I was listening to the radio and they were talking about a controversial law in Norway that mandates all companies to have at least 40% women in their executive board. Then I realized this could be the solution to better legislation for a green world.
If you have read my past entries you would have noticed that I am for free market and against too much regulation. Well, this simple law they introduced in Norway has accomplished what many other laws in other countries have failed to do. It has given women equal rights in the workplace. Whereas you are pro or against women's equal rights, you would have to acknowledge that implementing a single law to modify a trend as strong as that is remarkable.
The key element of this law (and what I think is applicable to greentech legislation) is that it modifies only the ultimate consequence of a desired trend, leaving the process to sort itself out. In other words, the law only regulates percentage of women in executive boards, the law forces companies to create their own process to groom women into the board room and to ensure that 40% of their employees that will be eligible for board positions are women. The law does not bother with employment or compensation factors.
If we translate this type of legislation into greentech we may start thinking about the ultimate consequence of living in harmony with our environment. Then we may suggest the following legislation to be applied:
- All companies and all households should become progressively carbon neutral every year until reaching 100% neutral by 2020.
- Water recycling should have a similar goal. 75% recycled water usage by 2020.
Then we should start talking about the consequences of non-compliance.
What if the company or the individual does not comply? Then we shall be as drastic as the Norwegians: they shut down the company. We may want to say: "pay us for the cost and installation of the best technology available, plus a penalty and we will install it for you"
What do you think? Will this work? Will it create the mindset to have a greener world? Will it promote the right technologies to the consumers? Intriguing questions!
Until next week, SHALOM!
