Significant Environmental Problems:
Air Pollution
Environmental Ethics
Causes of Environmental Pollution:
Consumer Affluence
Urbanization
Population explosion
Technological development
I d t i l Activities
Industrial A ti iti
Ethics of Pollution Control:
Ecological Ethics
Environmental Rights
Private Costs and Social Costs
Greenhouse effect
Ozone layer depletion
Toxic substances
Acid rain
Other pollutants
Water Pollution and threat of scarcity
Salts, Metals and Radioactive materials
Organic wastes
Inorganic pollutants
Hazardous waste and land pollution
Nuclear wastes
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-
overview-interactive/
Climate Change Effects
 Increase of Global Mean Surface Temperatures
 Irreversible and rapid Climate Change
 Sea Levels Rises
 Increased occurrence of Extreme Weather Events
 Disruptions in agriculture
 Spread of Tropical Diseases
 Population Migrations
 Disappearance of ecosystems and species that are
unable to migrate
 …
Impacts are expected to be mostly
negative, dramatic, world scale, irreversible
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-
warming/gw-impacts-interactive/
Externalities
Impact on a third party of a business decision
Those affected not involved in the decision
g
Negative externalities – negative
g effects of
business activity – pollution, urban development,
etc e.g. out of town shopping centres – impact
on city centres
1
 Externalities Externalities
•Positive Externalities: oOut of town shopping centres:
- Benefits to third parties of business activity Highlights complexity of the interaction of
- e.g. new infrastructure as a result of development, side positive and negative externalities
effects of research and development, technology (the oGovernment p policies – encourage
g business
I t
Internet?),
t?) convenience,
i improved
i d standards
t d d off liliving
i
activity that leads to positive externalities
- Out of town shopping centres – greater ease of access,
everything in one place, pleasant environment to shop in,
and discourage those that lead to negative
etc. externalities

Ethics of Pollution Control: Remedies

Environmental ethics is concerned with the issue
of responsible personal conduct with respect to
natural landscapes, resources, species, and non- •The duties of the firm
human organisms. •Justice
•Costs and benefits
Each person has the right to a healthy living
environment. Therefore, no person has the
privilege to endanger the environment.

Values must teach individuals and organizations

to act in a way which will benefit not only their
self-preservation, but also to the well-being of the
environment which sustains them.

Ethics of conserving Depletable Resources: UN Global Compact

Rights of future generations Endorsed by chief executives, the Global Compact is a

Justice to future generations practical framework for the development, implementation,
and disclosure of sustainability policies and practices,
offering participants a wide spectrum of workstreams,
g
management tools and resources — all designed
g to help
p
advance sustainable business models and markets.

With over 8700 corporate participants and other

stakeholders from over 130 countries, it is the largest
voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world.

2
 Global Compact Principle 7:
Business should support a precautionary approach to
environmental challenges
The UN Global Compact’s environment principles
are derived from the Rio Declaration on The idea of prevention rather than cure.
Companies should consider the following:
Environment and Development.
1. While it is true that preventing environmental damage entails both
opportunity — and implementation — costs, remediation environmental harm
The three principles are: after it has occurred can cost much more, e.g. for treatment costs, or in terms
• B
Business
i should
h ld supportt a precautionary
ti approach
h tto of company image.
image
environmental challenges;
2. Investing in production methods that are not sustainable (i.e. that deplete
• Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental resources and degrade the environment) has a lower, long-term return than
responsibility, and; investing in sustainable operations. In turn, improving environmental
• Encourage the development and diffusion of performance means less financial risk, an important consideration for
environmentally friendly technologies. insurers.

3. Research and development related to more environmentally friendly products

can have significant long-term benefits

Global Compact Principle 8:

Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater
environmental responsibility

Steps that the company could take:

Steps that the company could take:
•Re-define company vision, policies and strategies to include the 'triple bottom
☼Develop a code of conduct line' of sustainable development — economic prosperity, environmental quality
☼Develop a company guideline and social equity.
☼Create a managerial committee or steering group
☼Support scientific research •Establish a sustainable production and consumption programme
☼Join industry-wide collaborative efforts
•Measure, track and communicate progress in incorporating sustainability
principles.

Global Compact Principle 9

Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion
Some terms
of environmentally friendly technologies
Environmentally sound technologies: • Ecological Footprint
•protect the environment,
•are less polluting,
• Global Reporting Initiative
•use all resources in a more sustainable manner,
•recycle more of their wastes and products and • ISO 14000
•handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner
• Fair Trade
At the basic factory site or unit level, improving technology may be achieved by
(i) changing the process or manufacturing technique,
(ii) changing input materials,
(iii) changes to the product and
(iv) reusing materials on site.

Strategic level:
Company Policy, Inform stakeholders, Environmental Assessments, Co-operate
with industry partners

3
 Ecological Footprint
is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a
standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be
contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate.

Per capita ecological footprint (EF), or ecological footprint analysis

(EFA), is a means of comparing consumption and lifestyles, and
checking this against nature
nature'ss ability to provide for this
consumption.

The footprint can also be a useful tool to educate people about

carrying capacity and over-consumption, with the aim of altering
personal behavior.

Every year, this number is recalculated to incorporate the three-

year lag due to the time it takes for the UN to collect and publish
statistics and relevant research.

Global Reporting Initiative

•More than 4,000 organizations from 60 countries use the
Guidelines to produce their sustainability reports.

•GRI seeks to make sustainability reporting by all organizations as

routine as, and comparable to, financial reporting.

GRI Guidelines apply to corporate businesses, public agencies,

•GRI
smaller enterprises, NGOs, industry groups and others.

•GRI was founded in Boston in 1997. Its roots lie within the US
non-profit organizations the Coalition for Environmentally
Responsible Economies (CERES) and the Tellus Institute.

•In March 2011, GRI published the G3.1 Guidelines – an update

and completion of G3, with expanded guidance on reporting
gender, community and human rights-related performance

ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to is the international specification for an

environmental management that exists to help environmental management system (EMS).
organizations
(a)minimize how their operations (processes etc.)
negatively
ti l affect
ff t the
th environment
i t (i.e.
(i cause adverse
d • It specifies requirements for establishing an
changes to air, water, or land); environmental policy, determining
(b) comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmental aspects and impacts of
products/activities/services, planning
environmentally oriented requirements, and
environmental objectives and measurable
(c) continually improve in the above.
targets, implementation and operation of
programs to meet objectives and targets,
checking and corrective action, and
management review.

4
 Fairtrade

Fairtrade is an organized by social movement that aims to help

is similar to ISO 9000 quality management in that
both pertain to the process (the comprehensive
outcome of how a product is produced) rather
than to the product itself.
 The overall idea is to establish an organized
approach to systematically reduce the impact of
the environmental aspects which an organization
can control.
 As with ISO 9000, certification is performed by
third-party organizations rather than being
awarded by ISO directly.
producers in developing countries to make better trading
conditions and promote sustainability.
The movement known as fairtrade indicating the certification
advocates the payment of a higher price to exporters as well as
hi h social
higher i l and
d environmental
i t l standards.
t d d
It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to
developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa,
sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate,
flowers, and gold.
Fairtrade International (formerly called FLO/Fairtrade Labelling
Organizations International), IMO and Eco-Social.

Oil Spill Quiz:

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/energy/great-energy-
challenge/oil-spill-quiz/

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/energy-
environment/great-energy-challenge
environment/great energy challenge.html
html

Low carb diets/Old computers

Going green/Green Home Makeover/Plastics

http://www.sustainablefood.com/guide/differences.html