This blog is a response to Charmaine’s recent post on a corporate decision made by the Rockefeller group to phase out of fossil fuels.

I definitely agree with some of the points that she has expressed in her blog. The large move of converting from oil and gas to investing in renewable energy is very commendable and the pledge serves a big step into achieving sustainable development.

The importance of sustainability is heavily emphasized and ties in with positive business ethics, both of which the Rockefeller group manages to obtain with this decision. The change targets two of  the triple bottom line, social and environment which is greatly improved in the long run. As Charmaine said, this creates shared value for the Rockefeller group and it’s good to see companies that care about the environment and is proactive about preserving it.

However, the only thing I question is the plausibility and the threats of this change. Firstly, the world’s current technology in renewable energy sources is not perfected and greatly inefficient when compared to non-renewable sources. In a business point of view, this represents a bad investment until better technology is invented, especially when only 7% of the world’s energy output is in renewable energy sources. This also puts the business at a worse standing point as they’ll be at a comparative disadvantage against companies who haven’t switched yet.

Secondly, the plausibility of switching also comes in question. Although this brings a bunch of positive publicity to the firm, I personally don’t think it’s a realistic decision, unless, the pledge makes use of the word “phasing”. This “phasing” out may take decades as the company slowly transitions into investing in renewable sources as the technology to more efficiently produce energy is invented. That would be a great move!

The purpose of this blog is not to discourage the positive intentions of sustainable development but to question the plausibility of such actions due to our world’s limited technology.

See also: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29310475