Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs Have Taken It On the Jaw

Long-time reader Bill O’Hearn sent me two wonderful articles he wrote on corporate sustainability that I offer here and here.  He makes some really good and unassailable points, namely, that the recent criminality in the private sector, especially the cases of Volkswagen and ExxonMobil, has put an enormous spear through the public trust in the subject of corporate sustainability efforts generally.

As I’ve mentioned, ExxonMobil had been well aware of fossil fuels’ effect on global warming since the 1970s, but chose to bury their research and promote climate denialism.

The exposure of Volkswagen’s conspiracy to cheat and defraud its customers (not to mention the other seven billion of us who place a value on healthy lungs) came just after they received the top award in the auto sector from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).  VW’s sustainability report was reviewed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  How many people knew about the deception and went along with it?  We’ll probably never know, but the whole subject will certainly remain in the public consciousness for a long time to come; we’ll be reminded of it whenever we see a certain company recognized for its “green” attributes.  Greenwashing is one thing; building 11 million cars that belch illegal levels of poison into our skies and then lying about it is quite another.

According to The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Linda Greer: “Volkswagen may not go down alone here. It will probably severely tarnish this entire movement and may take a few environmental certification and sustainability ranking systems down with it.”

It really is a tragedy of incredible proportion.