After years of modest growth in the adoption of green/sustainability programs, major corporations, along with their suppliers and logistics partners, have committed to sustainability and social responsibility goals. Many have formed dedicated sustainability/social responsibility departments, and even more have appointed at least one senior champion to develop and implement strategic sustainability plans. According to Green Biz Group Inc., 89% of Fortune 500 corporations issue a sustainability report each year as part of their annual report.
Sustainability has been embraced for various reasons. Meeting government regulations is the key reason, but mounting stakeholder pressure has become a significant factor, especially for publicly traded companies. Building brand equity as an environmentally and socially responsible corporation has become especially important to ensure strong future business performance in a changing consumer environment (no pun intended). While being “green” is still considered just “nice to have” for many chemical companies, others have noticeably increased their investment in bio-engineered material development goals to ultimately balance volatility in fossil fuel supply and price as well.