Opportunity knocks?

The conference, organised by the Didcot Chamber of Commerce and the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network, attracted a full capacity of delegates from local companies anxious to learn about practical steps on how to avoid being caught out or, speaking more positively, how to actually benefit from the changing climate.

In this post Stern-report world, no one seems to doubt that the climate is changing. Certainly, by show of hands, no one at this conference doubted it.

Kay Johnstone from UKCIP, part of Oxford University funded by the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said adaptation and mitigation were the two ways businesses should respond to climate change - which was not just warmer weather, but also greater extremes, such as the recent floods.

Adaptation meant learning ways of how to adapt to the new conditions, and perhaps exploit them for profit. Mitigation meant using less energy, thereby help slow down the process causing the change.

Business is adapting to climate change already in subtle ways: for instance the clothes market is evolving as demand for heavy winter wear diminishes; and the building trade is introducing larger bore downpipes to cope with heavier rainfall.

At the conference were speakers from three companies in Oxfordshire which are already exploiting the situation for gain.

Liz Parry is a director of Eco-St, a business started this year to sell products "carefully designed to lessen your impact on the environment without compromising your lifestyle". So far, the company has opened stores in garden centres at Chinnor and at Yarnton and hopes to open 50 such outlets nationwide in the next three years.

Ms Parry said: "The thinking behind this idea was that it seemed there was lots of information about climatre change and energy saving but a failure to deliver. Now we want to both educate and sell. Our motto is: 'Leading the green shopping experience'.

"I am guided by core values, such as the belief that every action causes a reaction." Then she quoted Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

All this apparently makes good commercial sense, for research cited by UKCIP indicates that 66 per cent of the public would rather buy from a firm showing that it is taking steps to combat climate change than from one that is not.

Next at the podium was Bob Nielson, from Brightwell Vineyard, of Rush Court, Wallingford. He took the very long view of his trade: "270,000 years ago there were grapes growing in Britain according to archaeological evidence, and they were still growing in 2,700BC."

He added that the Romans grew wines in Britain south of the Severn and that the Domesday Book of 1087 listed several vineyards. Unfortunately there was a cold period between 1200 and 1450 in which viticulture declined, though the nail in the coffin of the business came when the monasteries, many of which had vineyards, were closed in the 16th-century.

Mr Nielson said: "In the 1960s, 70s and 80s many growers in Britain started experimenting - but many made mistakes, such as using grape varieties that would not grow here. Now it is possible to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but not Shiraz. Luckily a fashion is growing for less alcoholic wines of ten or eleven per cent - which suits me, as it is not possible to grow wines above 12 per cent here.

"Climate has also affected wine growers worldwide, since Australian production is down 30 per cent as a result of drought, and California is also suffering from drought.

He added: "We have got rain, which is a boost. But we suffer through lack of economies of scale (some Californian vineyards are the size of the Isle of Wight). Also, there is no traditional loyalty, such as exists in France for instance, from consumers wanting to drink their local wine."

Gareth Dinnage, of printing company Seacourt, which won a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the environment category, said: "We discovered that the printing industry is the sixth most environmentally unfriendly business in the UK, each company using and polluting a small lake of water each year.

"So we decided to become a waterless printer. Now we would urge consumers to simply specify waterless when ordering printed material."

Last to speak was Gobion Rowlands, a director of Oxford company Red Redemption, founded in 2000, which produces computer games specialising in climate change. One such game even featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when world leaders played the game Climate Challenge.

He explained that his firm worked with partners Defra and the BBC to obtain funding and promote understanding of climate change. Now a game for schools has been launched with the help of the Environmental Change Institute, called Operation Climate Control.

Mr Rowlands said: "I see the problem as an opportunity. We make the question fun, raise awareness, and make a profit." He added: "We have feedback, which is also fun, including: 'This thing is catnip for geeks'."

Hard-nosed delegates at the conference wanted to know where they could get advice on measuring their carbon output and ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. There are several organisations in Oxfordshire that will help, such as the Thames Valley Energy Centre ( 01993 702688), which should be able to recommend the right partner for individual businesses.

But what can anyone do about a power station such as Didcot wasting 60 per cent of its output? Small-scale on-site heat pumps as used in Combined Heat Power systems are the way forward here. That way, loss of energy between the power producer and the consumer will be minimised. In any case, the UK is committed to reducing carbon output by 60 per cent by 2050, and increasingly all businesses will need to play their part. The message of the conference was: Climate Change: Nightmare or Opportunity?