BUSINESS ETHICS 1

Business and Ethics

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Institution Affiliation

Course

Date
BUSINESS ETHICS 2

Business and Ethics

Environmental business ethics states that businesses have a role in protecting the

environment due to their impact on the environment. Businesses must moderate the effects they

cause to the environment through their activities, and that should reflect an effort to protect the

land and water resources. Environmental regulations require industries to produce hazardous

waste to regulate their businesses and reduce their environmental impact. However, some

businesses engage in reducing their environmental impact voluntarily. There are different laws

regulating business operations and how they affect the environment, and the roles they need to

play are stipulated in such laws. The different acts regulating businesses towards protecting the

environment are the clean water act, the resource conservation and recovery act, and the clean air

act. Therefore, businesses should be responsible for protecting the environment voluntarily or

guided by the environment regulation acts.

Businesses should consider environmental ethics and understand the benefits of

protecting the environment. The ethical issues related to businesses protecting the environment

are energy efficiency, supply chain, resource usage, animal welfare, and pollution. One of the

major concerns in environmental business ethics is the corporate response to governmental

regulation. Other environmental ethics relevant to business are ecology, environmental

protection, and problems involving environmental abuse. Businesses are required to develop a

corporate environmental strategy to show that they accept responsibility for environmental ethics

(Burke et al., 2017). Businesses need to understand the harm their cause to the environment and

ensure they take responsible actions to protect the environment. Most businesses pollute the

environment and hide their activities to ensure that they are not caught and face legal, economic,

and social consequences. It is the government's responsibility to ensure that they control
BUSINESS ETHICS 3

businesses to avoid overusing or misusing resources. The protection of the resources should go a

long way with the protection of the businesses' environment. All the business environmental

ethics need to be observed to ensure the safety, usage, and protection of the environment without

jeopardizing future generations.

Most businesses have felt pushed by the environmentalists to extend that cost much,

which is not the case. The businesses view the regulations and restrictions as targeting their

activities and practices that limit their desired operations. However, businesses need to

understand that gains are associated with becoming environmentally responsible since this

protects their production process resources. Businesses should use corporate social responsibility

as a management tool that helps the business understand its environment and operations. The

customers are part of the business environment and need and are interested in the role the

business plays in protecting the environment (Lin & Niu, 2018). Only the socially responsible

organization will protect the environment regardless of the laws guiding them. Such firms strive

to eliminate the pollution they may cause to the environment and the emission of harmful

substances. Therefore, business entities need to take up their responsibilities of protecting the

environment with the understanding of the benefits associated with the practice.

Businesses damage the environment by overusing the natural resources and disposing of

the waste that sinks deeper the hopes with the natural resources. Companies in activities that

discharge waste into bodies may be harmless in the short term, but with an increase in waste

release, it becomes toxic to the environment and the organisms. Businesses should be concerned

with the pollution levels they cause to the environment and the possible costs accrued during

pollution control (Halbert & Ingulli, 2020). If the evaluation shows the cost to be high,
BUSINESS ETHICS 4

businesses will ensure they engage in productive activities and not pollute their environment

through pollution.

An example of companies that have participated in environmental protection is the

petrochemical industry in Alexandria, Egypt. The activities involved in gas and oil exploration

are major causes of air pollution, and hence they have a responsibility to play in protecting the

environment. The petrochemical industries in Alexandria have engaged in formulating

technologies, procedures, and practices to ensure the environment is protected and that no more

harm is caused to the environment (El-Mallah et al., 2019). The petrochemical chemicals take it

as their responsibility to protect and care for the environment and human resources. The

companies achieve this by creating a code of conduct that they follow and ensuring that it guides

their behavior. The petrochemical companies engage in corporate social responsibility hoping to

do the right thing beyond legal requirements (Junior et al., 2018). A specific example engaging

in petrochemical products is the Sidi Kerir petrochemical company. In its statement, the

company states that it is committed to conserving the natural environment. In addition, the

company endorses the principle of sustainable use and ensures minimum impact on the

environment. The company ensures full compliance with the applicable laws and regulations.

The business environment protection activities involve various stakeholders who are

affected by the operations of the businesses. The most critical stakeholder groups are the wealthy

group, politically active groups caring about the environment, and groups from densely

populated areas. Each group is affected differently by the environmental pollution and the

actions of the businesses. The wealthy groups are negatively affected by the poor environment

caused by the businesses and will use their status to demand such businesses to take up their

responsibility in protecting the environment Burke et al., 2017). The wealthy group requires
BUSINESS ETHICS 5

environmental performance from companies depending on them for resources. The wealthy

group must play a critical role in ensuring the environment is protected since the negative effects

target everyone in society. The politically active group concerned with the environment are vital

in reducing toxic emissions released by companies. An example of the politically active group is

environmental organizations from state residents who impose plants' measures to reduce their

toxic emissions. Populated areas have control of the actions of businesses and industries and

control how they behave. When the environment is polluted, the most vulnerable people from the

negative effects of pollution are those from populated areas. The populated regions mostly form

groups that exert strong pressure on companies to comply with environmental regulations and

protect the environment (Halbert & Ingulli, 2020). Therefore, all the groups are responsible for

ensuring the environment is protected by companies polluting the environment.

The stakeholder groups comprise different stakeholders, and each has to ensure that they

understand the regulation of the environmental agencies towards environment protection. Each

stakeholder group also has certain power levels they can use to control the company resources

use (Lin & Niu, 2018). The ones with a lot of attention in controlling the resources need to play a

key role in protecting the environment. In environment protection, businesses should identify the

underrepresented groups and hidden stakeholders and ensure that they play their roles well. The

communities living in such polluted environments by business need to communicate with the

particular businesses and help them in protecting the environment.

The best model to describe the issue of environmental protection by businesses is

acceleration and innovation. Protection of the environment is the changing of the natural world

through defending it, and businesses can embrace the protection of the environment through

technological innovations. Technological advances can make all stakeholder groups live better
BUSINESS ETHICS 6

together with the natural world. Accelerating and innovating at a higher allows the protection of

the environment to be successful. The progressive environmental protection approach requires

businesses to go green and avoid using technologies that pollute the environment. The model

does not encourage the use of fossils in electricity production but requires industries to use

lightweight materials that do not consume high levels of electricity (Junior et al., 2018). Through

such models, business organizations need to remain innovative and ensure they produce with the

least use of energies that pollute the environment.

The recommendations that can be made for businesses are to ensure that they fully

engage in protecting the environment. Most of the firms engage in activities that pollute the

environment and it should be their responsibility to keep the environment clean. It is

recommended that the business practice corporate social responsibility that puts them in the same

position with the community by experiencing their pollution. Industries need to ensure every

activity they engage in their corporate social responsibility is geared towards enhancing a clean

environment. The businesses must acknowledge that their activities are harmful to the

environment and have caused environmental damage. The damage should be reversed since it is

undesirable. The only way industries can engage in reversing their actions is by reducing the

energy use to lower levels and innovate advanced technologies that can be used to deal with the

menace. The benefits of production to the business organization should not be done at the

expense of the people who are the potential customers of such products. Therefore, it is

necessary to engage in activities that protect the environment and consider the benefits to the

organization only.
BUSINESS ETHICS 7

References

Lin, S. T., & Niu, H. J. (2018). Green consumption: E nvironmental knowledge, environmental

consciousness, social norms, and purchasing behavior. Business Strategy and the

Environment, 27(8), 1679-1688.

Burke, T. A., Cascio, W. E., Costa, D. L., Deener, K., Fontaine, T. D., Fulk, F. A., ... &

Zartarian, V. G. (2017). Rethinking environmental protection: meeting the challenges of

a changing world. Environmental health perspectives, 125(3), A43-A49.

El-Mallah, R. K. E. D., Abd el Hamid Aref, A., & Sherif, S. (2019). The role of social

responsibility in protecting the environment–a case of the petrochemical companies in

Alexandria Governorate. Review of Economics and Political Science.

Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2020). Law and ethics in the business environment. Cengage Learning.

Junior, J. A. G., Busso, C. M., Gobbo, S. C. O., & Carreão, H. (2018). Making the links among

environmental protection, process safety, and industry 4.0. Process safety and

environmental protection, 117, 372-382.