In 1995 Multinational Monitor magazine published a list of the "World's Top 100 Economies," which included both governments and corporations. Mitsubishi ranked 22nd and General Motors 26th. Fifty-one companies made the list versus 49 countries, leaving little doubt that business has garnered considerable power and influence during expansion of the market system in the 1990s. Similar conclusions can be drawn from other data sources. Researchers at the Institute for Policy Studies found that the world's top 200 corporations had sales that equalled 26.80 percent of the world's GDP in 1992 rising to 28.30 percent in 1995. Corporate Watch reports that the number of transnational corporations leaped from 7,000 in 1970 to 40,000 in 1995.

Business organizes and drives production processes that transform both the natural environment and communities. And although business needs to make a profit, decisions about production and technology and, consequently, the way resources are used are often based solely on the bottom line—the difference between the cost of production and revenues. Herein lies the problem: companies account for their internal costs but do not fully account for external ones like pollution or community-health problems. Thus, the full costs to the environment and people are not reflected in product pricing so that consumers are fully aware of the true environmental and social costs of consuming products.

Business has been changing production processes and accounting methods to meet regulatory and consumer demands. A 1998 survey of business executives in industrialized countries conducted by Arthur D. Little Inc. found significant progress in traditional environmental areas such as pollution prevention and energy efficiency. In addition many companies are discovering that it simply makes good business sense to accommodate new consumer expectations for pro-environment products and services. As a result some companies are actively pursuing more sustainable practices—using environmental management standards, design for the environment, corporate environmental reporting (CER) and so on—on their own. And while some, like CER, are gaining ground, more innovative approaches like the triple-bottom-line methodology—full-cost accounting that includes economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice—have yet to be broadly adopted.

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In Depth
	Elkington, John. Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st. Century business. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1998. 407p. Kerr, Robert, Aaron Cosbey and Ron Yachnin. Beyond regulation: Exporters and voluntary environmental measures. Winnipeg, Manitoba: IISD, 1998. 98p.
Virtual Ideas
	Arthur D. Little Inc. Sustainable development and business survey. 1998 IISD Solutions for Business Web site

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