Are corporatization and environmental sustanability compatible?
Corporate greed and environmental damage are often seen going hand-in-hand, leading some to believe that corporatization is incompatible with creating a sustainable and green economic ecosystem. There is, however, a plethora of room for optimism in this regard. Many corporations and large businesses have put forth sustainability measures and taken other steps towards green-policies, targeting certain areas and advancing certain communities towards a more sustainable outlook. Let’s explore some key economic sectors; specifically transportation, fashion and energy, and their green initiatives, and examine how they can be expanded upon and imitated by other businesses.
First, let’s talk about transportation. This is an area that’s constantly experiencing a lot of growth and publicity, especially now in the advent of self-driving cars and light-speed rails. The era of gas-guzzling hatchbacks and diesel trucks is slowly coming to close. The transport sector accounts for almost one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, with automobiles accounting for a staggering 75% of this.
Today, we see the electronic automobile becoming more and more popular; in fact, if we compare the number of charging pumps per number of electric cars in America, there are more charging stations for electric vehicles than gas pumps for gas and diesel-fueled vehicles. The rise of electric automobiles is not only regarded as a green initiative but also a great business tactic. Social corporate responsibility is becoming an increasingly important factor to consumers, with the vast majority of consumers reporting the ethics behind a company as highly important to them, according to this survey done by Reason Digital.
As the electric automobile boom continues to grow and electric cars are becoming more and more normalized, the greater market surrounding green technology has continued to rise and experience greater investments. To counteract the negative impact that the automobile industry typically had on the environment, we are seeing more and more companies highlight their commitments to greener and more environmentally ethical investments, means of production, sourcing of materials, and other sustainable initiatives. This not only has a positive impact on the environment but also on their reputations in the eyes of consumers.
Moving on to an aesthetically pleasing yet unbelievably wasteful industry — fashion. The true cost of fast fashion a term coined to describe low-quality fashion that is sold at relatively low-costs and massed produced is that is generated approximately 15 million tonnes of waste annually in the United States alone. On top of the waste itself, the dyes used in the textile manufacturing process serve as the second largest clean water pollutant, these dyes almost always containing toxic chemicals. With all these disheartening statistics, it’s easy to feel guilty for buying and supporting brand names.
Optimism remains, however. Sustainable fashion businesses are on the rise, and many corporations have turned to use recyclable materials in their clothing, or sustainable and ethically-sourced materials such as forest viscose and cashmere. These initiatives are not only sustainable but also attract attention from media outlets and help reiterate social corporate responsibility and the increased need for ethical responsibility in the fashion industry. Sustainable fashion has also become popularized among high-street brands that are more accessible than high-fashion and upscale brands. This signifies a greater shift of public attitude towards supporting accessible and widespread sustainability initiatives.
Young people are increasingly more aware of where their clothing is coming from, and thus sustainable fashion is becoming increasingly popular among younger generations, according to this report by the Robin Report. Many consumers, particularly younger consumers, view sustainability as inexplicably linked to the ethical practices of businesses, and this serves as a deciding factor in purchasing clothing. This shift in consumer mindset and corporate behaviour could signal greater progress towards making the fashion industry less wasteful and more environmentally-friendly.
Now let’s look at one of the most rapidly transitioning sectors, energy. Energy protocols have experienced rapid evolutions throughout the years, energy serving as a key and vital element to human activity. Throughout the 20th century, coal, nuclear, and fracking were all (and to an extent, continue to be) popular methods in the energy industry. With coal being indisputably harmful to the environment, nuclear power posing a credible fear in the decades following the disaster in Chernobyl and Fukushima, and fracking posing both a threat to the environment and to human populations, renewable and safer energy sources have become popular. Many corporations and stakeholders have shifted their gaze towards safer and more sustainable energy practices.
In fact, Ren21, a renewable energy stakeholder network, reported that “the world is adding more renewable power capacity each year than it adds in new capacity from all fossil fuels combined.” Capitalizing on this growing market and forging the way to a world totally fueled by renewable energy is becoming an increasingly profitable market and growing energy sub-sector. This success is not unnoticed, with many cities seeing the opportunity for lower costs and higher employment rates in implementing renewable energy sources. This could serve as a motivating factor behind a transition to cleaner energy sources across the world and offers a spark of optimism.
In conclusion, we’ve looked at three key economic sectors: transportation, fashion, and energy. While all three of these sectors have done their fair share of damage to the environment, there are rising corporations that offer a dose of progressivism and green initiatives that are slowly beginning to take root in each respective sector. This not only offers a beacon of hope towards a more sustainable future, but it also serves as an example for other large corporations to involve themselves on a path to an environmentally friendly economy and future.
About UN CC:Learn
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. Through its engagement at the national and global levels, UN CC:Learn contributes to the implementation of climate change training, education and public awareness-raising.
