ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBILITY Chapter 13 1

Environmental responsibility Learning objectives Evaluate the relevance of certain key principles for decision making in relation to environmental responsibility. Identify contextual issues for strategic decisions relating to environmental management. evaluate certain optional solutions for organizational environmental issues. Identify key features of environmental measurement systems. 2

Environmental responsibility TOPICS Framing the link between business and the environment Principles: Responsibility and precaution Context: Social, political and legal aspects Solutions to environmental problems Environmental measurement and management 3

Environmental responsibility FRAMING THE LINK BETWEEN BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT A strategic (environmental) decision may be mapped out in many ways, such as: identifying principles and vision clarifying the context evaluating potential solutions implementing and measuring the impact of decisions 4

WHO PAYS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE? (RESPONSIBILITY) Environmental responsibility PRINCIPLES: RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRECAUTION WHO PAYS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE? (RESPONSIBILITY) PRECAUTIONS 5

WHO PAYS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE? (RESPONSIBILITY) Environmental responsibility PRINCIPLES: RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRECAUTION Issues to consider: How far should an individual company or industry be required to pay for environmental damage that may persist in many years? Is it the responsibility of society to pay for environmental damage, after all it is society that gains or loses from the economic activity of business. Many agents are responsible for the erosion of natural resources. WHO PAYS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE? (RESPONSIBILITY) Philosophical view over agent, reward and responsibility. 6

Environmental responsibility PRINCIPLES: RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRECAUTION PRECAUTIONS Assumes that some damage to the natural environment has occurred as a result of human activity, and that we should work to reduce this now. Is a practice likely to avoid undesirable results. It expresses a virtue of prudence. 7

Environmental responsibility CONTEXT: SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS Environmentalism and colonialism Society and environmental damage Legislative framework 8

Direct reduction approaches Environmental responsibility SOLUTION S TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS reduce environmental damage ‘Plant a tree’ recycling cleaner manufacturing processes involves the end-user can be ineffective if not followed through Direct reduction approaches 9

Environmental responsibility SOLUTION S TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS market mechanisms to control emissions emissions trading countries are allowed certain allowances to carry out certain activities energy-consuming companies and lobbying based on global inequalities Trading approaches 10

ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT Environmental responsibility ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT The measurement of environmental performance occures within a range of contextual factors: National and trans-national legislation Social structures Dynamics and key player of the industry Implications of specific environmental outcomes Resources that enables measurement 11

Environmental responsibility ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT Environmental measurement can bring a range of advantages for an organization: Demonstration of progress towards achievement of environmental targets Demonstration of compliance with external goals set by governments and industry wide consortia Collection of examples of practices as a mean of organizational learning Identification of areas for further attention and improvement 12

Environmental responsibility ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT Environmental auditing: the regular, formal collection of information to evaluate environmental performance, covering key processes across the whole value chain. Environmental impact assessment (EIA): data collection similar to auditing, but often with a future perspective to help evaluate proposed projects. Life-cycle assessment: ‘…an analysis covering every stage and every significant environmental impact of a product from the extraction and use of raw materials through t he eventual disposal of the components of the products and their decomposition back to the elements. 13

Environmental responsibility ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT Other things to consider includes: Ecological footprint output of carbon dioxide consumption of land Standardized environmental management systems European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) ISO 14001 Drawbacks to environmental management Integrated effects of environmental management Complicated data collection Lack of clear understanding of key environmental variables. 14

Environmental responsibility SUMMARY There is a duality of influence on the environment and the part of government – as legislator, but also as e employer, purchaser and investor. The free-market environmental position has provided a series of strong arguments in favour of specific kinds of response to the questions of how to create greater environmental responsibility Measurement is highly problematic in this field and social practices play a significant role as well as corporate ones in the many different approaches taken to this task. Further issues is how democratic environmental protection is – do all stakeholders have sufficient say in the process. There is a ‘colonial’ question that environmental management as currently conceived seems almost to require a continued disparity in wealth between the north and the south. 15