Environmental Liability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental Liability - Essay Example It is in the reasoning with the teleological ethics which calls fro moral obligation towards a desirable good end of any process that the company has acted on the environmental consequence of its business as a part of its moral obligation. Let us look at the initiatives that BP has taken towards addressing the issue of the changes in the environment. (Shah, 2003) BP traces its existence from 1908 when it was involved in the search for oil in the rugged part of Persia after it conducted a long and difficult search for the precious commodity. Since then the company has been able to propel through the years with use of superior technology and good management practices to a global company that it is now. (BP, 2008e) It has different products for the road for home and for business. On the road the company provides BP gas cards, Fuel and stations, motor oil and lubricants, route planner, station locator and target neutral. On our homes the company provides liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and solar which are important sources of energy for our homes. Fore the business field, the company has an array of product like air BP, ARCO Aluminium, Aromatics and Acetyls, Asphalt and Bitumen, BP Crude, BP Franchising, BP gas cards, Gas and power, Industrial Lubricants, Invoice tracking system, Marine fuel and lubricants, and solar. . BP and the environment One of the biggest challenges that the company faced by the turn of the century was increasing criticism from many parts of the world on the way it was responding to the changes that were taking place in the environment. It was a challenge that the company had to take initiatives in since it was a threat to its line business. (Thompson, 2001) The company was faced with an ethical dilemma of continuing with its business amid the outcry from the public on the effects of fossil fuel on the environment. Its direct line of business was being affected and it had to do something. Since the company also understood the effects of the fossil fuels on the environment, there were not many alternatives to the problem and therefore the best way to deal with the problem was to do something about it. It had to stay in business despite the effects it was making on the environment. In light of the deontological ethical theory that dictates that obligatory or the duty that we have, the company had to come up with a way of dealing with the problem. Following the postulation of the theory, the line of business of the company was legal and justified in driving the economic system of the world. But at the same time it the consequences of het action were right and wrong at the same time. They were right in the sense that we all depend on fossil fuel as a source of energy and wrong in the sense that they are polluting the environment. The more the company tried to apply these ethical theories, the more complex the matter became and the more the dilemma. Environment and society In order to address the changes that were taking place in the environment and to play a role in the society, the company started environment and society program. Although the program started on a small scale it has expanded in the recent