Climate Change Protocols and Corporate Survival in Africa Beyond 2012: Exploring the Grave Implications of Climate Change Regulations on African Businesses

Abstract

Climate change protocols since 1978 seek to regulate the impact of human activities to mitigate and, if possible, avoid the grave environmental upheavals implicated in the resulting climate change. The protocols advocate and increasingly legislate all—inclusive internationally binding measures to quicken the abatement of environmentally unfriendly energy sources, processes, products and services which promote the causes of climate change. While developed nations in the forefront of crafting the protocols delay implementation, heftily investing in research and clean energy livelihood, African nations, more vulnerable to climate change, lack the financial, economic and technical structures, and the political will to approach critical climate change mitigation and adaptation programs beyond rectifying international conventions. This paper reveals that the steady and urgent progress of international climate change protocols could snowball to enormous global environmental super standards which could constitute very daunting challenges to business survival in Africa in the long term.