Oil fields in the Niger Delta that have caused oil burns on citizens
The factors of need, proximity, capability, and last resort are the moral minimum of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Need is assumed if the corporation causes some social injury or foresees the occurrence of such.
The shareholders of the corporation, in their capability to influence corporate judgment, can make informed decisions about implementing corporate social responsibility. If shareholders fail to do the corrective action, then they perpetuate or condone corporate wrong.
Averting social injury is the task of corporate staffers and management, but it is the responsibility of the shareholders to make the corporate decisions to avert or ignore. It goes without saying that CSR is ultimately part and parcel of shareholder culture even before it becomes a corporate strategy and actuality.
Shell Exploration B.V. is the discoverer and developer of natural gas in the Philippines through the Malampaya Deep Gas-to-Power Project. The site is an offshore drilling location off an island that has one of the richest biodiversity in the world. At 2 billion USD investment, Shell Exploration B.V did not hesitate to spend more just so to leave the forests intact (where the distribution pipe downline could have been installed on land and cutting through the forest at a more economical cost rather than put the pipe underwater encircling the island to reach the main land).
Shell, in its corporate social responsibility, considered the minimum imperative of need (the need for a foreign company to explore while not intruding in the environmental laws of the country). The moral minimum of Shell Exploration B.V. is not to hurt the environment, and to relocate the communities to a safe and comfortable place so the company can transform the non-forested land into use for the exploration plants.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster
