The
Valdez Principles: Concern for the environment after the Valdez oil spill led directly to the creation of the
Valdez Principles.
It is the lever behind SRI's greatest successes, such as enlisting companies to adopt the socially responsible
Valdez principles or divesting much of corporate America from apartheid-era South Africa.
In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska energized the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), a group of 32 environmental and public-interest groups and representatives of major investment and pension funds, to formulate what has become known as the "Valdez Principles." This voluntary environmental code of conduct consists of ten principles, each addressing a particular dimension of the natural environment, that may be signed on by any corporation in the world.
Recommendation: Corporations that are currently not participating in a business or industry association that has an environmental, health, and safety code of conduct and voluntary disclosure requirements should consider instituting a code in their association, joining an association that has one, or signing onto the CERES Valdez Principles or the ICC Charter.
With commitment to the future in mind, CERES developed a set of 10 guiding principles for corporate environmental responsibility which it calls, the Valdez Principles.
Presently, 30 companies are signatories of the Valdez Principles, including Dominos Pizza Distribution, Inc., Aveda Corporation, and the Franklin Research and Development Corporation.
voted to endorse the CERES Principles (formerly the
Valdez Principles) of environmental management, the first board of a Fortune 500 company to do so.
Twenty-four of the resolutions requested that companies sign the "Valdez Principles," and the remaining seven asked companies to issue a report in response to the principles.
The Valdez Principles represent a set of ten corporate commitments to environmental protection drafted by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) late in 1989.
A 10-point environmental code known as the
Valdez Principles has once again captured the limelight at many of this year's annual meetings.
Among the statements we reviewed were the so-called "
Valdez Principles"--named for the Exxon tanker involved in a catastrophic oil spill off the Alaska coast--to which a number of non-industrial companies have subscribed.
Concern for the environment after the Valdez oil spill led directly to the creation of the
Valdez Principles. Although they were more symbolic than practical, they raised awareness and set the stage for greater activism by shareholders in this area.