy, and taking steps to reduce ecological footprint. However, with finite resources left, the need for making green entrepreneurship a mandatory has risen. SDGs advocate for businesses to be economically profitable, environmentally conscious, and ethical.

Every single product that one can think of, affects our environment disproportionately. For instance- did you know that one sanitary pad (a menstrual product) is made with plastic of at least 4 bag quantity. The manufacturers have used harmful chemicals like dioxin in pads. Where does this annual trash of 9000 tons lands up? In our landfills, and it takes about 500-800 years for these used products to disintegrate. They never get decomposed fully. So, what it if we could change this by producing them by prioritising environment safety and sustainability? It would change everything about that one product’s impact on climate change. Green entrepreneurship is about making that every business follows the same ideology. Protecting the environment is one of the most important issues of our time. Therefore, it is important to support green entrepreneurs to increase their number.

Green entrepreneurs are important for economic development. Green entrepreneurs can make a significant contribution to eliminating unemployment, poverty, and most importantly, climate issues. Green entrepreneurs have a greater role in environmentally friendly practices and environmental tasks than other entrepreneurs. They can provide environmentally friendly products and services or clean technology assistance etc. Hence, they can actively contribute to the Green economy. We need to increase green entrepreneurs in number globally, by using multiple interventions through law, lobbying, awareness drives, advocacy, and strategic partnerships.

A sustainable business knows that if it depletes the resources that it is using faster than they can be generated, it cannot go on indefinitely. Similarly, viewing itself as part of the broader community, it ensures that its staff are paid fairly and have a good quality of life. Since the production and usage of resources goes as far and wide as human race goes, it is necessary that the green entrepreneurship mandates are made on governmental and legal levels.

Green entrepreneurship is not just limited to responsible production but also involves inclusive and well-thought engagement of people coming from marginalised groups, all intersectionally.

As the planet continues to be impacted by rising temperatures, heightening sea levels and a plethora of extreme weather conditions, rethinking socio-economic development is important more than ever before. Green entrepreneurs will see opportunity in the climate change challenge and will reshape how businesses were ever looked at. This intervention can change the very nature of capitalist organizations as well.

Global communities are becoming more aware of time and urgency of climate. Today’s educated and aware consumer wants to consume responsibly, and wants to invest in products that are not robbing future generations of their right to fresh natural resources.

This intention needs to become strong and surging. The entrepreneurs can participate this advocacy campaign globally and influence fellow entrepreneurs from global communities to support green economy and ethical practices to save the environment. In the 21 st century, the efficacy of environmental entrepreneurship in mitigating the effects of environmental pollution, particularly in emerging Asian economies, has become much more pertinent. Asia is the largest continent in the world, and the most polluted one as well. In 2020, the Asian continent alone produced 16.75 billion metric tons of CO 2  emissions, which were more than the total combined emissions of all other continents.

Since the introduction of sustainable development goals (SDGs) by the United Nations (UN) in 2015, sustainable development has become the primary target of every nation and the central fo cus of every discussion. And environmental (green) entrepreneurship is an emerging area of research, and it has become a hot topic among empirics and policymakers as a potential candidate to fight against global warming and climate change.

Despite the importance of green entrepreneurship, there is not enough data available to entrepreneurs to make it a reality. They are bereft of this awareness and know little about how going green will not just save the climate but will also expand opportunities for them to remain sustainable and relevant, economically, and rationally. In building up a business, green entrepreneurs focus not only on the growth of the venture, but also enable greener and more sustainable ecosystems. A recent report looked at the four most common sectors that green entrepreneurs engage with: renewable energy, circular economy and waste management, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, and sustainable forest management.

Hence, climate change education is extremely important to scale up the ideology of green entrepreneurship. The key to mainstream the practice is education, certifying and auditory bodies to keep a check on ethics of production in relation with saving climate on war-footing.

There is direct relationship between climate change and waste management and recycling that entrepreneurs need to invest in. Recycling, as we know, helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption. Using recycled materials to make new products reduces the need for virgin materials. This avoids greenhouse gas emissions that would result from extracting or mining virgin materials. Ergo, this gives the spectrum of green organizational practices another dimension to grab this intervention as not just a way to save climate but also
by create possibilities to end issues are poverty and unemployment which will eventually crosscut other sustainable goals.

However, it is imperative that enough data is provided in relation with various businesses to help them 1. Reduce their production and packaging waste 2. Invest in recycling 3. Create resources to dispose trash responsibly without leaving an impact on environment. These policies and procedures need to be adhered by all organizations with regular compliance recorded by a designated body or Ministry.

If green entrepreneurship is cascaded meticulously, we as a planet can achieve so much for climate action. It’s no secret that green practices have helped the planet to slow down carbon emissions which would have been way drastic otherwise and this makes us believe that collective efforts can help us save the planet and conserve nature.