ENVIRONMENT | Protecting our natural resources
12 March 2008
NGOs and Business — Shared Goals, Mutual Trust
By Brad Kenney
Although their friendship is relatively new, nongovernmental organizations and the business community are working together these days to forge partnerships that last.
Brad Kenney is technology/environmental editor with Industry Week magazine.
The past two decades have brought an increase in public consciousness in the United States concerning the rising threats of global issues such as climate change and resource conservation. This same time period has also seen a flowering of the relationship between the global business community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), especially those whose mission is to engage the business world in order to save the planet.
What Is an NGO?
Nongovernmental organizations are loosely defined as nonprofit organizations that exist outside the control of any government, business, political party, or armed group. They can range from highly structured global organizations to loosely knit groups of local activists. Many of the best-known NGOs focus on environmental issues, while others — such as Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International — focus on other issues of concern to the world community, such as providing medical assistance to or championing the human rights of people in need. Their funding often comes from membership dues or grants from international institutions or governments. Most observers agree that as globalization has turned the world into one interconnected network, NGOs have been effective in filling in the spaces between where government ends and business begins.
NGOs and the Business Community
The business world has not always been very receptive to the pressures being put on it by outside agencies, including environmentally oriented NGOs. In fact, for most of the last century, an atmosphere of distrust and mutual suspicion existed in both camps, which often stood in the way of much progress by either group. However, as global environmental issues have risen in prominence, a growing level of alarm over the increasing effects of climate change (and the potential for even more dramatic effects to come) has brought about a new era of communication and cooperation between the business and the NGO communities worldwide — and especially in the United States.
The fruits of these budding partnerships are bountiful for both sides. For instance, while the global business community presently accounts for a large environmental impact, it also has the capital resources and working efficiency to make great strides in improving operations and lessening its footprint. Unfortunately, this potential for environmental benefits can be mitigated by the very nature of the business environment. Because businesses specialize in maximizing shareholder profits in the short term, they simply may not possess the knowledge and expertise necessary to make their operations more sustainable in the long term.
NGOs, on the other hand, may not have the resources to fund large-scale improvement projects themselves. But they are staffed by subject-matter experts who can work within their organizations, as well as with the broader business community, to develop policy positions and best practices for companies and governments to follow.
Suzanne Apple, World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) vice president and managing director for business and industry, says that in recent years her organization has begun to see greater potential in working with business, rather than against it. “I think one of the things we realized is the power of the marketplace,” Apple observes. “For example, if we can get the buyer community to agree to follow responsible purchasing guidelines for forestry products, we can have a greater impact than if we were out in the forests trying to stop illegal logging.”
Additionally, Apple sees increased pressure from government regulations driving businesses to step up their efforts in conservation and impact reduction — issues that NGOs are in a unique position to assist them with. “With the advent of Sarbanes-Oxley and other corporate transparency regulations, businesses are looking to third parties to assist them in auditing their operations in a credible manner,” Apple says.
Shared Goals
One good example of the beneficial nature of the NGO-business partnership comes from the work that the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Defense is doing with the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Inc. The shared initiative focuses on five areas: global warming, fish farming, reducing packaging waste, alternative fuel usage, and global factory operations.
Because it is necessary for human existence, water conservation is another issue that is high on the NGO agenda. In 2007, WWF signed an agreement with global beverage giant Coca-Cola Company to launch a worldwide initiative to conserve water resources and replace the water used in the production of its drinks.
And as global trade continues to grow, the NGO community is taking steps to ensure that trade is free and fair, as well as practiced sustainably, among the nations of the world. The U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD — a regional arm of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) — has in the past few years undertaken a number of outreach opportunities designed to strengthen the environmental protection aspects of global trade, particularly the growing trade between the United States and China. Whether bringing Chinese cement industry representatives to tour state-of-the-art U.S. factories, or working to develop a U.S.-China Sustainability Center for improving information exchange and collaboration between the two trading partners, the USBCSD has updated its focus to reflect the changing priorities of our changing times.
Shared Opportunities
By engaging in strategic partnerships such as this with heavyweights in the U.S. business community, these and other NGOs are advancing a multifaceted environmental agenda with an impact that stretches far beyond the influence they and their members could hope to have.
In return, U.S. companies that participate in and help develop these partnerships are getting invaluable assistance in implementing comprehensive environmental impact reduction programs, and they are doing so in a way that often allows them to measure and report their improvements to their suppliers, to the government, and, ultimately, to U.S. consumers — an increasing number of whom are demanding such progress from the companies whose products they purchase.
This ability to adapt to the changing needs of both business and the environment truly demonstrates the type of flexibility that only a strong partnership, built on mutual goals and shared trust, can provide.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.
