Next Steps for the Business Community

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In September, a group of large U.S. corporations announced a new initiative:
SEE Change—short for Society, the Environment, and the Economy. According to the press release, participating companies “will adopt sustainable growth strategies which seek to achieve specific improvements in environmental, social, and economic performance.”

SEE Change, of course, aims to evoke the promise of a sea-change. So far, however, the initiative has been an extension of business as usual, with participating companies simply repackaging ongoing environmental programs to convince the public that these companies are acting ever more responsibly. Yet SEE Change spokesperson Tita Freeman maintains that the initiative “is not a repackaging,” but will establish clear annual goals starting in late 2006, and will work to engage companies that currently lack sustainability programs. If true, SEE Change could significantly improve corporate environmental and social records and possibly even…