Why do companies go green? A qualitative study of the motivations and contextual factors inducing sustainable responses

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 'Going green' draws its origins from the 'green' in politics, which was first used as a partyname by the German Greens (Die Grünen) in the late 1970s, which, although not thefirst green party, through media hype triggered the conception of a green movement inthe early 1980s. This was voiced through green parties across the globe. Green is nowseen as a buzzword and is often used as shorthand for discussing sustainability. It hassince gained support leading to the gathering of more than 100 heads of state at theEarth Summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and provided thenecessary platform to launch a global campaign. It initially began in developed nations,in particular European countries, but has since spread to developing countries, despitereceiving abundant opposition both from developed and developing nations, due to itsimpact on the oil and coal sectors. The purpose of this research is to determine the coremotivation behind companies going green. The researcher does this through aqualitative study of the motivations and contextual factors that induce ecologicalresponsiveness ranging from day to day business practices to the ecological design oftheir offices.The researcher tests the hypothesis, namely climate change mitigation, which isdeveloped through the literature study and adopted to evaluate the four case studiesselected. The researcher builds up his argument in chapters 3 to 5, which draw on theliterature studied and first discuss Government's response to climate change, then theinterventions in place to address climate change and finally look at the four case studies.Climate change and its relevance to companies is the key motivation behind deciding onthis topic and it is discussed throughout the thesis. Companies interviewed in this thesisexpressed concern about it, although it was not always the primary motivation. Somehad already introduced measures to address it and were continually looking at new waysof mitigating it. Similarly, the companies interviewed and others analysed were allconcerned about introducing cost saving measures, which had the added advantage ofbeing of benefit to the environment. Genuine reasons for mitigating climate change andconcern over the future of the planet put forward by certain companies, while protectingprofit margins were given by others. All served to achieve one goal to protect theenvironment through the sustainable use of natural resources and ultimately to enhancecompanies' public images as being green companies.This study is divided into a literature review and case studies, where literature pertainingto climate change, renewable energy, sustainable building, corporate governance, greenjobs and others was sourced from government gazettes, newspapers, academic studies,books, documentaries, journals, magazines and internet sources. These serve todevelop and support the case studies, which take the form of interviews done withowners and workers from the selected companies.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University