Environmental considerations touch every type of business in some way due to our interdependency on the natural world.
To consider some of the ways pollution impacts business operations, we’ll cover:
- What Ways Are Businesses Impacted By Pollution?
- Why Should We Care About How Environmental Pollution Impacts Businesses?
- Opportunity for Businesses to Address Pollution They Create
What Ways Are Businesses Impacted By Pollution?
Loss Of Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are the essential forms of support (such as clean drinking water) that we receive from the proper functioning of our natural systems. The ability of ecosystems to supply these services can be damaged by pollution, which impacts all those that rely on them – including businesses.
Take freshwater systems, for example. High-nutrient runoff from agricultural areas can pollute freshwater streams, compromising their ability to provide clean drinking water to downstream users. This may include businesses like breweries and water bottling plants, that rely on having high-quality source water on tap.
When a spring water bottling company, Vittel, noticed nitrate pollution that degraded springwater quality due to nearby agricultural activities, they investigated how local farm management practises could be improved to preserve natural resources. Their solution of payments for ecosystems services (PES), has become the standard for how water bottling businesses can preserve groundwater by incentivizing local communities to act.
Agriculture business is heavily impacted by the loss of ecosystem services due to pollution, such as:
- Reduced soil quality (which may or may not be exacerbated by the type of farming practises being used).
- Reduced abundance of crop pollinators.
- Biopollution of invasive species that can be harmful or catastrophic to certain types of agriculture. Some examples are the coffee berry borer threatening coffee agriculture in the state of Hawaii and citrus greening disease spread by an insect that causes damage to citrus production globally.
Employee Considerations
Air pollution is a concern for public health, and may impact business operations by hurting their ability to attract or keep talented employees that are reluctant to live in locations with high pollution, or by the negative effect air pollution has on reducing employee productivity.
Degrading Of Natural Spaces
Tourism-related businesses rely on the health and beauty of the natural environment to attract visitors. Polluted places are less attractive to visitors for a variety of reasons, including smoke or smog impeding scenic views.
Air pollution negatively impacts the demand for tourism, seen in decreased visits to Great Smoky Mountain National Park in months with low visibility, and reducing numbers of domestic and international travelers in areas of high particulate matter pollution in China.
Climate Change
Increasingly frequent storm events related to climate change can cause business closures, and damage to inventory and assets. In addition, agricultural businesses may be displaced or face heavy losses from prolonged droughts and increasing scarcity of fresh water irrigation resources due to climate change.
Why Should We Care About How Environmental Pollution Impacts Businesses?
The ways that businesses are impacted by pollution highlight the inseparable connections of our economies with the natural world. The availability of raw materials for manufacturing, our agricultural systems, and the employees that make business possible are all vulnerable to pollution. As such, our livelihoods rely on our collective actions to lessen our impact on the natural world wherever possible.
Opportunity for Businesses to Address Pollution They Create
Environmental action is important to many consumers, and will be essential for the longevity of businesses into a future of climate change. Reducing the production of waste, and corporate responsibility for circular product life cycling are some of the ways companies take action.
Circular product life-cycles are a mode of thinking where a manufacturer has the end of life for their product in mind – providing solutions for recycling or reusing the products they generate. Many environmentally conscious businesses also consider offsetting their carbon footprint for things like shipping, manufacturing and travel.