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Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Dauvergne, Peter

    (University of British Columbia)

Abstract

McDonald’s promises to use only beef, coffee, fish, chicken, and cooking oil obtained from sustainable sources. Coca-Cola promises to achieve water neutrality. Unilever has set a deadline of 2020 to reach 100 percent sustainable agricultural sourcing. Walmart has pledged to become carbon neutral. Today, big-brand companies seem to be making commitments that go beyond the usual “greenwashing” efforts undertaken largely for public relations purposes. In Eco-Business, Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister examine this new corporate embrace of sustainability, its actual accomplishments, and the consequences for the environment. For many leading-brand companies, these corporate sustainability efforts go deep, reorienting central operations and extending through global supply chains. Yet, as Dauvergne and Lister point out, these companies are doing this not for the good of the planet but for their own profits and market share in a volatile, globalized economy. They are using sustainability as a business tool. Advocacy groups and governments are partnering with these companies, eager to reap the governance potential of eco-business efforts. But Dauvergne and Lister show that the acclaimed eco-efficiencies achieved by big-brand companies limit the potential for finding deeper solutions to pressing environmental problems and reinforce runaway consumption. Eco-business promotes the sustainability of big business, not the sustainability of life on Earth.

Suggested Citation

  • Dauvergne, Peter, 2013. "Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262018760, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:mtp:titles:0262018760
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bloomfield, Michael J., 2020. "South-South trade and sustainable development: The case of Ceylon tea," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Michael John Bloomfield, 2017. "Global Production Networks and Activism: Can Activists Change Mining Practices by Targeting Brands?," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 727-742, November.
    3. Chun-Wei Chen, 2024. "Utilizing a Hybrid Approach to Identify the Importance of Factors That Influence Consumer Decision-Making Behavior in Purchasing Sustainable Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-39, May.
    4. van der Ven, Hamish & Sun, Yixian & Cashore, Benjamin, 2021. "Sustainable commodity governance and the global south," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    5. Yenipazarli, Arda, 2017. "To collaborate or not to collaborate: Prompting upstream eco-efficient innovation in a supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 260(2), pages 571-587.
    6. Brusselaers, Jan & Buysse, Jeroen & Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2015. "Green public procurement of certified wood: The impact on global welfare and welfare calculation itself," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211374, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Wan-Ting Li & Yueh-Hsiu Cheng, 2022. "Creating Sustainable Development of the Destination with Tea Public Version Packaging Design by Obtaining Relational Space Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    8. Sara D. Elder, 2019. "The impact of supermarket supply chain governance on smallholder farmer cooperatives: the case of Walmart in Nicaragua," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 213-224, June.
    9. Ijaz Hussain & Shaohong Mu & Muhammad Mohiuddin & Rizwan Qaiser Danish & Shrafat Ali Sair, 2020. "Effects of Sustainable Brand Equity and Marketing Innovation on Market Performance in Hospitality Industry: Mediating Effects of Sustainable Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    10. Geoffrey Jones & Christina Lubinski, 2014. "Making 'Green Giants': Environment sustainability in the German chemical industry, 1950s-1980s," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 623-649, June.
    11. Sara D. Elder & Jane Lister & Peter Dauvergne, 2014. "Big retail and sustainable coffee: A new development studies research agenda," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 77-90, January.
    12. repec:sae:envval:v:25:y:2016:i:5:p:527-551 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Lindokule Mbokane & Lee-Ann Modley, 2024. "Green Consumerism in Young Adults: Attitudes and Awareness in University Students in Johannesburg, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-23, February.
    14. Gallemore, Caleb & Guisinger, Amy & Kruuse, Mikkel & Ruysschaert, Denis & Jespersen, Kristjan, 2018. "Escaping the “Teenage” Years: The Politics of Rigor and the Evolution of Private Environmental Standards," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 76-87.
    15. Kate J. Neville, 2020. "Shadows of Divestment: The Complications of Diverting Fossil Fuel Finance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 3-11, May.
    16. Geoffrey G. Jones & Christina Lubinski, 2013. "Historical Origins of Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s-1980s," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-018, Harvard Business School.
    17. Caleb Gallemore & Kristjan Jespersen, 2019. "Offsetting, Insetting, or Both? Current Trends in Sustainable Palm Oil Certification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    18. Peter Dauvergne & Jennifer Clapp, 2016. "Researching Global Environmental Politics in the 21st Century," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, February.
    19. Gallemore, Caleb & Jespersen, Kristjan, 2016. "Transnational Markets for Sustainable Development Governance: The Case of REDD+," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 79-94.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    environment; business economics;

    JEL classification:

    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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