Increased Environmental Regulation Could Be Coming, Survey Shows

Governmental regulation in corporate environmental and social impact is desired by over half the nation’s senior executives, according to a recent survey.

Surveying more than 500 executives, 72 percent believe the government should regulate companies for their impact on the environment, and 56 percent believe the government should regulate companies for their effect on human rights and labor practices.

Many executives think that additional government regulation is soon to come, particularly in the environmental arena. Seven out of ten said they expect increased regulation of companies for environmental responsibility within the next five years, versus about a quarter who expect more regulation for economic (26 percent) and social (28 percent) issues.
 
"Business leaders expect regulation, and they see it as one way to level the playing field," says Jim Maurer, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton's Consumer and Industrial Products practice. "Nevertheless they don't want regulation to be in the form of a government 'backlash.' They want to be sitting at the table deciding what the parameters of that regulation should be."
 
Respondents also expect reporting requirements are likely in the near future.  Two thirds (68 percent) believe that environmental responsibility reporting will become mandatory in the next five years, while 35 percent believe the same will be true for social responsibility reporting. Only 29 percent currently produce some kind of corporate responsibility report, and more than half (55 percent) say they have no plans to produce one, despite their expectation that such reports will ultimately be required.

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