Companies Serious About How They Impact Environment

I’ve been asked to write a chapter on environmental issues as part of a book on corporate governance and ethics, so I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what constitutes real corporate social responsibility. I can remember when corporations first embraced the concept, but it really involved philanthropic efforts, like supporting schools and donating to charitable organizations. The first corporation I can remember that took an environmental issue as a mark of corporate social responsibility was the ice cream maker, Ben and Jerry’s, when they decided to raise money to save the rain forest by naming one of its flavors “Rain Forest Crunch” and donating a percentage of the profits to charity.

Fast forward about thirty years, and the environmental questions have grown beyond a small, image-oriented part of the enterprise and into a position front and center — the boardroom. Now corporate governance involves more and more the question of “how does our company and its industry impact the environment?” Following that audit (because that’s what it is, and we help companies do those audits) comes the strategic question: “how do we create a sustainable business model that does not deplete resources faster than it creates them?” With these questions, “corporate social responsibility” becomes a big piece of all corporate ethics policies, and is at the heart of every company’s governance.

Add comment July 13th, 2007