A blow to the green mission

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn's resignation over the pollution cheating scandal that has wiped off billions of dollars of the world's largest automaker's market value should be a warning for businesses that dare to put profit above the global fight against pollution.

More important, it should alert the international community to the high cost of fighting all kinds of pollution. So, when global leaders meet in Paris for the climate conference in December, they should consider the necessity of introducing an effective mechanism that allows the cost to be fairly shared among consumers and producers around the globe.

One of the key reasons the international community has had limited success in addressing the challenge of climate change is that high-sounding slogans such as "it pays to go green" have more often than not failed enterprises that have invested heavily in traditional technologies and products. As a result, such enterprises, big and small, have been reluctant to embrace technologies, products and business practices that are really green.