Transforming trade
The World Trade Organization is the body that sets global trading rules. It is currently enforcing a policy based on the principle of free trade. Up to now their rules have tended to favour the interests of multinationals and paid scant attention to the resources that are critical to the poor. For example the global shrimp industry entails a factory-farming process that salinates the surrounding soil and water, and depletes ground water, preventing local people from growing traditional crops. Also the resulting pollution destroys local fish, forcing local people out of a sustainable way of living.

Social pressure is an important driver for change and, in some instances, consumers are forcing change without any intervention by government. The growing number of green consumers (albeit ’light green’!) are demanding environmentally friendlier products that do less damage to the planet and its inhabitants, and come from sustainable sources.

European consumer objections to genetically modified food are a case in point. By 2000 virtually all UK supermarkets had ceased using GM products in their own-label food, and a number had stopped stocking genetically modified food altogether. This was entirely due to consumer pressure; and the British Government has been obliged to introduce a labelling scheme.

Consumers are increasingly aware of the impact of greenhouse gases and pollutants on the earth and its inhabitants. They can see for themselves changing weather patterns; doctors report an increasing incidence of child asthma; and scientists wonder about the cause of the declining male sperm count. Few citizens can have escaped environmental problems of one kind or another: toxic algae in swimming pools in New Zealand, acid rain-damaged trees in the UK and Scandinavia, smog warnings in Los Angeles and Tokyo, and increased flooding across the globe.

There is an increase in consumer demand for more ethically produced products, from free-range meat and eggs to ethical investments. For example, consumer demand led to more humane tuna-fishing methods, stopped the dumping of the Brent Spar oil plant at sea and, until recently, had all but killed the market for fur coats.

Ethical investment has also been growing substantially in the UK, from £280 million in 1990 to £1000 million in 1996. Companies have learnt that being environmentally friendly appeals to staff and customers, and can increase share price.

In several countries the government or industry have introduced green badges to help consumers sort authentic from misleading environmental product claims. Germany has Blue Angel, Japan has Eco-mark and Canada has Environmental Choice eco-labelling.

Staff are often happy to do what they can to help their company become greener. In the Berol paint company in Sweden a number of employees found the external pressure for a cleaner environment at odds with the profit-oriented strategy of the company. A deep conflict arose over this issue. One faction had the goal of making Berol the ‘cleanest chemical company in the world’; the other faction saw this as financial suicide.

Despite the wide variance of views there emerged a common core belief expressed as `I cannot put my hand on my heart and say I am proud to earn my salary in the chemical industry'. Staff went on to form teams to investigate ways of producing more environmentally sound products.

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