Corporate Environmental Strategy最新文献

Wildlife populations continue to decline across much of the world. Meanwhile, hundreds of dot-com internet companies have become endangered species in their own right, teetering on the brink of extinction. This paper describes a unique partnership in which these two beleaguered groups join forces with a third element—academia—in an exciting and innovative business venture. The three-way partnership involves a private college (Monterey Institute of International Studies), the United States’ largest non-profit conservation group (National Wildlife Federation), and a new internet company (Digital Collectibles, Inc.). The paper emphasises five aspects of the partnership: (1) what the group is producing; (2) how the collaboration evolved; (3) partners’ roles and responsibilities; (4) major challenges to maintaining the coalition; and (5) key lessons for launching such ventures. The paper provides an important and unusual example of academia, industry, and the non-profit sector collaborating for mutual gain. It should be of interest wherever companies seek to enhance their triple bottom line through strategic partnerships.

At the World Economic Forum in February 2000, leading government officials, CEO's and representatives from civil society voted the climate issue the most important challenge confronting mankind. This concern has spawned a range of responses from voluntary action by companies, to the introduction of binding regulations at the national level. Business is a key focus of most national climate policy and voluntary efforts, both as the main source of greenhouse gas emissions as well as a major provider of solutions.

Conducting an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions is an important first step a company can take towards developing an effective response to climate change. A greenhouse gas inventory provides valuable information on the risks and opportunities of operating in a carbon constrained economy. At a strategic level, greenhouse gas emissions may be relevant to a company's “license to operate”, competitive environment, “carbon risk”, and issues of corporate social responsibility. At an operational level, greenhouse gas emissions information may be relevant to decisions on what products to make, what materials and technologies to use, and from where to source energy.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a broad collaboration of businesses, NGO's, governments and others, was convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI). It represents a voluntary international standard for accounting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions that will enable businesses to report information from global operations in a way that presents a clear picture of GHG risks and reduction opportunities, while facilitating understanding and comparison with similar reports.

This article summarises the results of a research study into the state of the art of corporate environmental management (CEM) amongst Europe's largest industrial companies.¹ Specifically, we evaluate the quality of CEM at corporate level, i.e. for a company's global operations rather than at site or regional level. A total of 187 companies covering 15 industry sectors in 18 European countries participated in the study. The results suggest that CEM continues to represent a significant challenge to many of the largest companies in Europe. Whilst companies seem to have made good progress in terms of allocating responsibility for corporate environmental issues, of managing those responsibilities and of monitoring their environmental performance, the more difficult and challenging issues in the areas of interactive stakeholder dialogue, product stewardship and strategic financial planning remain largely uncharted territories.