Is Corporate Environmentalism Profitable?

Firms engage in environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) when they go beyond the requirements of current environmental law. In recent years, firms have been changing their business operations by cutting back on pollution and developing green products, even though such steps are not mandated by regulations. Firms have also started donating money to environmental NGOs and partnering with them on green initiatives.

This project will conduct a series of experiments in labs, embedded in public opinion surveys and in the field, to study how ECSR affects public consumption, employment and political activity.

If the results show that ECSR helps increase sales, attract talent and avert costly regulations, companies may gain confidence that environmentalism makes economic sense even in the absence of government regulation. Similarly, the studys findings could give policymakers the ability to better distinguish when regulations are necessary.