Corporate Environmental Responsibility – Another Step to Save the Earth

Companies green washing themselves has become the latest trend in the corporate world.  New buildings of Toyota and Bank of America,  Gold-certified  by the US Green Building Council, and Nike aiming to be carbon neutral are some of the few examples of this green washing. Known as the Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER), it is a branch of the popular concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Instead of aiming to build a better society and doing their part for the society in large, companies mainly concentrates on minimizing the damage to the environment and protecting it.

Components of CER

There are few main components to make a CER policy of a company effective. Including, environmental commitment and awareness, stakeholder engagement, measuring, reporting and auditing, transparency, commitment to continuous improvement and going beyond compliance.  According to most environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGO),  fundamental difference in expected environmental performance for companies of different ownership structures and size is minimal, as the need for corporate environmental responsibility is independent of company structure or size.

Driving forces behind CER

There are several driving forces behind the evolution of CER; consumer activism, shareholder and investor pressure, and competitive advantage are a few. As a result of increased discussions on human rights, Consumers and employees, nowadays, are attracted more towards the companies with a green vision, making it one of the main reasons for them to focus more on their responsibility towards the environment. Unlike in the past, the shareholders now,  request companies on disclosure of  environmental risk, recognizing that environmental risk often translates into financial risk. Investors hesitate to lend money to environmentally doubtful projects, for example, which might bring huge clean-up costs and damage to the reputation.  Corporations are now recognizing the potential competitive advantage to be gained by responding to stakeholder expectations for environmental performance of the company as a whole, or of its products individually.

Blue Sky Award - to Apply New Technologies for Renewable Energy Utilization

Going with this concept of Environment Responsibility, Shenzhen International Technology Promotion Center for Sustainable Development with the help of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Boao Forum for Asia and CRES  awards “Bluesky Award - Evaluation of Global Top Investment Scenarios to Apply New Technologies for Renewable Energy Utilization” to encourage companies to protect the environment. This international contest aims to demonstrate award-winning technology success stories to guide large-scale renewable energy applications in China and other developing countries to mitigate the effects of the supply shortage of conventional energy and greenhouse gas effects on the global climate. Since 2005, four sessions have been held, 38 technologies have been granted the BlueSky Award among numerous competitors from Germany, the United States, Canada, Russia, Belarus, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India, the Philippines and China.

Trina Solar wins the award

Trina Solar, one of the principal companies affiliated to JLanka Technologies and a global leader in photovoltaic ("PV") modules, solutions, and services, received the Blue Sky Award 2014 for Global Top Investment Scenarios to Apply New Technologies for Renewable Energy Utilization for its high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells and Honey Ultra modules, proving once again to the world that they are the true pioneers in the industry. Utilizing its own crystalline silicon solar cells, Trina Solar's Honey Ultra high efficiency crystalline silicon solar module has set three world records in the last four years.