BHS 0009 – European Business and its Environment
Assignment 2010/2011 :
« European business increasingly has to accept policy at national, European and international levels ». Consider the rational for the existence of policy at these three levels and how such policy affects the decisions made by European business. Use examples to illustrate your answer.

By Benjamin GASTINEAU U1071987 To KJ ROWLES Words: 1962

The 2009 summit in Copenhagen, on environmental issue had shown the difficulties to find a multilateral agreement, between the most influent and powerful nations on the earth, on one of the major issue of our time : the climate change. Indeed, many divergent nationals' ambitions are facing each others. On one hand, developing countries aspiring to progress and prosperity, are not likely keen to sacrify their fast economic growth rate. On the other hand, the real need of considering the future generations by implementing environmental measures in order to diminish the impact of the human activity on the earth. This debate is not new, over the last few decades it has contributed to raise a kind of an “Eco-conscience” in the consumer's mind, pushing him into the concept of “green consumerism”. The emergence of Fair Trade organisations, Eco-label and recycling process are probably the most relevant examples. That is to say, environmental issues are now fully part of our present and condition many aspect of our everyday life. Consequently, “ European business increasingly has to accept environmental policy at national, European and international levels”. To illustrate this sentence, the paper shows the existence of such policy at these three levels and underlines the implications on trade and business of such policy. Firstly, the work approaches implications of environmental policy on the international scope by underlining the economic growth race issue and the restriction of trade for environmental considerations. Then the study narrow it down with the