Business and the environment - Denis Smith

Environmental issues are currently high on political agendas in Europe and the United States. This concern springs from an increased public awareness of problems like acid rain, global warming and ozone

depletion, and from specific pollution and crisis incidents such as Seveso, Bhopal, Piper Alpha and the Exxon Valdez. Public pressure over environmental issues has created a new set of constraints over environmental protection.

The international contributors to this book address some of the fundamental issues - economic, political, legal and social - facing business in the context of the new environmentalism. Rather than offering simple solutions to complex problems, this book raises issues for corporate managers and for business educators. The importance of heightening the awareness of managers concerning environmental issues is a paramount aim of the book. Within this process, the role of corporate responsibility is seen as being of critical importance to the development of an environmentally aware business culture. Such an approach will allow managers to become more responsive to the environmental issues which face them in order to learn to manage business within their 'greener' corporate cultures.