Have giant corporations developed a conscience? Has social responsibility and environmental awareness replaced the priorities of profits and growth for major industry players? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There is good news however, as it appears that big business may finally be on the right track.
Two examples of this potential shift in corporate thinking are Ford and General Electric. In a recent article by Clint Wilder, Contributing Editor of Clean Edge Inc., a San Francisco based research and consulting firm, Is Ford Finally Coming Clean on Hybrids?, he recaps Ford’s message at the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) conference in Los Angeles. At the conference, Ford’s proclamation on being environmentally responsible was backed by figures for ramped up production of their hybrid and low emission vehicles. According to Mr. Wilder, “Ford plans to significantly ramp up Escape hybrid production from this year’s 20,000 units, with four more hybrid models coming in the next three years -- the Mercury Mariner, Mazda Tribute, Ford Fusion, and Mercury Milan. And it has a 100,000-unit production target for the partial-zero emissions (PZEV) Ford Focus.”
General Electric is also doing their part for the environment. In an article Seeing the light - Corporations drawn to socially responsible dollars by Thomas Kostigen, MarketWatch, G.E. plans to increase its investment in environmentally friendly technologies to $1.5 billion by 2010, which is double their current level. Is this all for the good of mankind? Not exactly, it of course has to make sense financially otherwise the practicality of a shift in corporate thinking is unlikely. Fortunately it appears that there is money in supporting the environment, as Kostigen reports, G.E. hopes to earn approximately $20 billion in sales by 2010 in environmentally cleaner products.
It would appear that going green has become trendy and with trends comes big smiles on the faces of corporate leaders, let’s just hope it doesn’t go out of style.
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1 comment:
Green energy is definitely the best solution in most cases. Technology like solar energy, wind power, fuel cells, zaps electric vehicles, EV hybrids, etc have come so far recently. Green energy even costs way less than oil and gas in many cases.
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