The main objectives of a business is to generate profit and create economic growth. However, often the business ethics can have major influences on business decisions. The oil companies share a common dilemma: to make profit, or to protect the environment.

It is evident that oil has become the integral part of our life. Oil does not only exist on gasoline or diesel fuel, but also common products plastic bottles, inks, or even in our toothpaste. It is undeniable that oil company produces the most economic profit to all the consumers, but the trade off is also undesirable. The high incidence of oil spills in the recent years and extensive amounts oil farms had put our environment on its edge of breakdown. GHG emission is the main concern for the environmentalist, and a government regulation on reducing the amount of GHG emission had heavily damaged oil companies’ production rate; as a result, the price raised as there is little of diminishing demand.

To think in the perspective of the customers is another important aspect of business ethics. As a response to the popularity of the phenomenon of global warming, many oil companies specifically add “green tags” to their product, but are the customers really willing to pay more to protect the environment. The companies have to sacrifice profit to try to limit and reduce the amount of pollution oil based product will bring, but it is also the responsiblity of the customer to use alternative resources such as electricity vehicles to help alleviate the situation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/falling-prices-threaten-canadian-oil-patch-momentum/article20566847/

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/avec/peyresq2005/talks/0928/van_den_hove/students_sum_vandenhove.pdf