According to research by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the sustainability reports of energy companies cover exactly 23% of incidents against biodiversity. Nearly half of the adverse events caused by these companies are not even mentioned in their sustainability reports.
A study by the UPV/EHU’s Research Group on Circular Economy, Business Performance and Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals reveals that energy companies conceal 47% of the damage wrought on biodiversity as a result of their activity. 47 events relating to 30 major energy companies in the Euro area (cases of deforestation, electrocution of birds, habitat destruction, etc.) were analysed, and 22 of them did not even get a mention in their sustainability reports.
“European directives oblige large companies to publish documents relating to the environment and biodiversity, but the information that has to be included in them is not fully specified. Each company decides which aspect to cover. So they act freely and soften their image,” said researcher and study author Goizeder Blanco.
Indeed, energy companies were found to disclose, with clarity, only 23% of the events that threaten biodiversity.
How many companies need to lie about following environmental regulations until we try a different approach to protecting the environment?
When VW lied about their vehicles emissions, people were shocked. Then Toyota admitted to doing the same. And I’m sure there are many more companies that haven’t been caught yet.
It was pretty much all major car brands in Europe. These problems are endemic to entire industries. And for the automotive industry, i would be suprised if they didn’t all knew that this was commonplace.
Once industries get “too big to fail” they start pulling of these blatant violations. I think the main change to curb this would be management going to prison over it. For economic reasons there is limits to companies being dismantled or fined severely. The main issue is the lack of individual accountability for the management, followed by an unwillingness to investigate and oversee properly from the governments side.