In order for us to have a clean environment, we all need to take action to reduce our carbon footprint. Individuals can make great changes but so can the businesses and corporations. For the sake of consumers and investors, all businesses should conduct environmental research and release their findings to the public. The public being aware of these corporate actions would act as an incentive for any big business to find ways to shrink their carbon footprint and reach new clients.

There are many things to consider when looking at a business and their effects on the environment. You must consider waste, shipping, monthly wattage, resources used, number of employees, water usage, heating the facilities and much more. The corporations have a lot of resources on hand and their output on the environment is great.

One company that has led the charge has been SAP, a software company based out of New York. Recently, they have released reports about their impact on the environment in an online portfolio. In this sustainability report, they discuss their emission rates. While they stated a clear problem, they haven’t state their solution. It is the right start though. Now they can figure out ways to cut their emission rates and have a more public friendly reputation for being eco-friendly.

Intuition and innovation has been an apparent change brought on by this portfolio. SAP has already begun searching for ways to cut their cost. Utilizing their outreach capabilities, they have begun using the internet and the ideas from numerous employees by way of social networks. They have begun using internet blogs and the ideas of their visitors to draw possible goals for the upcoming year.

I think it is fair to say that it is near impossible to have a full understanding of the effects that corporations can have on the environment. They tend to have a ripple effect. their actions not only cause changes spatially but can affect people and the environment over a period of time. An example would be GE in the 1960s. In Upstate New York, they began dumping PCBs in the Hudson River. They knew the impact this waste would have on the river, the wildlife and the surrounding communities. They chose not to release any this information to the public and because of that; the river south of GE had been ruined.

Recently, they have been brought to the public eye when the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) released their own findings and have brought a $480 million lawsuit against them. Of course, GE soon after released their findings. Since this controversy, the surrounding communities have been torn on whether they want the river dredged or not.

The point is that these reports will leave you wondering a lot. You should always try to figure out what exactly the report is saying and why it is being released. A lot of companies will try to make have a favorable look but might be anything other than that. The fact that the SAP released this information on their own without any mitigating circumstances makes it reputable and more genuine than GE’s reports. \