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Corporate responsibility and the environmentExamples  Apart from those listed above, these are some examples of corporations who have a bad environmental record. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner stated in June 2001 that the company would oppose any efforts to increase fuel-efficiency standards in the U.S. Many corporations have made steps to improve their practises. Here are some examples of what some corporations have done. Local growers – shopping at a co-op allows you to gain an accurate picture of where your food has come from. When corporations become involved, misleading information and unsustainable farming comes into play. Kraft foods recently announced plans to double its purchase of ethical coffee to 6,000 tonnes in 2005. Kraft, and other food companies are looking into launching an ethical brand of their products. Volkswagen has been commended for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as its voluntary recall of over 34 000 cars which emitted high levels of pollutants. At the same time, they have been cited for using overseas plants in Mexico BP is one company that receives a lot of press on its social responsibility agenda. This is probably because it is one of the few companies that has made a real commitment to change, mainly due to its CEO John Browne. Whether that commitment to change is real or not is open to debate, and while it argues that its promotion of natural gas and an open business practice, others fume that a petrol company marketing itself as environmentally friendly is like a murderer lecturing children on playground behaviour. In particular however, BP must be commended for announcing that, as of 2002, it will no longer make any political donations anywhere in the world.
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