Article
Beyond the Green Corporation
A remarkable number of CEOs have begun to commit themselves to...sustainability goals..., even in profit-obsessed America.... [Sustainability is] about meeting humanity's needs without harming future generations. It was a favorite cause among economic development experts, human rights activists, and conservationists. But to many U.S. business leaders, sustainability just meant higher costs and smacked of earnest U.N. corporate-responsibility conferences and the utopian idealism of Western Europe. Now, sustainability is "right at the top of the agendas" of more U.S. CEOs,...says McKinsey Global Institute Chairman Lenny Mendonca... [T]here's a more sophisticated understanding that environmental and social practices can yield strategic advantages in an interconnected world of shifting customer loyalties and regulatory regimes. [Refers to positive steps by Unilever, General Electric, Wal-Mart, GlaxoSmithKline, Dow Chemical, Wendy's, ExxonMobil, Nokia, Ericsson, HSBC, ABN-Amro, HP, Dell, Sony, BP, Ford, Philips, BG Group, Shell, Petrobras; sustainability research & investing by Deutsche Bank, UBS, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, State Street. Also refers to Shell, Unocal (now part of Chevron), Target, McDonald's, Apple, Nintendo, PetroChina, ExxonMobil, Ford, BP]