It’s Contestations in Contemporary Organizations
The Notion of Corporate Social Responsibility and It’s Contestations in Contemporary Organizations
Every action or business operation of an organization is in some way related to social factors. As such, it is unavoidable for a company to lay sincere focus towards being a responsible and active corporate citizen. In order to thrive under this social dependence, corporations need to collaborate with scientists, activists and thought leaders to make Environmental Justice economically feasible. While corporate social responsibility was once considered to be philanthropic activities that could only be afforded by corporate giants, the view of the business community has changed today. CSR has become an integral part of strategic planning as its tangible and intangible benefits have been realized. Where earlier corporations hesitated to invest funds into CSR initiatives and considered them to be expenditure, they now ‘invest’ in CSR .
Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice can be defined as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies” . Environmental Justice defines the right for every human being in on the planet to have a clean, unpolluted and sustainable environment for the current and future generations. Irresponsible manufacturing by businesses to reap the maximum amount of profits as well as blind consumerism on the part of consumers without taking into account the impact that such behavior has on the environment is viewed as injustice to everyone on Earth. Modern day environmentalists are pushing for policy reforms at a government level that will ensure that businesses will function in a manner that keeps the economy as well as the environment healthy .
Economics vs. Environmental Justice
Economic theories have always been defined keeping mind the profitability of businesses and the health of a nation’s economy. As there are no defined rules and regulations governing the formation of economic policies as well as company strategies with relation to environmental justice, environmentalists are calling for the nullification of three basic environmental inequities, namely :
- Procedural Inequity: To begin with, environmentalists are calling for government policies and regulations to be formed keeping in mind the equality of people not just within a country but across the world. They allege that, thus far, policies have mainly been formed with the interest of the business community in mind and not the common man. They are also calling for any such rules to be drafted in various languages, instead of providing all English laws to communities that can hardly understand the language.
- Geographical Inequity: It is a known fact that industries use third world countries as dumping grounds for waste, albeit with the permission of the governments of the nations. Environmental justice calls for benefits like job creation, community service as well as tax revenues to be shared equally across geographies to eliminate discrimination.
- Social Inequity: The decision making power, even in democracies, ultimately lies with a set majority of people and so policies are formed keeping in mind the benefits to this section. This is discrimination at the very base level as minority communities are then exempted from the environmental considerations that they have a constitutional right to. Environmental justice calls for the sharing of the decision making power with commoner alike.
While the industrial threat to our environment is very real, dealing with these problems at an economic level is a tough and daunting task.
Economic Environmental Justice – Feasibility
While there has been a whole lot of debate between economists and environmentalists about the importance of social justice, the economists have so far had the upper hand. This is because, despite ongoing efforts around the world, there is not centralized body of work that lists out the various theories that environmentalists agree to as one about the topic of environmental justice. When the force that is driving the environmental justice movement is not decided upon what theories, laws and regulations to be incorporated into current government policy, there is not anything concrete for environmentalists to work by. There are two vital questions that need to be answered most urgently .
Once the theories on environmental justice have been condensed to form a well defined set of rules and regulations that environmentalists wish to push for, then begins the task of evaluating just how feasible it is for such reforms to be put into place.
A nation economy is like a finely balanced house of cards. Even the slightest careless move can bring the entire economy tumbling down. The global economic downturn of 2009 is the most recent proof how crashing can have a domino effect all over the globe. With the economic situation being delicate as it is, pushing for a major over haul for sake of the environment is a tough call, no matter how urgent or important.
It should be noted that there has been a positive levels of progress in the past few years, especially in the US . Every three years, the EPA selects a set of enforcement priorities by which it focuses its enforcement resources on crucial environmental and sustainability issues arising mainly from instances of non-compliance. For fiscal years 2011-2013, one of the EPA’s proposed enforcement priorities is environmental justice. Taken together, these developments could lower the threshold at which potential environmental justice concerns would be likely to impact individual permitting and enforcement decisions .
The major and most important economic theories like demand and supply, cost and utility have been formed keeping in mind the well being of the business community, the country’s economy and the consumer, albeit at a materialistic level. These theories fail to take into account a very important factor that influences consumer satisfaction – the environment. The environmental justice movement has seen some level of success, however, for concrete and feasible government regulations and economic policies to be formed, economists and environmentalists have to work together to find a solution.
Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
Sustainability is not a one off initiative but consists of several smaller movements taken up the world over across various industrial sectors that include communications, transportation and construction. Most sustainability initiatives have certain commonalities such as: a) The objectives and goals of each initiative are based on a common set of principle i.e.: environmental well being, b) initiatives, though based on common principles, address a diverse range of environmental and sustainability challenges, c) the leadership of these initiatives is not centralized and is not bound by political motivations . There are also initiatives taken up prominent international organizations like the World Trade Organization or WTO that refuses to deal with traders who are known to conduct business in a manner that is damaging to the environment. In all, as nations, people and corporations awaken to the reality of environmental depletion, sustainability is fast picking up pace on an international stage.
A few decades ago, industrial giants were either ignorant about the concept of sustainability or found the theory of natural fuels running out ridiculous. However, as science progressed and the serious nature of environmental depletion came to the fore, corporations have been forced towards taking their CSR much more seriously. Modern day corporate giants acknowledge the need for environmentally responsible operations. In fact, they have also come to realize that sustainability initiatives can be quite profitable for them too! Some examples of corporate effort towards sustainability are: a) Wal-Mart, whose "Sustainability 360" program has reduced 500 units of annual shipping container use, eradicating the utilization of 1,000 barrels of oil and 3,800 trees at the same time netting the retail giant $2.4 million in cost savings, b) Nestlé Waters, reduced the size of its plastic bottles by 15 percent, reducing the amount of waste the product ultimately contributes to landfills while also reducing its manufacturing and shipping costs, and c) Dial Corporation, whose development of a concentrated liquid laundry detergent lowers the amount of water needed during the product's production and reduces packaging material by 40 percent — lessening its landfill impact while significantly lowering the company's transportation, distribution and storage costs .
While pressure from sustainability pioneers and activists placed enough emphasis on the urgent need for environmental conservation drove corporations to act, governments too were not far behind with several talks being held between nations to develop strategies to attain a sustainable economy. Several Acts have resulted, some of the prominent ones are: a) The Climate Change Act 2008 made the UK the first country in the world to have a legally binding long-term framework to cut carbon emissions , b) Executive Order 13514 – “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance” of 2009 enhances EO 13423 "to establish an integrated strategy towards sustainability in the Federal Government and to make reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or GHG a priority for Federal agencies.” , and c) the formation of the US EPA’s Sustainability Program .
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