From environmentalism to corporate environmental accountability in the Nigerian petroleum industry: Do green stakeholders matter?
International Journal of Energy Sector Management
ISSN: 1750-6220
Article publication date: 1 June 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore firm–stakeholder environmental accountability relationship in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops, from the interdisciplinary literature, a normative framework that links the dominant environmentalism paradigm to the business-firm-causality environmental philosophy. The link is underpinned by the theory of stakeholder identification and salience to enable the identification and evaluation of the importance placed on each environmental stakeholder group by oil and gas companies in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
Findings
This paper submits that three factors, originating from how these companies identify and classify green stakeholders, lead to little and unimpressive efforts to effectively discharge environmental accountability. These factors include weak, legal powers of regulatory environmental stakeholders; non-recognition of the host communities as powerful environmental stakeholders; and non-recognition of the Nigerian public as legitimate environmental stakeholders.
Social implications
Underestimating the importance of some key, environmental stakeholders and the weak powers of regulatory environmental stakeholders leads to limited commitments to environmental accountability by oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria. Inevitably, this results in persistent conflict, violence, destruction of the oil companies’ properties and other various forms of unrest common in the Niger Delta.
Originality/value
The paper develops a unique normative framework from the relevant literature in environmental ethics, environmental management and environmental accounting that are used to evaluate firms-stakeholder environmental accountability relationship.
Keywords
Citation
Hassan, A. and Kouhy, R. (2015), "From environmentalism to corporate environmental accountability in the Nigerian petroleum industry: Do green stakeholders matter?", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 204-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-05-2014-0008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited