Reframing global warming: Toward a strategic national planning framework

There is now compelling evidence that in the absence of an expedient and rigorous international effort to abate greenhouse gas emissions, the economic and social costs associated with global warming will be historically unprecedented. Yet despite such evidence, the international community is slow to rally behind a cohesive strategy to mitigate such costs. This paper argues that the prevalence of an overly-narrow conceptualization which treats climate change as a cost to be mitigated is a key barrier to enhanced international cooperation. Initiatives in respect to alternative energy endeavours in Singapore are put forth as examples of how a centrally orchestrated, strategic approach to climate change can uncover hidden economic benefits that are overlooked when the prevalent cost-mitigation perspective is employed by country planners. Extending lessons from the Singapore case study, this paper adapts principles from corporate strategic management to create a national strategic planning framework which will help policy makers identify and exploit national core competencies in order to capitalize on opportunities which will arise amidst the inevitable global transition to alternative energy. Reframing the response to climate change in this strategic manner may provide the impetus necessary to encourage more proactive behaviour from leading greenhouse gas emitting states such as the United States and China which are currently resisting pressure to embrace leadership roles in addressing climate change.