S ocial and E nvironment C hallenges – Past, Present, F uture B eesan W itwit
A bstract
T his paper includes a brief discussion about corporate social and environment responsibility, with a highlight on three global industries; the aviation industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the oil industry. T he three industries have social/ environment problems that are of great concern to the public as they impact the three components of sustainability; economic, social and
S ocial and E nvironment C hallenges – Past, Present, F uture
Over two decades the awareness of environmental and social responsibility have significantly increased, and greater expectation from corporates of adjusting their business practices to improve their operations towards sustainability is growing (C owper-S mith & de Grosbois, 2011). C orporate social responsibility (C S R ) is one of the main actions that organizations perform for the good of the society and environment. Giving back to the community and considering environmental protection are important acts that reveal the organization’s values and commitment to developing the society.
Preuss, B arkemeyer, and Glavas (2016) defined corporate social responsibility as the notion that enterprises have the responsibility for their impact on society beyond a narrow economic one. In their article Preuss et al., (2016) discussed how businesses worldwide (developed and developing) formalized their structure to reflect social responsibility and sustainability, but the implementation requires a strong and well-enforced regulations to be effectively adopted.
L ikewise, M. F unaru and F unaru (2013) emphasized the importance of protecting and preserving natural environment as a fundamental element in sustainable economic development. T hey asserted that the use of clean energy technology and production are essential elements in protecting the environment and natural resources. Moreover, M. F unaru and F unaru (2013) confirmed that C S R is the work of not only organizations but also its people and consumers as they have great influence on companies’ development.
on this planet (M. F unaru & F unaru, 2013). A s well, the attitude of people, either in organizations or in the society, showing inconsiderable behaviors in dealing with the environmental issues will create serious future challenges.
A viation I ndustr y
A viation is one of the industries that has the attention of scholars since it is rapidly growing and has a great impact on the social/ environment responsibility. In a study by C owper-S mith and de Grosbois (2011) stated that airline industry brings economic, social and
environmental impacts. However, it also has huge negative impacts on nature because of the air and noise pollution, biodiversity loss, and waste generation (S mith & de Grosbois, 2011). R esearch also revealed that the fuel consumption and gas emission highly contribute to climate change and the impact is increasing due to the projected rapid future growth of air transport (S mith & de G rosbois, 2011).
pressure and temperature but not in an overabundance of oxygen (Z awar-R eza, 2008). C onsequently, at higher altitude the gas emission can be more toxic because it is more concentrated and can be in the form of carbon monoxide. However, despite the fact that the airline's industry leadership are aware of the social/ environmental problems, there are few airlines who are addressing this problem through a small number of specific initiatives. Phar maceutical I ndustr y
A nother industry that has controversial lifecycle sustainability compliance for customers and communities is the pharmaceutical industry. Page, C yr, and R ichardson (2015) discussed the pharmaceutical manufacturer's compliance with F ood and D rugs A dministration (F D A )
regulations. Page et al. (2015) found that there is non-compliance behavior in the industry, covered by political factors, influencing the F D A ’s decision-making process.
Moreover, the research showed that pharmaceutical economic performance was on the environmental and social expense; as it has public health and environmental concerns (Page et al., 2015). One of the main concerns is the pharmaceutical compounds and manufacturing products disposal. In the drug operations, the organic, inorganic, and synthetic processes involved in the pharmaceutical manufacturing that negatively impacts people; like unsafe
chemical compounds, and nature; as the extreme use of natural resources and chemical disposals (Page et al., 2015).
O il I ndustr y
and non-governmental organizations harshly criticized oil companies for the environmental violations, human rights abuses, detrimental impact on local communities, and breaches of labor and safety standards ( D u & V ieira, 2012).
T he three discussed industries have manufacturing and business practices that are controversial because of their effect on the livelihood of people, nature inhabitants, and global economy. In the following sections, the focus will be on the oil industry and its practices impact on sustainability from the past, in the present, and future.
O il I ndustr y S ocial and E nvir onmental I mpact
S cholars argued that oil industry is controversial because of its unethical business practices that endanger the society, environment, and economic (Du & V ieira, 2012). Oil consumption negatively affects the environment and human wellbeing, as it is heavily used in generating energy in all aspects of life (B enea & B aciu, 2012). T he massive usage of oil generates huge amounts of C O2 emissions in the atmosphere that is the main cause for climate change (Mulligan, 2010; B enea & B aciu, 2012).
B enea and B aciu (2012) highlighted the fact that oil is the key source for transportation, which is another cause for social and environmental problems. T hey also discussed the sensitivity of transporting oil through risky routes from resources, as it has dangerous consequences on land, water, and air. T herefore, oil companies need to invest in developing climate- friendly energy to cover the production capacity, change the energy system and provide better livelihood in the long run (B enea & B aciu, 2012).
Mulligan (2010) discussed the impact of the oil industry from another perspective with emphases on energy security and fossil fuels. Mulligan (2010) stated that the depletion of fossil fuels harming human communities and populations, where oil accounts around 34 percent of the primary energy consumption. C limate change is exhausting E arth because of the biodiversity loss, fisheries depletion, deforestation, and pollution that will gradually diminish the natural resources. Oil declines will have worse impacts on people and environment, Mulligan (2010) expected, as the growth of other energy resources as the natural gas, biofuels, and processed bitumen require consuming more energy to obtain the same usable energy. C onsequently, the mentioned alternatives may aggravate the problem of emissions and thus further climate insecurity (Mulligan, 2010).
Oil industry proved to be one of the main factors of endangering the life of people and the environment. T herefore, oil companies are urged to develop or improve their production
processes to reduce the pressure and negativity on natural resources. T o further understand the oil companies practices in the refineries, the following section will include a historical discussion of some oil industry practices that helped in creating the mentioned problems.
T o further understand the link between oil business and climate change, this section will provide insights on the manufacturing practices in oil refinery areas. GarcÃa-R odrÃguez et al. (2013) talked about the past practices that include waste generating from production. Oil refineries generate huge amounts of waste including: containers waste; scrap and metal waste (lids, tubes, electricity cables, used pumps, valves, broken vehicle parts, electrodes, etc.); grease and oil from tank-cleaning, equipment maintenance and storage of hydrocarbons; special waste (large and small batteries, dyes, etc.); and construction waste (including contaminated land). In developing countries, the mentioned waste is usually located at the host home, and the
international refineries lack C S R activities due to weak regulations (GarcÃa-R odrÃguez et al., 2013).
A n example of the social and environmental problems provided by G arcÃa-R odrÃguez et al. (2013) is A ngola’s coastal region; there are around 1500 wells and approximately1200 km of abandoned pipelines that cause oil spills on the south A tlantic ocean. T he area was established for the refinery’s employees without any sanitation or waste collection. T he refinery’s and urban’s waste were drained in the water, causing oil patches. T he oil spills formed balls of tar that spread and covered the surface of the water. T he oil coating created serious threats to beaches, fish, and the development of coastal flora and fauna. Moreover, the death of fish and marine species were the result of the extreme pollution, which negatively impacted the society economically and environmentally (GarcÃa-R odrÃguez et al., 2013).
Magness (2007) provided another example of the oil industry environmental impact in C anada; the oil sand operations required the removal of the forested land to dig earth layers to be mined. T hen the waste was put back into the soil, and the refineries were continuing its
L ikewise, Mulligan (2010) stated that oil operations in C anada had a devastating impact on locals and environment. In the process of extracting the bitumen, C anada’s tar sands consume tremendous quantities of fossil fuels, particularly the natural gas. F urthermore, the production of biofuel has heavy consumption fossil fuel, and it even does not provide much fuel.
Mulligan (2010) provided another example of oil industry practices in Indonesia and Malaysia who highly depend on oil in the production of palm diesel. T he operations of
devastating peat forests increased fuel usage, consequently raised the gas and (C O2) emissions. A long the process, the life of animal, plant, and human inhabitants was adversely affected. Mulligan (2010) added, the process of finding alternative energy has negative impacts on the efforts of reducing emissions as it requires more fuel, in which it will produce higher C O2 emissions.
In the U.S ., S outhern C alifornia has twenty-one oil refineries, four of them around the city of C arson (L oewenberg, 2005). C itizens of C arson C ity suffered from the B P oil company refineries for decades; the smell of benzene and other gasses fill the area, and many people had breathing difficulties, asthma, headaches and allergies. In addition to the constant acrid smells in the air, people lived in a state of anxiety of the ongoing accidents that are harmful to their health and the environment (L oewenberg, 2005).
pollution in the US A . T he gas emissions consist of volatile organic compounds (V OC s) and benzene, which are the main ingredients in urban smug (L oewenberg, 2005).
A nother example of past practices by oil refineries is also from B P oil company in the S tate of T exas. E isberg (2010) wrote about the benzene emission in T exas C ity, T X ; the report stated that B P exceeded the amounts of emissions of the nitrogen oxide, benzene, carbon monoxide, and propane. S uch amounts of emissions are unauthorized and directly affect the air quality. Hence, B P failed to report any of these violations, and as a result, the residents of T exas C ity have been affected health wise and their air polluted.
T he examples of oil refineries past practices exhibited unethical behavior and lacked the social and environmental responsibility. T he violations were not limited to areas with less regulation governing the oil industry business like in developing countries. It also covered the developed countries that have strong and restricted regulations. If oil companies continued the same practices in the future, many problems would arise, and that will affect sustainability.
F utur e C oncer ns and C onclusion
Human and environment are strongly interconnected; the environment has an influence on human activity, at the same time, human activities affect the environment and sometimes it can be harmful (B enea & B aciu, 2012). E nergy production was essential for human development and civilization. Hence the increased convention and industrialization caused irreversible
devastation to the environment. T he rising concentrations of toxic gas in the air influenced the temperature patterns that created the problem of climate change (B enea & B aciu, 2012).
between the quantities of oxygen production. In this context, both activities are an ongoing practice of the oil industry and applied globally. T herefore, the oil industry has a harmful impact on the environment and the society.
F rom the literature review, it has been found that transportation has extreme influence on the levels of C O2 emission (B enea & B aciu, 2012). It is also expected that the levels will rise dramatically, B enea and B aciu (2012) reported the figures were 6444 million tons in the year 2006. T he projected increase might reach 8013 million tons in the year 2020, and to 8921 million tons in the year 2030 (B enea & B aciu, 2012).
B enea and B aciu (2012) added, the increase of temperature at the average of two C elsius degrees would acutely influence the plant and animal species lifecycle, and the entire ecosystem may collapse. Moreover, B enea and B aciu (2012) argued that climate change would cause global security risks; as explained, if the planet warms 1.3 degrees by the year 2040, the world will have many challenges including large-scale migrations, diseases spread, resources shortages, and additional conflicts over the remaining energy resources. T he imbalance in the ecosystem would have dangerous consequences on people and the economy, which will end the sustainability efforts accordingly.
L oewenberg (2005) highlighted people’s health if oil refineries continued its current practices of toxic gas emission, the effect of V OC s and benzene varies from simple lung
than adults because they breathe faster and spend more time outdoors (L oewenberg, 2005). E ndangering people’s life, especially children, will threaten the societies safety, which is an essential element in the sustainability process.
In the final notes, the present world economy highly depends on oil productions, and the reduction of this dependence is an essential step towards sustainability (Benea & B aciu, 2012). Mulligan (2010) pointed that if the excessive use of oil continued at the same levels, the natural oil levels will decline. A ccordingly, the shortage of energy might create recession periods that affects the industrial civilization undesirably.
In conclusion, the oil industry is a key element in the societies’ development and the economic prosperity. T hus, the oil industry leadership should closely consider the environmental aspects and work for enhancing their operations to become eco-friendly. GarcÃa-R odrÃguez et al. (2013) suggested that oil companies adopt an E nvironment Management S ystem (E MS ) to improve their environmental situations considerably.
Gough (2016) recommended the utilization of renewable energy; wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, bioenergy, ocean, the hydrogen and fuel cells, and the green power, to reduce the effect of climate change. T he renewable energy is not the sole action; consumers of energy are also encouraged to make more energy-saving decisions in their societies. T herefore, Gough (2016) suggest that governments should encourage the investments in developing more efficient energy resources that reduce or eliminate the C O2 emissions.
decrease the power of politics in the world (B enea & B aciu, 2012). A ltogether, will help in stabilizing the ecosystem and lead to the desired sustainability.
T o conclude, corporates should look at the environment as an important factor that influences their economic activity and should emerge the protection of the environment in their
strategies and goals. E nvironmental responsibility is a social responsibility of companies, of
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