Corporate Social Responsibility and Renewable Energy Companies A Comparison of Practice and Policy in Energy Companies in Iceland and the United States

• Main Author: Runquist, Claire Barnes, 1992-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Viðskiptafræði; Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði; Samfélagsábyrgð; Landsvirkjun; Orkuveita Reykjavíkur; Endurnýjanleg orka; Fyrirtæki; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/23235

This thesis examines the environmental aspects of corporate social responsible (CSR) in renewable energy companies and how that connects to governmental policy in both Iceland and the United States (US). In order to examine and compare CSR in the two countries a literature review focused on the history of CSR, characteristics of each country, environmental and climate policy of each country, and CSR in the energy sector in general. This revealed that there was little prior research in the area of CSR for renewable energy companies so two renewable energy companies were chosen from each country. The two major Icelandic companies, Orkuveita Reykjavíkur and Landsvirkjun were chosen and used to determine the relevant US companies, Calpine and Idaho Power, through a comparison of the amount of renewable energy they produced. Once the companies were chosen, a content analysis was performed to look for keywords identified in the Global Reporting Initiative and UN Global Compact standards in publicly available documents from each company. Interviews were done at the Icelandic companies to provide further insight into their CSR. The results showed that CSR in Icelandic companies was more connected to the companies’ core business and was more in line with global standards. The CSR in the US companies varied greatly between the companies but was overall less focused on global standards and had a much more intense focus on the role that government regulation played in making their business more difficult.