Greening the Corporation - Advising Companies On Corporate Sustainability Requirements For a growing number of businesses, implementing smart environmental policy aids legal compliance and promotes competitiveness. Gone are the days when the only companies concerned about environmental laws were heavy manufacturers. Recent developments in both the U.S. government and private corporate sectors have ushered in a new era of corporate sustainability, in which complying with environmental regulations is moving from a recommendation to a mandate for a wide range of businesses. Just as organizations must develop and enforce policies in the areas of governance, employment, and safety, many companies and public agencies are now required to track …show more content…
In the U.S., a bi-partisan bill being sponsored by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) could succeed in bringing the parties together and finally getting a new climate law passed. In the meantime, businesses cannot afford to sit back and wait for definitive law in this area, since a new federal Executive Order, EPA regulations, SEC guidance and private sector programs have gone into effect which apply to a wide variety of companies and public agencies. All organizations that are subject to these new requirements should be incorporating them into their planning and taking steps to ensure compliance. I. Executive Order 13514 On October 5, 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13514, titled Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. This Executive Order requires all federal agencies to inventory their GHG emissions, set targets to reduce their emissions by 2020, and develop a plan for meeting a wide range of goals for improving sustainability, such as increasing energy and water efficiency, reducing waste, reducing fleet petroleum consumption, supporting sustainable communities, developing and maintaining high performance buildings, and leveraging Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies. Other environmental targets in the order include a 30% reduction in fleet gasoline use and 26% boost in water efficiency by 2020, and a 50% waste
His administration insists that with these new rules going into an effect will cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other deadly gases by thirty percent between the years 2012-2016 (Baker,2010). Unfortunately Obama’s new policy will only help conserve for the next six years. The following resource plan will not only help do the same but will hopefully have the same if not better results even farther into the future.
When talking about sustainability numerous people associate it with just protecting the environment. Sustainability is far more than going green, but it is a principle that many companies have adopted and have worked persistently to improve over the last several years. Sustainability is defined as the ability to continue a behavior indeterminately, but it also includes improving human life overall. Sustainable development is broken down into three pillars: economic, social, and environmental (Harich & Bangerter, 2014). Economics is the study of how people use resources, which correlates to the goal of sustainable development by using resources to their full potential (Laszlo, C., & Zhexembayeva, N., 2011, p. 60). Economic sustainable development allows companies to give their customers what they want without overusing mutual resources. Social development combines the social world with the physical realm to provide a good quality of life (Benoit, 2010, p. 7). Social sustainability focuses on the well-being of people and their communities. Environmental development, the most recognizable, includes protecting the environment by reducing pollution, recycling, switching of electronic devices when not in use, etc. All three of these pillars make up what is known as sustainable development. In this paper, I researched a company and their involvement in sustainability and how it applies to the
Many firms are learning that being environmentally friendly and sustainable has numerous benefits. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). This could enable them to increase goodwill from various stakeholders and also save money in the long term. This will mean that they are being more efficient and less wasteful of resources, which will enable them to be more competitive by satisfying stakeholders. The CEO of
The U.S. submitted its INDC to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 26%-28% below its 2005 level by 2025. With this plan, the U.S. has several laws related to its environmental policies. Among them, these are main four Acts (Korea Institute of Energy Research [KIER], 2016a): The Energy Policy Act established in 1992 was to secure energy security and revised in 2005 to decrease the reliance on oil and coal energy; The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) legislated in 2007 due to the necessity for energy independence caused by the unstable Middle East and high oil prices, so President Bush announced the 'Twenty in Ten Initiative ' that aimed to reduce 20% of the gasoline consumption by 2017; The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted in 2009 as one of the reflationary measures, and this included $8.5 billion investment for energy-related policies; The Clean Air Act (CAA), made in 1970, regulated the atmospheric pollution sources and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used CAA to restrict the greenhouse gas.
Article 1: This article tells about President Obama vetoing Keystone Jobs Bill on grounds that approval of the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would damage the U.S. effort to curb greenhouse gases. The article frames Obama as an environmental hero, quoting the president in saying, “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change… And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that’s the biggest risk we face — not acting.” The authors also cite Secretary of State John Kerry in saying “The United States cannot ask other nations to make tough choices to address climate change if we are unwilling to make them ourselves.” The
In order to do so, people must greatly cut back greenhouse emissions and must develop other types of energy, so that the atmosphere no longer constantly has additional carbon dioxide. Although these actions may slow the process, it likely cannot be stopped or reversed. In the Northeast, eleven of the twelve states “have developed adaption plans for several sectors and 10 have released, or plan to release, statewide adaptation plans” (Horton 382). In doing so, the states can effectively communicate information about the reduction of carbon. Many believe that laws must be added in order to truly make sure that emissions are cut down. According to Senator Edward J. Markey, “‘We need to put in place the laws and policies that dramatically cut carbon pollution and help communities respond to this growing threat’” (Rocheleau). In recent years there have been many global meetings, such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, in order to discuss what to fix and how to enforce new laws. The past several meetings have gathered much momentum, and a goal is set for wealthy countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 95%. Although this process cannot be reversed, the globe can take several actions to slow global
He ordered the head of the EPA to declare carbon dioxide as a pollutant. His signature air quality achievement imposes new restrictions on mercury and other emissions from power plants (America Magazine). At a United Nations meeting about climate change in Peru, Barack Obama engaged China to agree, for the first time to substantial carbon reduction goals. This one action is likely to have more of an effect in mitigating climate change than other symbolic actions taken to date (Star
With Republican President, Donald Trump, and the Republican Party holding the majority of both chambers of the 115th Congress, passing environmental protection legislation doesn’t seem to be a priority (or even a thought). Not only are Congress and the President ignoring environmental protection, but they have also worked together to reverse current environmental protection regulations. Normally, repealing any form of legislation is a lengthy and challenging task. However, during the spring of 2017, the Legislative and Executive branches were able to quickly and easily get rid of two environmental protection rules. This ease of change definitively had do with the legislation being bureaucratic agency rules and laws. Though, not only were
PPA empowered EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to develop and co-ordinate all pollution – prevention strategies
Common-sense regulatory initiatives, developed by EPA to minimize greenhouse gas was found to be efficient. For example, EPA's vehicle greenhouse gas rules will save consumers $1.7 trillion at the pump by 2025, and eliminate six billion metric tons of GHG pollution. EPA's Clean Power Plan addresses emissions from power plants, the largest source of carbon pollution in the country. When the Clean Power Plan is fully in place in 2030, carbon pollution from the power sector will be 32 percent below 2005
However, the Action Plan is not likely to produce 9.8 Mt in new reductions by 2020, as the government stated. For example, the government claimed that using Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account funds to subsidize electricity prices which would produce 3 Mt in emission reductions. We found no evidence to support this claim and concluded that subsidizing electricity rates is not an acceptable use of these funds. Fortunately, the government is no longer proposing to divert Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account funds in this way.
The agencies should decide if the action meets the threshold requirements or not. And prepare an EIS which describes in detail the effect of proposed activities. Also, the status makes it clear when the EIS must be completed and published the proposed rule in the Federal Register. is primarily procedural and timing is always the main theme. The agencies should combine NEPA with other planning as soon as possible to reflect the environmental values. And the NEPA needs agencies to go deep into the environmental consequences. EA shall be prepared early enough to serve an important contribution to making the decision.
Over the past few decades, sustainable business practices have become more prevalent and required in corporations. Australian organisations are required to be responsible for being sustainable socially, economically and environmentally, here we focus on the environmental factors. Australia’s government is constantly coming up
2. BACKGROUND / NATIONAL INTERESTS. In June 2013, POTUS released The President’s Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan organizes and directs executive action regarding climate change, based on three pillars: (1) cutting carbon pollution in America, (2) preparing the U.S. for the impacts of climate change, and (3) leading international efforts to combat global climate change and prepare for its impacts. Five months later, POTUS issued Executive Order (EO) 13643 Preparing the United States for the Impact of Climate
The specific goal that the developed countries have to meet is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by around 5% below their 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012 and the amounts may