Corporate Greening Issues - Assignment Example

The perception that greening affects the bottom line has begun losing ground. It is a changed mindset among business organizations that have given a big fillip to myriads of environment-friendly business activities. Various measurement techniques including the Green Confidence Index or indices such as S&P/IFC Carbon Efficient Index distinguish organizations on the critical aspect of pollutants they create. The investor community patronizes those organizations that work harder reducing carbon footprint. The companies such as Walmart, Google, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Inc, General Electric, and Intel Corp. have done pioneering efforts to meet sustainability objectives. Developing countries such as China too have been found supporting sustainable business practices though many companies in the US need to create pressure on their overseas suppliers to meet certain minimum standards that protect the environment. According to the writer, studies reveal that the company's performance, over time, improves with its greening efforts. Soon a time will come when business performance will not be measured only through growth or profitability parameters but how the company as a business organization has fared in reducing its carbon footprint.

In current times, business organizations do not measure their success only through the bottom line; in fact, it has transcended to a triple bottom line in terms of people, planet, and profit as measurement factors that speak about how the organization has done about social and environmental factors. 'Greening' is a new buzzword for organizations showing their commitment not only towards society but also a larger interest in sustaining life on this planet.

Even if 'greening' is not good for the bottom line in a conventional sense, the efforts are appreciated by all stakeholders of the organization. It is a natural transition from a process that started with producing goods fulfilling the needs of customers to satisfying the needs of the environment as well. After all, survival and sustainability issues are the concerns of all that live on this earth. The fact remains that greening has become an intrinsic part of most organizations in the US. Consumers do not patronize those business organizations that ignore this crucial aspect in their day-to-day operations. Over time, consumers have become enlightened after seeing the horrendous consequences of climate change in most parts of the world due to unfriendly environmental practices followed in the last several decades. Global warming has caused catastrophic climate changes across all parts of the world leading to increased frequency of cyclones, drought, and melting of icebergs leading to submergence of low-lying areas causing displacement of the populace, or above normal precipitation in many parts of the world.

Even economic slowdown has not derailed environmental-friendly practices because the perception that greening adds to the cost has not been found true in a broader sense. When large organizations, especially in developed countries, are putting consistent efforts into reducing carbon footprints as a part of their social responsibility, it becomes imperative on part of others to follow the suit regardless of its cost implications.

Indeed, certain businesses such as textile processing, chemicals, color and pigment manufacturing, and oil refineries have shifted their bases to other developing countries due to cost implications. But that is inevitable. Ricardian economic theory also suggests that comparative advantage is a decisive factor while producing goods in the given region; however, the fact remains that the companies in the third world have begun joining the bandwagon of environmental-friendly practices reducing carbon footprints and enhancing their responsibility towards society.

Fossil fuels have been the biggest culprit to global warming creating climate change across the world and even third-world countries have realized its catastrophic impact on humans. Most clean energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydro cannot compete with fossil-fuel-based sources of energy yet there is a huge investment drive across the world replacing traditional sources of energy such as coal, oil, and gas even though all renewable sources of energy impact the bottom line of companies in the traditional sense but overall, they all emerge winners at the end.