1961年，美國作家卡爾森(Rachel Carson)出版的《沉默的春天》(The Silent Spring)一書，揭示現今地球受到受到無情的破壞，人們失去越來越多的生存空間。人類社會開始意識到環境與環境保護的重要性，世界環境與發展委員會（World Commission on Environment and Development）於1987年發表了《我們共同的未來》（Our Common Future）這份重要的報告，報告中提到由於經濟快速的成長，給環境帶來巨大的衝擊。倘若企業不主動負起其環境責任，資源的浩劫及環境的承載力將會持續惡化，如此一來，環境將無法永續。 國際各國認為企業的社會責任中應對環境付出關懷，因此訂出諸多規範，CERES Principles便為一例，目的是希望企業可以遵守，來達到環境的永續發展。因此本研究將以社會責任及企業倫理為文獻探討的重點，輔以國內、外各大對環境污染的案例來對企業作倫理分析，進而訂出相關規範，使得企業能瞭解在其經濟活動之餘，也要體認環境的重要，並負起環境責任。 本研究的研究目的如下： 1.瞭解企業的經營所產生環境問題，並給予環境事件一個初步的倫理素描。 2.藉由三個因企業活動所帶來環境衝擊之案例，進行企業環境責任相關的倫理分析。 3.以整合社會契約理論、CERES原則和其他相關原則為基礎架構，建構一系列的企業應負的環境責任。 Rachel Carson in her celebrated environmental classic The Silent Spring (1961) warned the world industrialization and human activities were destroying the earth people lived in, raising people environmental awareness of the negative human impact on the natural world. The World Commission on Environmental and Development in Our Common Future (1987) documented the extensive economic impact on the environment and called for global concerted action to save the environment. It urged industries and corporations to take up environmental responsibilities to arrest the decline of the environment. Inspired and guided by the idea of corporate social responsibility, corporations should heighten their awareness of and take appropriate actions to minimize the negative impact of their activities on the environment. Hypernorms like the CERES principles and major norms are proposed to guide and constrain corporate activities as they impact on the environment. This study investigates corporate environmental responsibilities from the perspective of business ethics, with the following objectives: 1. To identify the ways that corporate activities impact on the environment and to give a preliminary ethical sketch of the issues involved. 2. To identify and to give ethical analysis of the issues arising from the corporate impact on the environment by using three case studies. 3. To use, within the framework informed by the Integrated Social Contract Theory (ISCT), the CERES principles and other principles as a basis to construct a set of environmental responsibilities to guide corporate action and decision towards the environment.
