Bridge Private, Public Governance to Enhance Environment Protection

• Author: Sally R.K. Fisk
• Position: Vice president & assistant general counsel of sustainability and environmental law at Pfizer Inc.
• Pages: 19-19

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | 19

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, November/December 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

The Business of Environment

GENUINE new paradigms are

rare, but one may be emerg-

ing that harnesses the ad-

vances made by companies in vol-

untary sustainability eorts and the

government’s ability to help further

maintain progress that business has

already started.

As a member of the ELI board and

Corporate EHS Council, I have been

fortunate to participate with members

and sta in exploring the intersection

between the private sector’s voluntary

environment, social, and governance

eorts and government regulatory and

compliance programs. Lately, we have

been asking whether we can move from

two cross-informing

but largely indepen-

dent spheres, both

with normative and

compliance assurance

dimensions, to an en-

terprise approach that

better harnesses the

collective public-private resources in-

vested in this area.

In framing the discussion, we iden-

tied certain governance concepts and

related questions that apply to how

the enterprise approach might func-

tion and the benets that might derive.

ese include:

Enhancing rapid response: Compa-

nies can often act more swiftly than

government in countering emerg-

ing environmental and public health

threats by deploying private governance

systems, as they are not limited by

statutory mandates or the Administra-

tive Procedure Act. How might better

alignment to the public sector enable

business to enhance its rapid response

abilities?

Informing supportive regulation:

ere may be ESG issues on which the

government cannot, or is not, regulat-

ing but where new regulation or policy

would make a positive dierence. For

example, could companies with global

supply chains be supported in their ef-

forts to drive sustainable performance

targets across their suppliers through

preferential domestic government pur-

chasing?

Sharing knowledge: Ambitious ac-

tion on ESG topics cannot be the ex-

clusive purview of larger companies if

we are to meet collective goals. What

are the impediments to smaller compa-

nies and enterprises to taking ambitious

action on climate change and other

sustainability initiatives? How can the

government and private sector translate

the private governance actions taken by

larger corporations into action that can

be taken by smaller companies?

Cultivating understanding: Ensuring

greater knowledge of

the forces and motiva-

tions driving action on

the public and private

sectors is key. How

might we identify op-

portunities to work

together toward posi-

tive change and harmonization of ap-

proaches and methodologies?

Filling regulatory gaps: Some im-

portant environmental values are not

covered adequately by current law and

may be beyond current capacity to leg-

islate. Nonpoint source pollution and

its impact on watershed quality is an

example. By cultivating a public-private

partnership, may we open an ongoing

dialogue on where private governance

can help ll such gaps?

Fostering international collaboration:

Both EPA and companies recognize the

global nature of environmental chal-

lenges and solutions. Could partnering

present opportunities to improve global

supply chain performance and thereby

leverage resources, contacts, and inu-

ence to help both industrialized coun-

tries and emerging markets achieve en-

vironmental protection for all people?

Applying these overarching gover-

nance concepts to specic issues, ELI

can foster a dialogue that leads to great-

er impact and eliminates duplication

of eorts that can arise with two forms

of environmental governance operat-

ing on parallel, but otherwise separate,

tracks. For example, environmental

justice, which has been getting much

attention, but where practical solutions

are still very much in the works. Here

we might share experience, knowledge,

and ambition around EJ — includ-

ing intersections with the clean energy

economy, citizen science, communica-

tion, transparency, and accounting for

cumulative impacts — to drive syn-

ergy in the public-private partnership.

Or supply chain management — as

many companies implement private

management systems to drive upstream

performance, often in global contexts,

we might explore how government can

support these eorts. Climate change

resilience, nonpoint source pollution,

ESG reporting and disclosure are other

issues that could similarly support ro-

bust and productive dialogue.

A risk to public-private engagement

is the potential for government to ad-

versely interfere with or deter private

innovation and action. Federal agen-

cies would be cautioned not to use the

private sector’s willingness to engage as

an opportunity to subject voluntary

sustainability initiatives to additional

administrative or other burdens.

e concept of bridging private

governance and public governance to

enable enhanced environmental pro-

tection is in the early stages of develop-

ment, but thanks to ELI and its mem-

bers, the door is open to explore these

forward-thinking approaches.

Bridge Private, Public Governance

to Enhance Environment Protection

Two forms of

governance on

parallel tracks can

better work together

Sally R.K. Fisk is vice president

& assistan t general counsel of sus tain-

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