Business response to environental challenges: three cases of Russian industrial companies
Keywords:
Environment, corporate responsibility, Russia, casesAbstract
Three decades ago environmental protection was perceived by businesses as an additional cost-generating activity, but nowadays the idea that environmental policies can be profit-generating is gaining wider recognition. In Russia the environmental policy of many companies still follows the old “end-of-pipe” paradigm. However, changes in national government regulations, shifts in public opinion and international environmental initiatives force some companies to change their attitude to environment protection. Our study is focused on an analysis of environmental policies of three Russian companies: UC RUSAL, world leader in aluminum production, GAZ Group, the largest vehicle producer in Russia, and Baikalsk TsBK, a pulp and paper producer. We examine the development of environmental responsibility within these companies and the relationship between their business goals and environment protection tasks. We reveal the positive and negative effects of environmental activities and the problems the companies face while developing and implementing their environmental policies. On the basis of these cases we suggest government policy implications for emerging economies, which must include a change in priorities – from imposing penalties and environmental payments to creating new incentives for business on the basis of private-public partnerships.
Hace tres décadas las empresas percibían la protección del medio ambiente como un coste adicional a su actividad, pero hoy en día, la idea de que las políticas ambientales pueden generar beneficio está cobrando mayor reconocimiento. En Rusia, la política medioambiental de muchas empresas todavía sigue el antiguo paradigma de "tubo terminal". Sin embargo, los cambios en las regulaciones del gobierno nacional y en la opinión pública, y las iniciativas medioambientales internacionales han obligado a algunas empresas a cambiar su actitud hacia la protección del medio ambiente. Nuestro estudio realiza un análisis de las políticas ambientales de tres empresas rusas: UC Rusal, líder mundial en la producción de aluminio, GAZ Group, el mayor productor de vehículos en Rusia, y TSBK Baikalsk, productor de papel. Examinamos el desarrollo de la responsabilidad ambiental dentro de estas empresas y la relación entre sus objetivos de negocio y la protección ambiental. Se muestran los efectos positivos y negativos de las actividades ambientales y los problemas a los que se enfrentan las empresas al desarrollar y aplicar sus políticas ambientales. Sobre la base de estos casos se sugieren implicaciones políticas gubernamentales en las economías emergentes, que deben incluir un cambio de prioridades, desde la imposición de sanciones y pagos ambientales, a la creación de nuevos incentivos para empresas basados en alianzas público-privadas.
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