Examining Ethical Business Issues & CSR: Career Prep & CPD Plan

This report examines the ethical challenges within the global business environment, focusing on corporate social responsibility and professionalism. It highlights the impact of climate change, the importance of a code of conduct, and the role of professional organizations in promoting sustainability. The report contrasts Patagonia's successful sustainability efforts with Nestle's struggles in managing plastic pollution. It emphasizes the necessity of regulated supply chains and the reduction of plastic usage to combat climate change. The analysis includes a discussion of professional bodies like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and CDP, and concludes with a CPD plan for further learning and development. Desklib provides access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
AND CLIMATE
CHANGE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY......................................................................................................................................3
Climate change..........................................................................................................................3
Code of conduct.........................................................................................................................3
Professional organizations........................................................................................................4
Final assessment........................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................6
APPENDICES.....................................................................................................................................7
CPD Plan....................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION
There is no denying to the fact that the growth of modern business industry has been
absolutely remarkable in the past few decades due to the growth displayed by information

technology and the advent of internet and digital technologies which has changed how humans lead
lives and conduct trade (Ahmad, and et.al., 2022). However at the same time the damage that has
been done to the environment has been immense and one of the most devastating consequences has
been the phenomenon of climate change (Lee and Sohn, 2018). This report will highlight this issue
of sustainability and climate change and highlight the code of conduct and professional bodies
involved.
MAIN BODY
Climate change
Climate change is one of the most imposing challenges which is being faced by the global
business environment at large as the large amount of CO2 emission not only threatens to disrupt the
natural environment and cause pollution, it is also troubling businesses in the form of rising cost of
inputs and constantly shifting consumer trends (Zemigala, 2022). This issue is very tricky to solve
as for every company that is working towards lessening its environmental impact, there are many
which are polluting it with no regard for the consequences (Nekhoda, 2021). Among the former is
Patagonia, an American retailer which has been working furiously towards becoming completely
carbon neutral by 2025 and also is contributing heavily towards charity making itself more
sustainable with time (Rattalino, 2018). On the other hand, there is Nestle, one of the world’s most
leading brands which have reportedly failed at controlling the rampant plastic pollution which their
company has been guilt of through their reckless supply chain sourcing issues to delivery and
packing problems (Nestlé accused of making ‘zero progress’ on plastic pollution, 2022). One of the
major drivers of climate change and global warming is the rapid use of plastic as it not only is very
non-biodegradable in nature but also increases the temperature of the environment over time (Shen,
and et.al., 2020).
Code of conduct
A company code of conduct is a written document within which the company in question
sets up some rules regarding ethical standards and concerns which it aims to adhere to in the long
run to be ethically and environmentally sound (Marufuji, 2020). One of the main reasons as to why
Patagonia has been so successful at being environmentally sustainable and contribute positively
towards climate change is because it has a robust suppler code of conduct which makes it
compulsory for all suppliers and factory partners to maintain a detailed record of all their sourcing

and environmental impact. This is a welcome step as it has been proven by extensive researching
that supply chains are a major proponent of harmful emissions which result in climate change
(Mukhtar, and et.al., 2019). Unlike the system at place in Patagonia where every supplier is held
accountable and every product used is verified, Nestlé’s size of global operations does not allow for
the same regulation and its coded of conduct is quite vast and involves independent auditing of its
supply chains but there are no provisions for plastic (Supplier Workplace Code of Conduct, 2022).
Without having a proper code of conduct which accounts for the complete supply chain including
the materials being used for packaging, sustainability cannot be achieved.
Professional organizations
There are many professional bodies and globally working organizations which are wholly
dedicated to the purpose of fighting the climate change crisis by enabling firms to make their
operations cleaner and greener. Some of these organizations have been listed herein terms of their
aims and how they can help both Patagonia and Nestle in being more sustainable towards climate
change.
 United States Environmental Protection Agency – This is a very important independent
executive agency if the United States Federal government which has been tasked with
helping firms across the globe become more sustainable to do the ultimate good by the
environment (Kelchtermans, Mentch and Hakonarson, 2022). Patagonia operates primarily
in America and can take advantage of the various GDG frameworks of the EPA to become
much more sustainable and many other big companies have benefited from EPA regulation
such as Google LLC and Microsoft
 CDP – It is a not-for-profit agency which runs a global disclosure framework to manage,
report and work upon their environmental impact which allows them to streamline their
operations and become sustainable (Stanny, 2018). Nestle can benefit from following and
reporting to the CDP framework as it will allow the grading of its entire supply chain and
packaging system to eliminate plastic in the long run like how Unilever did.
Final assessment
After the detailed research that this report undertook regarding the serious concern over the
growing climate change crisis, the major takeaway that one can take away from this report has been
divided into a multi-layered perspective as both positive and negative analysis is necessary to reach
at conclusive results. Many researches have already established a clear link between the climate
change and corporate malpractices with special blame being assigned to supply chains (Ghadge,

Wurtmann and Seuring, 2020). Patagonia is in a good place when it comes to being sustainable and
combating climate change and by following its meticulous supplier code of conduct to monitor its
supply chain components and using GDG framework advises from EPA, it can become one of the
most eco-friendly companies in U.S.A.
In case the warnings of professional bodies like CDP are ignored and firms do not monitor
the environmental impact of their supply chain and packaging oriented plastic like Nestle is doing,
it leads to rise in carbonization which is a direct instigator of climate change. Nestle must account
for the huge amounts of plastic that it has been throwing out in the environment by reporting its
standards to the CDP and it should also review its code of conduct to push the regulation of plastic.
CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the complex ethical issue of climate change and
sustainability which this report identified can be attributed majorly to the supply chains being
unregulated and plastic being used rapidly. The report went over the importance of coded of
conducts in helping firms Achieve sustainability and also highlighted the various professional
bodies that are built to combat climate change by addressing business operations worldwide. It was
concluded from this report that in order to be more sustainable and fight climate change, firms must
develop greener supply chains and rid plastic from their operations with immediate effect
(Tejaswini, and et.al., 2022).
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmad, Z., and et.al., 2022. Assessing the performance of sustainable entrepreneurship and
environmental corporate social responsibility: revisited environmental nexus from business firms.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(15), pp.21426-21439.

Lee, W.S. and Sohn, S.Y., 2018. Effects of standardization on the evolution of information and
communications technology. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 132, pp.308-317.
Zemigala, M., 2022. Business and climate change-research tendencies. Environmental
Development, 42, p.100696.
Nekhoda, A., 2021. Contribution of economic activity to environmental pollution.
Rattalino, F., 2018. Circular advantage anyone? Sustainability‐driven innovation and circularity at
Patagonia, Inc. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(5), pp.747-755.
Shen, M., and et.al., 2020. (Micro) plastic crisis: un-ignorable contribution to global greenhouse gas
emissions and climate change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 254, p.120138.
Marufuji, C., 2020. Effectiveness of Code of Conduct in a Global Organization. Int'l. In-House
Counsel J., 13, p.1.
Mukhtar, A., and et.al., 2019, August. Environmental risks in supply chain: recommendations and
directions for future research. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol.
551, No. 1, p. 012034). IOP Publishing.
Kelchtermans, J., Mentch, F. and Hakonarson, H., 2022. Facilitating Case-Crossover Studies Using
Environmental Protection Agency Data. In D25. THE VIEW AHEAD: EXPOSURE
ASSESSMENT, COMMUNICATION, AND EARLY LIFE IMPACT (pp. A5167-A5167).
American Thoracic Society.
Stanny, E., 2018. Reliability and Comparability of GHG Disclosures to the CDP by US Electric
Utilities. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 38(2), pp.111-130.
Tejaswini, M.S.S.R., and et.al., 2022. A comprehensive review on integrative approach for
sustainable management of plastic waste and its associated externalities. Science of The Total
Environment, p.153973.
Ghadge, A., Wurtmann, H. and Seuring, S., 2020. Managing climate change risks in global supply
chains: a review and research agenda. International Journal of Production Research, 58(1), pp.44-
64.
Online referencing
Nestlé accused of making ‘zero progress’ on plastic pollution, 2022 [online] available through
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/nestl%C3%A9-accused-of-making--zero-progress--on-plastic-
pollution/46198410
Supplier Workplace Code of Conduct, 2022 [online] available through
https://www.patagonia.com/our-footprint/code-of-conduct.html

APPENDICES
CPD Plan
CPD Plan
What do I want to
learn?
What will I do to
achieve this?
What resources or
support will I
need?
What is my success
criteria?
I would like to learn
more about the code of
conducts that
organizations
formulate and study
their effects on
Prior to getting
acquainted with this
module, I had a very
basic knowledge of
how code of conducts
worked and I only had
This learning will help
me a lot in my future
studies regarding
business
administration as
businesses ethics is a
This learning will be
implemented using the
Specific element of the
SMART network as it
is very relevant to the
context of business

business ethics and the
way they go about
achieving
sustainability in their
operations
information regarding
their definition and
nothing more.
However this module
was an eye opened for
me as I got to learn a
lot of things about
them such as their
effect on business
ethics, their ability to
give direction to a
firm’s efforts to attain
sustainability and how
their lack thereof can
cause trouble for the
firm in question
major part of the
curriculum
ethics
I would also like to
further my
understanding of the
global bodies and
professional organs
which uphold the level
of sustainability of the
global business
environment. I would
also like to learn about
their aims and
objectives along with
the companies which
work with them
Prior to getting some
knowledgeable
exposure about
governing bodies of
climate change in this
module, my
knowledge was very
low. However, I got to
learn about a lot
interesting bodies such
as CDP and EPA
which are both
agencies which work
for the good of the
world and its
environment. I also
learned about their
aims such as CDP
being a disclosure
This learning will also
help me in future as
such detailed and
practical sessions
about professional
bodies helps pursue
further studies and also
helps in gaining great
domain knowledge
about business
sustainability
This learning was quite
extensive and will
need to be
implemented in a
timely manner which
is why it will take at
least 2 months of
further research to gain
proficiency regarding
this learning

framework and EPA
helping firms attain
greener operational
frameworks
After studying this
module, I learned a lot
interesting things
about climate change
such as the major areas
in which changes are
sorely needed along
with the main
proponents of the
crisis. I would like to
extend my learning
and broaden my
horizons regarding
drivers of climate
change
I knew about the
problems of climate
change before coming
across this module but
this module helped me
gain a much broader
and practical
understanding about
this problem. I got to
learn about the way in
which supply chains
cause a major problem
by being a major part
of greenhouse gas
emissions. I also
learned about plastic
usage by companies
being a key driver of
climate and
environmental
degradation
Business sustainability
has now become a
separate department
and having knowledge
about this aspect will
help in gaining new
career opportunities
This learning will be
used to formulate
SMART objectives as
well as the subject
matter is extremely
specific and relevant
and its learning being
implemented in a
month is achievable
and measurable