Environment Society and Business

The emission of green house gasses is a serious problem for the environment. Cities, organizations and companies around the world are taking various steps in order to manage their climate impact. Companies, such as Apple, estimate that in 2011 they were responsible for 23.1 million metric tons of green house gas emissions. In order to minimize the impact on the environment Apple they realized they needed to improve their products environmental performance. In order to do this Apple began to design products with less material, ship with smaller packaging and be as energy efficient and recyclable as possible.

Another example of a company making efforts to reduce their carbon footprint is FedEx. In order to become more environmentally friendly they have increased their electric and hybrid vehicle fleet by twenty percent, doing this saves FedEx and the environment approximately 276,000 gallons of fuel each year while making deliveries. FedEx has also increased their use of solar power among their facilities. This saves approximately 440,000 gallons of fuel each year. They have also adopted a new kind of aircraft that flies further with less fuel and can ship more per flight.

Although many companies are taking the right approach in order to decrease their carbon footprint many organizations font understand the financial risk it poses to their operations and supply chains. This brings up the question, what can be done? In order to present dangerous climate change, protect our natural resources and minimize financial risk, accountability is paramount. Organizations such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) harness market forces to drive change by providing the only global system for disclosure of environmental information. It helps to motivate thousands of companies and cities to manage, disclose and manage environmental risks and opportunities. For companies and cities CDP helps drive awareness of where it should make changes in order to increase efficiency,...