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Article

6 Mar 2008

Author:
Terry Macalister, Guardian [UK]

A change in the climate: credit crunch makes the bottom line the top issue

…BP…is digging up Canadian tar sands and considering the sale of its renewable-power business. The oil group says its priority is to get its profits and share price back on track…Environmentalists and other campaigners fear that sustainability and wider corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues are falling off the boardroom agenda as businesses tighten their belts in the face of turbulent stockmarkets, the credit crunch and a looming economic slowdown. And they worry that CSR could be seen by business as a fad whose time has come and gone. Hannah Griffiths, corporates campaigner at Friends of the Earth, says her organisation had always argued that regulation was needed because when the crunch came, profits would come first. [also refers to Asda (part of Wal-Mart), Nike, Shell, British American Tobacco]