New BP boss Tony Hayward has overseen a reversal of policy towards tar sands. Photo: John D McHugh/AFP/Getty
Business leaders are now pleading with governments for regulation. When did that last happen? Executives usually hate anything that interferes with their freedom of movement. But climate change appears to have changed all that.
We really have arrived at a point where the world of commerce - not all of it of course - is frightened of global warming because of the risks and uncertainty it brings. Uncertainty is the thing that business hates more than anything.
So now we have more and more executives calling on politicians to bring in some kind of global order that will allow them to operate on a level playing field, as they like to call it.
A coalition of 40 institutional investors, holding $1.75tn worth of funds, has just demanded that US Congress introduce a mandatory policy to reduce national greenhouse gases to as little as 10% of 1990 levels.
Admittedly the timescale they envisage is not until 2050, but it's still a huge step forward. Not only that, but they want the Wall Street financial regulator to force companies to own up to their carbon exposure, and would like to see more analysts taking account of carbon in their analyses of balance sheet risks.
It's all good stuff, except the dear old oil industry seems content to go its own sweet way. Shell briefed in recent days about the dangers of energy insecurity, stressing that the increasing demand for global energy means we need tar sands as well as wind power. And the new BP boss, Tony Hayward, has recently reversed company policy and bought in to Canada's dirty tar sands business too.
But even if the politicians are slow on their feet, the noose is beginning to tighten on big oil. The threat, then, is not coming externally yet - but from the "enemy within": the oil companies' own shareholders.
