CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: ADVANTAGES, COSTS AND CONTRADICTIONS

This paper studies the environmental responsibility of companies, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility, and focuses on its costs and on some contradictions on the behaviour of some Companies highly engaged with environmental policies. In particular, we discuss the advantages of environmental compliance (better reputation and, indirectly, higher revenue) and the disadvantages (specific costs). The attention towards the need to protect and safeguard the environment has grown in the last decade. Nowadays, Companies are expected to consider this particular perspective and take appropriate measures in order to prevent the deterioration of the environment. Companies are not only expected to respect valid legal environmental rules, but in some cases the public expects that the Company takes additional responsibility. Many companies comply with these expectations, as said, also in order to increase the value of their reputation. On the other side, compliance with environmental standards may create costs for companies. These costs would probably affect salaries paid to workers and prices paid by costumers and, finally, consumers. Hence, the protection of the environment may entail a trade- off with other important priorities. In addition, some companies are highly engaged with environmental policies, but still behave in ways which are not really ethical. We use two case studies to discuss this last point.