What if firms were forced to pay for frying the planet

MANY QUESTIONS are on the minds of business leaders in the run up to the UN’s COP26 climate summit from October 31st to November 12th. For CEOs making the trip to Glasgow, they range from the mundane (travel by train? eat only plant-based food?) to the profound (why am I going in the first place?). The most important question, though, is barely asked: what would happen if governments agreed, sooner or later, to commitments serious enough to limit global warming to 1.5-2.0°C above pre-industrial levels, as stipulated in the Paris climate agreement of 2015? This question has an answer most multinationals shy away from. It would send shock waves through their entire business models.