There was a time when it was good enough just to listen. When corporate execs got credit for sitting at the table with an NGO and benefited from a “different perspective.” Their obligation was to “thoughtfully consider” the input in the development of their business plans, strategies and actions. But as the business environment and the sustainability agenda has evolved, so too has best practice in stakeholder engagement.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration decided to delay the decision on approval of the XL pipeline until 2013, ostensibly to further study the pipeline’s potential environmental impacts.

The fight over the pipeline, which would transport tar sands crude from Canada to US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico region, has become a symbol of a broader argument.

Water surrounds me, both literally and figuratively.

I am in Stockholm – a city of islands – this week to attend World Water Week, an annual conference sponsored by the Stockholm International Water Institute. I am here at the invitation of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and yesterday facilitated a fascinating workshop WBCSD sponsored on water risk and some of the tools being developed to assess and manage it…

Here in Washington, the battle in Congress over the raising the debt ceiling dominated headlines, airwaves and the blogosphere for several weeks. Obviously, the debate became about more than just how much the US should borrow to pay its bills. Instead, it was an ideological fight over the appropriate size and role of government in business and in society.

The flip side of the question of what the role of government in business should be is what the role of business in government should be – i.e. what should or shouldn’t the corporate sector do to shape policies which affect not only the business community but all of society? Or said another way: what does responsible lobbying look like?

Image: Oceana.org

Oceana, the NGO which, according to its website, is the largest organization focused soley on ocean conservation, has been running a new ad campaign in Washington, DC since about the first anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon accident (mid-April). I see the posters frequently on my ride to and from work on the DC Metro. The campaign is titled What If It Happened Here?, and depicts a DH-like drilling platform fire and the consequences – oil slicks, deployed booms, oiled birds – adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument…

Three Gorges Dam, Photo: Flickr user hughrocks

The choices government and business leaders make to resolve the tightening choke point between rising energy demand and declining freshwater reserves will form the central strategic focus of the next era of China’s unfolding development.

BP's 2010 sustainability report tries to take the spill head-on, but stakeholders have even bigger questions in mind.

It's time for a rethink on the future of nuclear power, but the answers are far from clear.

A new energy joint venture gives a glimpse of a world beyond fossil fuels.

Energy and water are difficult issues in their own right, but they're on a collision course in places like China.

A decade after “stakeholder engagement” came into vogue, it remains a high-value activity - if done well.

Highlights and discussion of the latest results from The Sustainability Survey Research Program.

How will the Deepwater Horizon accident affect the future of the oil and gas industry?

I have been thinking a lot about energy lately. It seems that the issue is impossible to avoid...

In his oil spill speech, President Obama argued that energy independence should be at the core of national energy...

Why three companies' recent withdrawals from USCAP are not in the best interest of their shareholders.

The long-term health of the petroleum industry requires that strong action is taken on climate change.

Jeff Erikson comments on the implications of President Obama's Inauguration for sustainability.

Thirty days have elapsed since an estimated two million Americans gathered freezing on the streets of Washington, DC.