Corporate Environmentalism

-- a conversation with Peter Nicholas and Linda Fisher

(Ann Kellan)
Not so long ago, the words "corporate" and "environmentalism" were rarely heard in the same breath. Many companies viewed tougher environmental standards as bad for business. But today, there's an undercurrent of change.

(Pete Nicholas)
It is the undercurrent that is driving behavior today.

(Ann Kellan)
Pete Nicholas, chairman of Boston Scientific, is providing start-up funding for Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. He says forces from inside and outside the corporate world are making it necessary, even profitable, for companies to consider the environment in their decisions. Linda Fisher, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at DuPont, says some of the pressure is coming from customers.

(Linda Fisher)
Do your materials contain these chemicals? Do your chemicals cause these issues? When Samsung decides it doesn't want certain things in its products, and they are the primary customer of ours, we have to figure out how we're going to meet the market need.

(Ann Kellan)
Pete Nicholas says American cities are increasing pressure on companies to clean up their acts...

(Pete Nicholas)
...rules. laws understandings agreements around the kinds of behavior they're going to tolerate in their neighborhood from corporate inhabitants.

(Ann Kellan)
And the most effective incentive for change may be the oldest: Profit. Nicholas notes some companies have already benefited from environmental stewardship by gaining a competitive edge in countries with tougher standards than the U.S. Other companies will follow suit, he predicts, as world markets grow in size and executives begin to see more "green" in being good stewards. To learn more about environmental issues today, put Earth File dot O-R-G in your Web browser. I'm Ann Kellan, and that's another one for the Earth File.

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