MJBizMag November-December 2020 - 22

HempNotebook | Kristen Nichols
Hemp's Time to Shine
E
veryone knows the planet's
changing temperatures are
creating dramatic swings in
weather that threaten our very survival.
But global warming could also be the
kind of problem that provides hemp
companies with opportunities that
former generations couldn't imagine.
Corporate America has finally
accepted what scientists have long
been saying about climate change:
Not only is it real, it threatens the
livelihoods of billions of people who will
have to adapt to a hotter Earth, fleeing
scorched coastal areas for higher
ground and creating the need for new
housing and sources of food and fuel.
A couple of months ago, one of
the most influential business groups
in the United States, the Business
Roundtable, made a policy change
that didn't grace a lot of front pages
amid a global pandemic and terrifying
natural disasters.
The group endorsed putting a price
on carbon, marking a seismic shift in
businesses' efforts to deal with global
warming. Companies spanning every
sector of the economy are shaking off
decades of climate inaction and hostility
and using market incentives such as a
carbon tax or tradable emissions credits
to fight climate change.
A move to tradable emissions
credits is a win for hemp, a plant
famed for taking carbon dioxide out
of the atmosphere. Selling carbon
credits would also offer a potential
new revenue stream to hemp farmers
facing falling wholesale prices for
biomass and flower.
The stated goal of the Business
Roundtable-a reduction of U.S.
carbon emissions by at least 80%
before 2050-isn't more ambitious
than what many big companies are
already pledging to accomplish. But it
represents the significant shift taking
place: Businesses are setting aside
disagreements about the costs of
collective climate action and realizing
that the price of collective inaction will
be much steeper.
The last time Congress attempted
to set up a national emissions trading
system, in 2010, the Business
Roundtable was silent while groups
such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the National Association of
Manufacturers lobbied to kill it.
Enter Hemp
This change comes just as the hemp
industry is trying to establish a reliable
supply chain for the very products
that could help large corporations
Climate change is now a business challenge, and hemp entrepreneurs
must seize the opportunity
follow through on pledges to reduce
carbon emissions.
" Carbon farming " isn't the only
way hemp could contribute. Hemp
producers are standing by for wellfinanced
backers to invest in the
needed infrastructure to replace
cotton, wood and plastic products with
hemp components that could clean up
long-established supply chains.
Already I see hemp pioneers flexing
into this conversation. Recently, an
executive from a legacy fashion brand
bragged on social media about how
her company was pioneering the
search for more sustainable cotton.
It's important that the hemp industry
raise its voice in the conversation
about climate change. The industry
is both a victim of climate change
and part of the solution.
22 Marijuana Business Magazine | November-December 2020
MJBizMag November-December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag November-December 2020
