Essay on Entrepreneurship and Climate Changes

Introduction:
In this technological era, words like ‘climate change’ are not new to someone’s ear. Rather,
these words start echoing the realms of modern civilisation in the second half of the 20th
century. Over the time, the issue attracted masses and media. To have a complete
understanding of the climate change, it is important to understand that the word climate refers
to the average weather of a particular geographical zone over the course of many years. If
that average weather shows an unusual changing trend, then we can refer it as climate
change. The industrial revolution of mankind brought many positive changes in the routine
life of the human civilisation while the other side of the picture shows that the high
consumption of fossil oil, natural gas and coal for various purposes like household, factories,
communities, etc. has accelerated the climate changes. To further simplify the connection
between fossil fuel consumption and climate change, it can be exemplified that in normal
conditions, the sun’s light energy gets to the earth surface. Some of this energy is consumed
by various natural mechanism while the major portion of the energy is reflected back to the
space. When the fossil fuel burns, variety of gases are formed which mostly includes carbon
dioxide (CO2). These gases form a kind of blanket over the surface of the earth and do not let
the reflected energy waves to leave the earth atmosphere rather these waves are trapped in the
earth’s atmosphere. As a result of this entrapment, temperature of the region gets increased.
The planet earth is about 1.2 Celsius warmer than the 19th century while the amount of carbon
dioxide has risen about 50%. (The Aspen Institute, 2021)
There are various reasons why, climate change has to be taken seriously. As per
environmental scientists, this rapid rise in temperature needs to be checked right at this point
if mankind wants to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. As per experts, global
warming needs to be kept to 1.5c by 2100. The gravity of the issue demands immediate
actions while the experts have predicted that if the global warming is not checked,
temperature would rise to 2.4C. The rise would not just stop there if we keep on this usual
track of burning fossil fuels then the temperature can rise up-to 4C in future.
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Energy waves from sun
A small portion fuels various natural processes
while major portion is reflected.
Natural mechanism
Forms a blanket over the planet's atmosphere
Energy waves get trappedWith Green-house gases
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The devastating effects of this rise in temperature would include dangerous heatwaves,
millions of people would lose their homes as the sea level rises. Such abrupt changes in
temperature would cause irreversible loss of plant and animal species. (Renee, 2019) Besides,
if the climate change is not checked and proper reforms to improve the situation is not done
at the global level then it is projected that more than 132 million people will be pushed into
poverty over the course of next 10 years. (IFC.org, 2022)
The problem is now known to masses while the real aim of the discussion should be to find
the solutions. It goes without exaggeration that to improve our planet’s condition, the first
step would be to stop this usual way of living, industrial manufacturing, consumption of
fossil fuels, etc. Now this decision is associated with the availability of equally or even
improved alternative. Then this alternative depends on various stakeholders which involves
scientists, governments and entrepreneurs. While every stakeholder has its own level of
importance, this article would focus on the role of entrepreneurship on the climate change.
Now to cope such situation, entrepreneur can handle the matter via three approaches. In my
opinion, ‘For profit’ approach would by the most suited one. My reasons to choose this
approach includes the following:
 Profit is one of the prime intentions of entrepreneurship, if this is dissected out of the
equation then the whole concept of climate change may not be able to attract
sustainability.
 For Profit organisation would be better suited to attract other potential entrepreneurs
to seek their piece of cake in the cause.
 Innovation has direct link with profitability, if an entrepreneur has enough innovation
that is suitable for the nature, then this reward is enough for the community while if
the entrepreneur wishes to continue the plan or improve the approach then the
organisation should be profit based.
The business opportunities in the climate change sector are not hidden from the business
community. As per data, around 90% of the business at global level consists of small and
medium size enterprises while employing more than 2 billion people. (Renee, 2019) Thus,
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Temp. would rise to 2.4c by end of century
Rise of sea levels
Irreversible loss of animal and plant species
If immediate action not taken
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CLIMATE CHANGE

governments and international Chamber of Commerce supports such enterprises who want to
explore the climate change business opportunity. Such organisations are provided with
various tools, resources, ease of conducting business, etc. to reduce the carbon footprint
through their own operations and supply chains. Having such a large number of people on
payroll, it goes without saying that international business community and governments
support SMEs by providing utmost ease of doing business and removing various barriers that
these companies face in doing the business, thus, helping the community in both ways.
Entrepreneurship symbiotic relationship with Climate change:
A business is done by a businessman who follows a path which is already there to be
followed while an entrepreneur analyses the situation and think of unique way to cope the
issue. That is why, climate change needs entrepreneurs. There are various sectors where the
entrepreneurs can explore new ways of conducting business. Almost every sector has a wide
range of opportunities related to innovations in processes, technologies, or models that can
have some modifications and these modifications would in turn bring positive climate change
while becoming more adaptable to the changing climate situation. While every sector falls in
this category, there are many sectors that have huge opportunities for innovation and
alteration in usual practice which would bring major changes in our defence against climate
change. As per World resource institute, more than 70% of greenhouse gas emission was
under the energy sector then comes agriculture and other sectors. This shows a natural
priority for the entrepreneurs to explore various sectors. To cope the climate change with
entrepreneurial efforts, it is important that the entrepreneurs are shown some opportunities
and authentic predictions.
Entrepreneurial Opportunities associated with Climate change:
As per InfoDev’s 2014 report, overall entrepreneurial opportunities associated with climate
change revolves around fifteen technologies. The estimated market size by 2023 would
mostly revolve around the sectors of water and energy.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Wastewater Water Onshore wind Solar PV Small Hydro
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
The Climate and Clean Technology Opportunity for
Developing Countries. (USD. Trillion)
The Climate and Clean Technology Opportunity for Developing Countries. (USD. Trillion) (The
Aspen Institute, 2021)
As shown in the above-mentioned graphs, out of various sectors wastewater, water and some
other renewable energy technologies potentially have the highest market shares by the small
and medium sized enterprises. It should be kept in mind that these opportunities are not solely
found in the energy sectors rather agriculture and food systems also have their own potential
in the climate entrepreneurial domain. It is of particular importance to mention Solar PV
market. This market has shown tremendous growth over the past decade. Pico-solar lights
and solar home systems have shown promising data for the entrepreneurs. This sector did not
have reasonable users a decade ago while over the decade, more than 420 million users
around the world. (Talal, 2021)
Apart from this solar sector, it is important to mention that although, around 1.5 billion
people globally have grid access, still, the suffering from the broken grids and transmission
lines are present. This causes loss of several billion dollars. To cope these blackouts, major
portion of the population depends on the distributed diesel and gasoline-powered back-up
generators.
According to an Access to Energy Institute report, Nigeria has some of the poor grid access.
As per data, 22 million small gasoline generators are being used in the country top power
households and small businesses. This high level of usage of fossil fuel in various
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Poor energy infrastructure
of Nigeria
22 million small gasoline
generators
Potential of around $12
billion for climate
entrepreneurs
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CLIMATE CHANGE