Environmental Groups Define Corporate Environmental Responsibility

The Pembina Institute and Pollution Probe today released a new report Defining Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Canadian ENGO Perspectives that contains a comprehensive view of the environmental community's expectations of companies that claim to be environmentally responsible. In the report, more than 50 environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) define corporate environmental responsibility and describe their vision of an environmentally responsible company.

Progressive companies understand that stakeholder satisfaction makes good business sense, and these companies are asking what the environmental community expects of them. Now there are clearly defined expectations of environmental leaders in the corporate sector," says Marlo Raynolds, Executive Director of the Pembina Institute. "This report provides a road map for companies to follow on the pathway to sustainability."

With increasing public scrutiny of corporate practices, and with shareholder and consumer activism becoming more commonplace, companies want to know what they are expected to do to be more responsible. The public, regulators, investor groups, media — even companies themselves — often ask environmental NGOs to provide advice on what corporate responsibility means. This creates the opportunity for increasing business and environmental NGO partnerships and collaboration in achieving wins for the environment.

"Canadian environmental groups are expanding their approaches to advancing the environmental responsibility of Canadian companies. This includes working alongside companies to help improve their environmental performance through collaboration, education, and sharing views on solutions," says Ken Ogilvie, Executive Director of Pollution Probe.

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Defining Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Canadian ENGO Perspectives can be downloaded from www.pembina.org.