Assessment 2: Business Ethics and Sustainability Assessment Answer

Ethical Concern

There have been concerns about the controversial plans of the woodside petroleum company to develop Scarborough Gas in Western Australia. The company aims to expand its Singapore onshore production capacity. This is creating an ethical concern especially when most countries are moving towards green energy and renewable sources of energy. Even though this project is considered transformative it has been downplayed by a lot of environmentalists describing it as a disaster in waiting. One of the major issues is that Australia is supposed to cut down their carbon emission by 30% by the year 2030 by improving its efficiency and its processing plans. However, it is observed that gas extractions at Scarborough are likely to reduce this need to reduce carbon emissions. According to the international energy agencies which limited global heating to less than 1.5 Celsius it meant that exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels had to be stopped by the year 2022. However, with the pushing of the Woodside company about the production of fossil fuel cleaning up the environment is going to be difficult. The reason is that if fossil fuel is burnt it creates emissions and basin gas is not an exemption because it is going to be displacing renewable sources. According to a report delivered by the conservation council of Western Australia, it was observed that the project was likely to create 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gases which are equivalent to 15 coal-fired power plants. According to the company's carbon emission policy Woodside is expected to increase its emission within the next decade before reaching net zero by the year 2050.

Strategic Interventions

One of how the company can help in achieving net zero by the year 2050 is by partnering with customers businesses and other stakeholders to address the issue of carbon emissions. The aim here is to be able to decarbonize difficult areas such as the aviation, shipping and road freight industries. Through partnering and support from government policies and other stakeholders, it would be possible to reduce carbon emissions sector by sector. It is also expected that the company should involve in innovation, therefore, providing their consumers with clean energy so that sustainability is enhanced. In this case, the company is expected to engage in fewer emissions by coming up with a new opportunity with renewable energy such as biofuels, hydrogen and even charging for electric vehicles (Goolsbee & Syverson, 2013). It is also recommended that the company adopt output generation of solar and wind power because these are clean and non-renewable sources of energy. In addition, the company should also eliminate the use of solid products which have a longer environmental impact. For this reason, the company should engage in the production of solid products which are recyclable and do not have an environmental impact.

It is also expected that the company come up with strategies which is clear with targets and milestones so that companies and other stakeholders are held accountable. There is also a need to come up with actionable plans with expected timelines together with proper budgets so that it is easier to affect. When such companies come up with accountability and credibility stakeholders and other third-party organizations can work with them.

Value Chain Advantages

One of the major challenges that have been observed with Woodside companies is greenwashing and gaslighting. This has created a lot of solid waste in the environment. To avoid negative effects the company should come up with strategies where emissions are reduced. This means that the company must come up with manageable and reputable ways of verifying the number of solids that are going to waste in the environment (Blanchard & Jordi, 2017). This requires a lot of diligent research and oversight. To reduce the effects of solid particles in the environment investing in partnership with other players in the industry is required. Woodside company should be ready to invest when it comes to innovation within the industry to help them to move towards a low-carbon future. There is need also for the company to co-invest with other petroleum manufacturing companies to benefit from the pre-competitive and cross-sector partnership through collaborations of industry players investors and even innovators. This is likely to help in accelerating the high-impact solutions.

One of the major challenges that are being observed is tackling scope 3 emissions which are usually not under the company's direct control. In most cases, there is negligence when it comes to this kind of emission since nobody is willing to take accountability. This normally happens because the Scope 3 emissions are usually 5.5 times greater compared to the rest of the emissions. One of the possible ways of reducing these emissions is to engage in close partnership with the tire one supplies. Woodside Company is supposed to approach their largest supplier and dictate the need for sustainability.

The company has also been recently accused of dumping full-structure compartments onshore. The company has also been recently accused of lacking proper plans when it comes to contaminated compartments. The company has also not managed to detach and remove the contaminated compartment’s function. To deal with these issues, it is important that all the oil and gas rigs are planned off permanently and the equipment and infrastructure safely removed from the environment according to the Australian government’s demands (Christiano & Terry, 2018). However, the company has been accused of dumping into the ocean. It is therefore recommended that the company engage in profile decommissioning using the laid policies and strategies as highlighted by the Australian government.

Broader Benefits

Implementation of the above mention strategies is likely to have a reduced negative impact on the environment. There will be low carbon emissions and cases of oil spillages. Moreover, rocks and other artefacts under the sea and ocean will be conserved. This is likely to have a good ecological and commercial benefit for the people depending on sea life for their livelihood. Additionally, there is going to be an advantage in the cross-value chain because of the broader economic advantage that is achieved by implementing all the above strategies.

What if? Implementation

Implementation of the strategies is also likely to help the stakeholders and other entities by improving their livelihoods and decreasing pollution, especially in the sea. There is also going to be a reduced overall effect in the carbon mission in Australia making the country compliant with the global demands of net zero emission by the year 2050. There is going to be proper corporation between companies in Australia and other international partners creating value chain benefits.

Implementation of such strategies tends to face a lot of resistance due to the cost and burden. In most cases, carbon emission is supposed to be an individual accountability. Collective responsibility becomes expensive and difficult to monitor due to less cooperation. For that reason, most companies tend to neglect and leave the burden and environmentalists and other non-governmental organizations. With the increased demand for low carbon emissions, there was the introduction of carbon taxes which are also proving to be costly (Huntington, 2010). In most cases, there has been resistance to compliance with such carbon taxes which is creating a lot of challenges in the environment. There is also a lack of cooperation among companies to collaborate and bring down levels of carbon emissions.

References

Blanchard, O., & Jordi, G. (2017). The Macroeconomic Effects of Oil Shocks: Why Are the 2000s So Different from the 1970s?”. New York: NBER Working Paper No. 13368.

Christiano, L. J., & Terry, J. F. (2018). The Band Pass Filter. International Economic Review, 44(2), 435–65.

Goolsbee, S. L., & Syverson, C. (2013). Microeconomics. New York: Worth Publishers.

Huntington, H. (2010). Short- and Long-Run Adjustments in U.S. Petroleum Consumption. Energy Economics, 32(1), 63–72. 

You Might Also Like:-

Management Assignment Help

How to do an In-Text Citation APA Style?

DEM311: Emergency and Disaster Management in Context - Assessment Answer