Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a key part of business ethics nowadays. Profit-motivated companies seek to engage in open and fair competition in the free market. Meanwhile, they are trying to promote social welfare through various ways like providing more employment or engaging in charitable deeds.
Nestlé, the world’s largest bottled water company, has been taking millions of litres of fresh water annually from a valley in BC province without paying a penny, since there are no regulations regarding groundwater use in BC. Honestly speaking, this piece of news is mind-blowing.
Water, just like air, is a common resource shared by every resident on the Earth. If local residents have to be charged and metered for water at home, why multinational corporations like Nestlé could extract water freely and gain huge amounts of profits by selling bottled water back ? The very act of Nestlé could well lead to early depletion of water resources in B.C. Who knows? Although the company has been supportive of government efforts in implementing the new Water Sustainability Act and even voluntarily keep records of water quality, all these may well be the superficial works of public relations in an attempt to appease the public. There are obviously more Nestlé could do to improve the situation while maintaining a reasonable profit level.
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