Transcript Sustainability

CREATING
SUSTAINABLE
ENTERPRISES –
A ROLE FOR LAW IN
ENSURING OUR
FUTURE
Professor Nancy J. King, BA 230, Spring
2006
INTRODUCTION
“The hidden architecture of
sustainable development is
the law.”
Source: Economist Hernando de Soto as
quoted by Colin Powell as he prepared to
leave for the Earth Summit
“To
waste, to destroy, our natural
resources, to skin and exhaust
the land instead of using it so
as to increase its usefulness
will result in undermining, in the
days of our children, the very
prosperity which we ought by
right hand down to them,
amplified and developed.”
-Former President Teddy Roosevelt, 1907
What Is Sustainable
Development?
 No Universal Definition
 Three Useful Definitions:
 Classic Definition
 Triple Bottom Line
 The Natural Step
Classic Definition
Development that meets the needs of the
present generation while not
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
Source: World Commission on Environment and Development
(Brundtland Commission), Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford
University Press) (1987).
Triple Bottom Line
Creating measures and reporting on
how a business impacts economic,
environmental and social issues.
Sources: Andrew W. Savitz, What U.S. Environmental Lawyers Need to Know About
Sustainability, 17-2 Natural Resources and Environment 98 (2002.
Sustainability Encompasses
Corporate Social Responsibility
 Assumes corporations should conduct
their affairs in a socially responsible
manner, but there is disagreement as to
what constitutes socially responsible
behavior.
 Three Viewpoints on Corporate Social
Responsibility:
 Profit Maximization.
 Stakeholder Approach.
 Corporate Citizenship.
The Stakeholder Approach to
Corporate Social Responsibility
Fits Well With Sustainability
Corporations are perceived to hold duties to the
following groups (stakeholders), duties that
often come into conflict:
Shareholders
Consumers
Employees
Community
Society
Measuring Corporate
Social Responsibility
 It is difficult to measure corporate social
responsibility because different yardsticks are
used (this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try).
 Traditionally, corporate philanthropy has been
used as a means of measuring corporate
social responsibility.
 Increasingly, corporate process, or
how a corporation conducts its
business on a day-to-day basis, is a
key factor in determining whether a
corporation is socially responsible.
Definitions of Sustainability
Encompass Environmental
Stewardship
 Stewardship means careful and responsible
management of something in one’s care.
 Requires more than simply making continuous
improvements to environmental management
systems to reduce waste and pollution.
 Requires more than mere compliance with U.S.
environmental laws related to pollution.
 Sustainability strives to achieve the
intriguing possibility of economic success
within life-supporting environmental and
social systems.
Sustainability Also Addresses
Global Environmental Issues
Two Key Issues:
 Cross-Border Pollution.
 Global Warming.
What is the Answer? How do business
operations and economic development
impact the solution?
The Natural Step
Sustainable (Business) Systems:
 Keep the earth’s natural resources in the earth
as long as possible.
 Manage the production of toxic substances.
 Not displace, over harvest or otherwise
degrade our natural ecosystem.
 Use the earth’s resources fairly and efficiently
to meet basic human needs worldwide.
References: Robèrt Karl-Henrik. 2002. The Natural Step Story: Seeding a Quiet Revolution
(Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers) (2002), available at www.newsociety.com; The
Natural Step, at www.naturalstep.org (Natural Step system conditions, also called principles of
sustainability, define basic conditions that need to be met in a sustainable society).
What Does It Mean To Use The Earth’s
Natural Resources Fairly?
Netherlands
India
“In the U.S., it takes 10.3 hectares (1 hectare = 2.5 acres) to supply
the average person’s basic needs; in the Netherlands, 5.3 hectares;
in India, .8 hectares…Most strikingly, if the entire world lived like
North Americans, there would not be enough ecological capacity on
the planet to support them sustainably. (Source: Ranking the
Ecological Impact of Nations, www.ecouncil.ac.cr.)
Is Sustainability Legally
Required?
 There are no federal or state laws in the United
States that require private businesses to
operate in a sustainable manner (although
certain environmental laws require sustainable
practices, e.g. pollution prevention, waste
minimization, etc.).
 Some states have passed laws that encourage
sustainable business practices
 Example: Oregon adopted the Oregon Sustainability
Act of 2001.
What Does The Oregon
Sustainability Act Require?
 Creates an Oregon Sustainability Board
that encourages sustainable business
practices and periodically reports to the
Legislature.
 Establishes sustainability “goals” for state
governmental agencies.
Sources: Oregon Sustainability Act of 2001, Oregon
Revised Statutes Sections 184.423 (2004).
Examples Of Sustainable
Practices At OSU
 Campus dining halls use 100% biodegradable food
service packaging for food-to-go.
 Campus construction debris recycling program
 Several campus buildings are being constructed or
remodeled using U.S. Green Building standards to
achieve Silver or better LEED (Leadership for Energy
and Environmental Design) certification.
What other examples of sustainable practices
are found our campus?
Which U.S. Companies Are
Moving Towards
Sustainability And Why?
 Large companies are more likely to develop
sustainability programs (e.g., Hewlett Packard
Company, IBM).
 Companies are committing to sustainability to either
enhance their reputations or gain a competitive
advantage (e.g., Nike).
 Most large companies see sustainability as a
permanent change in the way that corporations will
be managed, measured and valued.
(source:PricewaterhouseCoopers 2002 Sustainability Survey Report).
Product Stewardship
(Also Known As “Extended Product
Responsibility”)
 Product stewardship is a product life cycle
approach to environmental protection.
 It requires product manufacturers, distributors,
end users and waste disposers to share
responsibility for minimizing the environmental
impact of the product.
 Examples:
 reducing the use of toxic substances;
 designing for reuse and recycling;
 product take-back programs.
Examples Of Companies
Focusing On Product
Stewardship:
 Extending the useful life of products they manufacture (e.g.,
U.S. manufacturers design refillable ink jet cartridges for
inkjet printers).
 Designing products to make recycling and reuse much
easier (e.g., Japanese manufacturers design washers and
dryers to be easier to disassemble for recycling purposes).
 Developing products that minimize natural resource use and
environmental impacts (e.g., the Environmental Protection
Agency’s Energy Star program encourages production of
energy efficient products through a certification program)
 Making products from recycled materials – waste becomes
raw materials (e.g., companies that use recycled paper to
make new products).
Countries that Mandate
Product Stewardship in their
Laws For Some Products
 Japan – Product Reengineering to
enable recycling of household appliances
(e.g. refrigerators, washers, dryers).
 Sweden – Producers of electronic
equipment are required to “take-back”
obsolete electronic equipment free of
charge.
The European Union
Leads the Way on Product
Stewardship
 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE) Directive Applies to equipment which
depends on electric currents or electromagnetic
fields to function [Directive 2002/96/EC].
 Requires producers of electrical and electronic
equipment to take back “end-of-life” or waste
products free of charge and to recycle the waste
products. Also requires substitution of less
hazardous products (replace lead, mercury, etc.)
in new electrical equipment put on the market
starting in July 2006.
EU WEEE Directive, Cont’d
 WEEE covers: household appliances;
computer equipment;
telecommunications equipment.
 WEEE does not cover “consumables”
(e.g. printer ink cartridges).
 The WEEE Directive must be fully
implemented in EU Member States’ laws
by August 2005.
Why Do U.S. Companies Care
About Product Stewardship And
Sustainability?
 The global competitiveness of many
U.S. companies depends on
compliance with sustainability laws in
other countries.
 Ethical Query: Should U.S.
companies offer sustainable products
and services in the U.S. even if U.S.
laws do not require this?
New Belgium Brewing
Company
New Belgium Brewing
Company – The Owners, The
Employees
Owners: Jeffrey Lebesch and Kim Jordan,
Fort Collins, Colorado
“OUR CORE VALUES AND BELIEFS
At New Belgium Brewing Company, We Believe In:
Producing world-class beers.
Promoting beer culture and the responsible enjoyment of beer.
Continuous, innovative quality and efficiency improvements.
Transcending our customers' expectations.
Environmental stewardship: minimizing resource consumption,
maximizing energy efficiency and recycling.
Kindling social, environmental and cultural change
as a business role model.
Cultivating potential: through learning, participative
management
and the pursuit of opportunities.
Balancing the myriad needs of the company, staff,
and their families.
Committing ourselves to authentic relationships,
communications, and promises.
Having Fun”
[Source: New Belgium Brewing Co.’s webpage]
New Belgium Brewing
Company
Viewing film clips to identify sustainable
business practices:
 Sustainability - Environmental
Stewardship
 Corporate Social Responsibility
 Vibe – Tour de Fat
 Good Home - Philanthropy
In-Class Group Exercise:
New Belgium Brewing
Company
A. Using the Triple Bottom Line definition
of sustainability, identify at least five
different sustainable business practices
followed by the New Belgium Brewing
Company.
 For Your Use --The Triple Bottom Line Definition of
Sustainability: Creating measures and reporting on
how a business impacts economic, environmental
and social issues.
In-Class Group Exercise:
New Belgium Brewing
Company
B. Improvements for the Future: identify
several other business practices that
were not discussed in the articles that
we read about New Belgium Brewing
Company but that it could/should
evaluate to ensure its operations are
sustainable.
Student Writing Assignment
On Sustainable Business
Practices
 Using the assignment handout, choose one of
the three topics on sustainability for your
paper. Find a company that is implementing
that type of sustainable business practices and
write about it.
 Research sources:
 Internet, Lexis-Nexis academic database,
newspapers, magazine articles, your personal
contact with a company manager. See “Web Links”
on Blackboard for help using Lexis-Nexis.
 The list of Selected Web References About
Sustainability for Students included at the end of the
assignment.
We do not inherit this
land from our
ancestors, we borrow
it from our children.
Haida Indian Saying
Last Revised: February 2005