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The Shifting Sands of Climate Change
 
This week's stories highlight some of the new fault lines we can expect as organizations digest the implications of slower progress on international and U.S. domestic climate policy than was anticipated as recently as last summer.
 
Some companies are reducing their focus on the promotion of cap-and-trade legislation in the U.S. in favor of increased investments in alternative energy and other strategies, while others launch high profile consumer campaigns aimed at restoring momentum in the policy arena.
 
There has also been a notable uptick in attention paid to issues that -- while closely linked to climate change -- do not (yet) carry the same amount of policital and ideological baggage. For example, the rapidly evolving field of "ecosystem services" -- which includes and integrates the impacts of everything from climate change and deforestation to water stress and biodiversity loss - is set to enter our mainstream dialog in the coming months (see "Making It More Profitable To Leave a Tree Alone Than to Cut It Down" and "Corporations Cause $2.2T in Environmental Damage Every Year").

Eric Olson is senior vice president of advisory services at BSR.