Production and product related environmental impacts of a company can form a basis for defining the corporate environmental profile, as production and product related environmental profiles, as well as for defining environmental leaders. This distinction between production and product related environmental issues is particularly important when considering the environmental profile within sectors with prominent product related profiles, such as the environmental technology sector. Previous research has shown low levels of awareness of the production and product related dimensions of the environmental profile among companies in the environmental technology sector. Consideration of production and product related environmental dimensions should also be of great importance to companies in other sectors. This paper presents results from a study into description and reporting of environmental issues among 19 companies ranked as Global Supersector Leaders in
2009/2010 by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).
The results show that all of these companies are aware of production and product related environmental aspects. There are also examples, both as headings on websites and as sections in sustainability reports, where companies structure their environmental initiatives separately with respect to production (or their own operations) and products. In addition, the results show that the environmental profile of a company may also include environmental engagement, with or without links to the core business, in the local community or in society, as initiatives to encourage responsible environmental behavior among employees, consumers and the public. The paper ends with a proposed model of corporate environmental profile.