Global Warming has been a popular topic in the world for about two decades now. It is talked about all over politics and environmentalists on a daily basis. Everyone talks about how it is affecting us and the Earth with the crops and our food, but Global Warming is also affecting the business world. Some businesses have been taking advantage of this exotic climate change, while others are suffering. This is an ongoing issue all over the world, and businesses are reacting differently to it.
In the article, “The Big Business of Global Warming”, one of the companies that are discussed is the pharmaceutical company Bayer. They are benefitting from Global Warming with their allergy medication and bug spray. They are using the “warmer weather” to their advantage to make people buy their bug sprays. The biggest and one of their later products was a new mosquito net. They know that mosquitos love the hot weather, as well as carry diseases, such as malaria. Knowing this, they expected a bigger demand for mosquito nets, which they were and capitalized on.
Along with Bayer, hedge funds have bought millions of gallons’ worth of water rights. They see that the weather is staying hotter for longer, thus taking the opportunity to make a profit while they can. In Africa, just about 100,000 square miles of land have been leased or purchased by foreign investors, seeing that there is a great opportunity of making a profit by investing in these lands. There are many more examples discussed in the article, but the point is that there are many company’s taking advantage of the opportunity Global Warming has given them.
Although these companies are prospering from Global Warming, many other countries are not. The issue of Global Warming is making industries go “eco-friendly”, meaning using machinery and products that are environmentally friendly. The cost of doing this, is the actually cost of itself. Generally speaking, eco-friendly practices and products tend to be more costly than to those that are not. According to the article, “7 Ways Climate Change Affects Companies”, companies are now spending more money for upgrades on their facilities in order to control the emissions that they give off. This is mainly towards energy and utility companies operating such facilities as refineries and power plants. It is nice to see that companies are taking initiative and implementing eco-friendly machinery, but for the companies themselves are not pleased in the fact that they have to spend more money for it.
A recent article on Investopedia talks about the investment risks created by Global Warming. They state that investors should look into the major effects of climate change and how it could potentially affect the economic growth and some of the industries they are interested in investing. One of the five investment risks discussed in the article is the agricultural risk. If there were any shortages of food, the prices of the food will go up and start to decrease discretionary income for those ordinary customers. Another investment risk is about energy. Energy costs could rise if something as a carbon tax or something in that nature arises. This will cause an increase in price for crude oil, since the demand is steadily increasing as well. Many companies will be affected by this, since most companies use crude oil in order to produce their products with the machinery they have. The last risk issue discussed in the article is the climate-based industry. Tourism revenue is based off location and their weather during certain times of the year. Such areas, such as coastal and southern areas, will be affected the most since they are prone to get hit with a major weather incident, such as hurricanes. These storms will affect the number of people going to these areas, thus hotel, airline, cruise lines, restaurants, etc. are going to see a decrease in revenues.
As said before, Global Warming is doing more than just mixing up the weather climates. Global Warming is affecting companies all over the world. Companies and investors all over the world are experiencing ups and downs, for example Bayer being able to make more money of their mosquito net product since mosquitos are becoming more of a problem. Most companies though are experiencing decrease in revenues due to the purchases of eco-friendly equipment. It is good to see these laws being made for companies to install these eco-sufficient machineries. Investors are also affected by Global Warming since they have to look into the future as to how companies will react to such climate changes. Global Warming is affecting us more than we even know.
Works Cited
Barnes, Ryan. “5 Investment Risks Created By Global Warming.” Investopedia.
N.p., 15 Nov. 2007. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Fontinelle, Eric. “7 Ways Climate Change Affects Companies.” Investopedia. N.p.,
19 Feb. 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Funk, McKenzie. “Bayer and Other Corporations Getting Rich Off Global Warming.” Time. Time, 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.