Global Warming a Worry for Asian CEOs, Not an Issue for US Execs

[nosmokes]

well hell, they'd do something about it if it didn't cut into their bonus donchaknow.
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original-NYTimes

January 27, 2007
Off the Charts
Not Much Market for Worry Beads in the Executive Suites
By FLOYD NORRIS

To chief executives, the threat of global warming seems very real in Asia, but not in the United States or Russia.

A survey of chief executives around the world, released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, found widespread optimism about profits and nearly universal complaints about excessive regulation of business.

Over all, 40 percent of the chief executives surveyed said they were either somewhat concerned or extremely concerned about global warming. But in the United States, the figure was less than half as high, only 18 percent. By contrast, the figure was 49 percent for chief executives in China, 60 percent for South Korean chiefs and 70 percent for Japanese bosses.

“Asian C.E.O.’s see global warming as worth worrying about,” commented Samuel A. DiPiazza, the chief executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which conducted the poll via phone and face-to-face interview from September to December of last year.

Referring to a surprisingly warm winter in this ski resort, he added, “Maybe the North American C.E.O.’s will notice there is a lot more green outside than snow.” A snowstorm soon arrived, however.

Russian executives were even less worried than the Americans. Just one of the 31 Russians interviewed admitted to having a moderate concern about global warming, and none said they were extremely concerned.

Within Western Europe, the figures were all over the place. Italian bosses voiced less concern than Americans, but more than half of the German chief executives said they were worried.

The survey of 1,084 executives also asked if companies were devoting resources to dealing with global warming. Around the globe, 46 percent of the companies said they had spent some money, but in the United States the figure was just 26 percent.

There may be some cultural differences at work, at least in terms of what chief executives think is expected of them. American chief executives were hesitant to say they were extremely concerned about any of the 17 risks they were asked about, perhaps thinking that to admit such concerns would be to acknowledge they were not on top of the situation. Only two issues — overregulation and dealing with low-cost competitors — were of extreme concern to as many as a quarter of the American chief executives.

Japanese chief executives, on the other hand, say they are concerned about almost everything. A majority of Japanese chiefs are extremely concerned by most of the issues.
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complete article here