Doing Well and Doing Good

Is it possible to do well and do some good? Members of Chicago professional organization Net Impact think so. Net Impact is a group of business professionals seeking to change the world through the power of business. The group hosted a sustainability discussion with representatives from the oil and chemical industries in March.

Scott Noesen, Director of Sustainability and Business Integration for Dow, said that, admittedly, sustainability for a chemical company means doing "less bad" and "more good". In 1984, a disaster occurred in Bhopal, India that would change the future of the Union Carbide company, later to become part of Dow Chemical. While the residents of Bhopal India slept, a pesticide plant leaked more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas, immediately killing at least 3,800 people and causing injury and death to many thousands more. Estimates of deaths from the hospitals in the first week of disaster are said to be as high as 10,000 with eventual premature deaths at 15,000 to 20,000, according to a Columbia University study. The Union Carbide company attempted to avoid legal responsibility by blaming the Indian subsidiary for the incident, but eventually reached a settlement with the Indian courts for $470 million (U.S.).

With a tragedy like the Bhopal incident on its corporate conscience, presenting sustainability efforts is not an easy job. Noesen said after the Bhopal tragedy, the sustainability initiative was born out of necessity for Dow. The company set sustainability goals in 1996, spending 1 billion dollars, which over time saved the company 5 billion dollars. Noesen quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson in describing the birth of sustainability at Dow: "We learn geology the morning after the earthquake."

Noesen said the first challenge for Dow was to define sustainability. They invited advisors from many global non-profits including UNICEF and WWF. The advisors pushed them to think of sustainability in terms of the Millennium Development goals. The Millennium Development Goals include halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and ensuring universal primary education. In the end, Dow decided to define sustainability simply as their "relationship with the world".

For Charlie Curlee of Marathon Oil, another presenter at the Net Impact conference, the best definition of sustainability for his company came from the Brundtland Report Commission in Sweden. The report states that sustainability is "the ability to meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the needs of the future".

Marathon has concentrated on Corporate Social Responsibility in contrast to the Sustainability focus of Dow. Curlee gave examples of two Marathon projects: one in Equatorial Guineau and the other in the state of Wyoming. Marathon drills in Equatorial Guinea and decided to focus on the malaria problem there. To fight malaria, Marathon has focused on spraying indoor areas where the mosquitoes congregate and improving the health care management of the disease. Their goal was to eliminate malaria in 5 years and they have met this goal with some success. According to Marathon's website, the 1996 figures show that their efforts have resulted in a 44% decrease in malaria parasites in children and 95% reduction in malaria transmitting mosquitoes.

In Wyoming, reports show that 50% of field applicants were rejected for meth in their drug test results. Marathon decided to take action by introducing a drug awareness program in Wyoming schools after consulting with social workers, educators, and addiction specialists.

What does all this mean for corporate citizens, especially those in the oil and chemical industry? Many companies have been accused of "green-washing" as the demand for green business increases. The nature of the oil and chemical business is not eco-friendly; rather we could say that it is eco-extracting. Yet, much of our lives depend on these industries, so how can we ensure that these companies are environmentally responsible?

As Noesen put it, sustainability means having a positive relationship with the world. As an individual, one way we can communicate our concerns with companies is to interact with the company as an activist stockholder or to invest in Socially Responsible Funds. In principle, the company must answer to shareholders first. By becoming shareholders, individuals can voice humanitarian and environmental concerns to a company. As public understanding of climate change increases, it is important that as private citizens we are aware of the activity of chemical and petrochemical companies. The future depends on it.