Photographer Edward Burtynsky says corporations can play a role in fighting climate crisis politics

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Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is urging corporations to help depoliticize the climate crisis amid a growing partisan backlash against environmental issues that is particularly pronounced in the United States.

Mr. Burtynsky, who has spent his 40-year career capturing images of human-altered landscapes, wants business leaders to use their clout to ensure that Canadian society remains aligned on transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

By bringing the Anthropocene into the boardroom, Mr. Burtynsky aptly argues the environment is being wrongly framed as a leftist issue by some Republican lawmakers. They include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

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As Mr. Burtynsky points out, climate catastrophes, such as floods and wildfires, are affecting people around the world without regard for their political affiliation. That’s why Corporate Canada should use its influence to prevent the climate crisis from being miscast as a partisan issue in our country.

“There’s a knee-jerk reaction, particularly south of the border, that whatever the left likes, the right won’t. The environment shouldn’t be put in that camp,” Mr. Burtynsky said at the 2023 Canadian Media Directors’ Council summit.

“Clean air, clean water and the right to food aren’t political issues.”

Mr. Burtynsky’s call to action for the business community is timely. It comes in the middle of an annual meeting season for public companies marked by heightened shareholder pressure on environmental issues in both countries.

Investors have filed 258 climate proposals at U.S. corporations this year, according to data provided by the Shareholder Association for Research and Education. As a point of comparison, the total stood at 116 in 2013.

In Canada, meanwhile, 34 shareholder proposals on climate issues have been filed with corporations so far in 2023 versus just two proposals 10 years ago, according to SHARE’s records.

This year actually marks the 20th anniversary of the first climate-change shareholder proposal that was put to a vote in Canada – a request from Catholic religious order Fonds Elisabeth Bergeron that pushed Imperial Oil IMO-T to report on a potential financial liability related to its greenhouse gas emissions. Of the 66 climate proposals voted on over the past two decades, three were supported by management, said Peter Chapman, a senior adviser at SHARE.

That brings us back to Mr. Burtynsky who notes that climate concerns aren’t just being raised by investors, but also other stakeholders including consumers and Indigenous peoples.

“Corporations can move the needle rapidly” on decarbonization through their environmental, social and governance work, and by creating products that solve pressing environmental issues, he said.

“Until people feel that it is an existential threat to all of life on Earth, business as usual kind of prevails.”

Mr. Burtynsky is no stranger to Corporate Canada. He has conversed with chief executives, including Victor Dodig of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CMT, about the need for a “just transition” – a term that refers to ensuring workers in natural-resource industries continue to find good-paying jobs in a greener economy.

Although the concept has been pooh-poohed by some, Mr. Burtynsky is clear-eyed about what’s at risk if Canada’s transition goes awry. His previous career experiences – including working on engines and axles at a General Motors factory and being employed by an underground gold mining company – inform his views.

“My work has been going through the front doors of corporations from the very beginning – whether it’s a mine, whether it’s a factory – I’ve always taken it as a rule to be revelatory, not accusatory,” Mr. Burtynsky said.

His approach is pragmatic, rather than polemic, also because there will be increased demand for natural resources such as copper, nickel, aluminum and cobalt over the coming years.

“We need these things if we’re going to transition,” he explained. “Nothing comes without a price, so I think it’s always more interesting to have a conversation about how we do that and how do we make sure that biodiversity is maintained.”

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Accordingly, his pursuit of a “just transition” is a natural extension of his life’s work to shift the public’s consciousness about how industrialization is transforming our planet.

Mr. Burtynsky is best known for his photographs, including striking images of deforestation in British Columbia and nickel tailings in Ontario.

His latest work, In the Wake of Progress, provides a pertinent backdrop for the increased investor discourse about climate issues this proxy season.

“It’s a hard conversation because there’s a lot of money involved, a lot of employment involved,” Mr. Burtynsky said in a subsequent interview with The Globe and Mail.

Although most Canadians support the federal government’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, there isn’t necessarily consensus on how best to achieve that outcome. The friction between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a case in point.

“These are provincial jurisdictions but it’s a national conversation,” Mr. Burtynsky said.

For that reason, he is encouraging a national dialogue to better align corporate initiatives, provincial interests and federal objectives – including foreign policy.

“With the war in Ukraine, we’re being criticized as a country that produces oil, natural gas and LNG – that we’re not doing enough to help Europe given what’s happening with Russia,” he said. “So, we could be a bigger partner but we’re not because we don’t have the infrastructure.”

Similarly, as Canada expands its trade relationships with other Indo-Pacific countries, there are opportunities in areas such as clean technology.

For his part, Mr. Burtynsky is researching rare earths, which are used in the production of electric cars.

Still, he doesn’t believe the world will completely wean itself off fossil fuels in the foreseeable future. Nor does he advocate for a shutdown of the oil sands.

”When somebody says, ‘We need to cease and desist oil tomorrow,’ I’m saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for. That’s called anarchy,’” Mr. Burtynsky said. “That means our grocery stores go empty. … That means our houses aren’t heated. We have to be real about this.”

Therefore, pipelines will remain “a necessary evil” for the time being. That’s why it’s so important to ensure there are appropriate carbon offsets in place.

“We have the tools to fix this problem in our midst. We just have to apply them.”

He’s right.