The title of this post shouldn’t surprise anyone — it is a commonly held belief that major corporations are dragging their feet on reducing their contribution to global warming. It is also  the title of a very interesting article that appeared in the New York Times a few days ago (U.S. Companies Lag on Global Warming).

Citing a study performed by Ceres, Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection, the article points out a few interesting findings that may seem counter to what would have been expected:

“The study gave General Electric, American Electric Power and Cinergy among the highest scores in their industries. But over all, it concluded, American companies ‘are playing catch-up’ with international competitors like BP, Toyota, Alcan, Unilever and Rio Tinto.

“‘Dozens of U.S. businesses are ignoring the issue with “business as usual” responses that are putting their companies, and their shareholders, at risk,’ said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a group whose members control a total of $3 trillion in investment capital. ‘When Cinergy and American Electric Power are tackling this issue, and Sempra and Dominion Resources are not, that should be a red flag to investors.’”

There were some positives to report as well:

“The report does show progress since 2003, when a much smaller Ceres study concluded that most American companies were ignoring the threat of climate change. Since then, Ceres notes, Chevron Texaco has invested $100 million in developing cleaner fuels, Ford Motor introduced the first American hybrid car, American Electric Power has committed itself to ‘clean coal’ technologies and G.E. has introduced its Ecomagination program stressing “green” products. And many companies including Dow Chemical, Anadarko Petroleum and Cinergy have board committees that oversee the curbing of greenhouse gases.”

The Ceres report covered in the article is very interesting — I recommend checking out the “Summary Report.” The following statement appears in the Foreword of the Summary Report and summarizes quite well the importance of dealing with environmental issues for both businesses and investors.

“These trends present enormous risks and opportunities for companies and investors. With the launch of the Kyoto Protocol and expanding greenhouse gas limits, power companies and other energy-intensive businesses face growing risks from the energy they use and how efficiently they use it. Companies also face risks from direct physical impacts, including stronger and more frequent storms, droughts, floods and sea level rise. In turn, forward-thinking companies that fine-tune their operations and develop new climate-friendly products can prosper from climate change.”

TAGS: Environment | Global Warming | Greenhouse | CSR

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 11:39 pm and is filed under Corporate Social Responsibility, Interesting News, Social Enterprise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.