This story published on http://www.corporateknightsforum.com

Even U.S. President George Bush and the global warming denying "research" firms funded by record profit-taking energy company Exxon gasped when the IPCC released its report today. The news is not good. The science behind global warming theories is irrefutable. It turns out that Nobel Peace Prize nominee Al Gore and virtually every other sentient being on the planet were right: human activity is warming the planet.

Here is the IPCC's punch-line:

Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years (see Figure SPM-1). The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture.

Now that the "junk science" disputes are firmly behind us it is time for Canadian policy makers and companies to act. We've all seen the recent headlines. Ottawa politicians we are now to understand are some of the greenest on the planet. Even Kyoto-bashing Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had an epiphany and seen the light - the green light that is. What was that he once wrote?

Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations," Harper's letter reads.

He said the accord would cripple the oil and gas industries, which are essential to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

He wrote in the letter that he would do everything he could to stop Chretien from passing the Kyoto agreement.

"We will do everything we can to stop him there, but he might get it passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ [Bloc Quebecois]."

Okay, let's let bygones be bygones and work together to fix the massive problems we are responsible for. We need the Canadian government, and indeed all governments, to buy into the idea that correcting global warming and its causes are an social and economic opportunity beyond the great U.S. led "race to the moon."

Political theorists have long argued that the only way for governments to work together would be in response to a threat that could only be dealt with by combined action. Now we have it and it is not science fiction, it's science fact.

Corporations too have their place in this "war on warming." One of the things companies do best is optimize the use of capital and human activity. This new war represents infinite economic opportunities for those smart enough to embrace the challenge. What is your company doing?