Going Green: A Rebirth of Corporate Social Responsibility?

I recently wondered aloud why more and more organisations are adopting green policies as part of a fad that appears to be taking the corporate world by storm. I gave examples of such companies that include; Tesco, Marks and Spencer, HSBC, and even some politicians like Tony Blair and Conservative MP Tim Yeo.

I also wondered whether "going green" is not just another PR stunt that will be adopted by organisations inorder to deflect public scrutiny. Just like they did in the 1990's with corporate social responsiblity or CSR programmes.

How genuine are these green programmes? do these organisations or politicians really care about the environment or are they just adopting these policies inorder to make their companies look good? And who cares whether Tesco is investing £100 million in sustainable environmental technology and has plans to build the most environmentally-friendly store in the UK. Or whether Tim Yeo gets to Glasgow by train or by plane? Do the public really care about global warming and its effects on the environment?

In Rethinking Public Relations, Kevin Moloney argues that CSR came on to the PR agenda because of concern about the social, environmental and politial impacts of big business.

Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans in Exploring Public Relations argue that "organisations in developed economies are today influenced by public opinion, shareholders, stakeholders and the political process". These organisations cannot afford therefore to ignore their operational environment.

Could this then explain the trend - going green? How is the debate surrounding climate change likely to affect the practice of Public Relations? And what about those skeptics who do not believe that global warming is a result of human activity? Those who maintain that the issue has been over exaggerated. How has this phenomenon risen to capture media headlines and government agendas?

These are some of the issues I will be examining over the next couple of weeks.