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Research Links A Business Curriculum for Sustainability (Cleveland Foundation) Contingent Valuation in Eco-risk Assessment (US EPA) Environmental Management: Forest & Paper Sector Profitability: from Management or from Environmental Savings? (Miami Undergrad Scholar) Great Lakes Focused Investment Strategy (Great Lakes Protection Fund) |
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Environmental Management in the Forest and Paper Sector Center faculty Orie Loucks, Allan Springer, and Homer Erekson, along with Graduate Assistant Megan Moses, have investigated measures of the environmental performance of 10 forest and paper companies in the S&P 500. This work is part of the larger project creating a new Total Social Responsibility Index. Specifically, the study sought to evaluate corporate performance in forest and paper operations using publicly reported information on the scope of industry planning and management for timber supplies and environmental protection, the intensity of timber removals (clearfelling or selection logging), and the thoroughness and timing of replanting and related land and soil conservation measures. Information on the quality of these operations was derived from the companies' annual and environmental reports. Seven measures of environmental performance were evaluated for the ten forest and paper companies in the Standard and Poors 500. The data have allowed criteria to be evaluated in the forests as well as in mill operations. The hypothesis tested was that practices conducive to protection of the environment, particularly maintenance of long-term equity in the productive capacity of land and water also reflect good corporate management. Furthermore, these measures will evaluate whether the environmental protection works to the self-interest and enhancement of a company's shareholder value. While considerable variability was found in performance from one corporation to the next, preliminary results show the hypothesis holds, and total return on investment in 1998-99 among the environmentally high ranking companies was about 60% better than the companies ranked lower in the sustainability metric. The results suggest that responsible resource management by major corporations can both improve quality-of-life elements locally and shareholder value at the same time, although not all companies meet this standard. The results were presented at a CSSS workshop in November 1999, and the annual American Forest and Paper Association meetings in Charlotte, NC, in April 2001. |
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