Learning Journal on Ethical Conflicts, Environmental Issues, and Social Responsibilities

Introduction

This journal will indicate the ethical issues related with Adani's Carmichael Coal Mine, including environmental issues involving to sustainability, human rights violations such as exploitation of workers, and corporate social responsibility such as consideration for people and the environment in Australia. It will identify stakeholders and debate how to apply Utilitarianism, ethics of rights and normative stakeholder theory are able to be used to ameliorate the impact and consequences of the Adani’s Carmichael mine.

Identify the stakeholders

There are some primary stakeholders in this case. Firstly, the State and the federal governments provided grants to Adan to advance the project. Government seeks to reduce unemployment and economic benefits in Australia. Adani announced that the Carmichael coal mine project will provide 10,000 jobs, which is the incentive for the government to support this project. In addition, Secondly, Adani provided jobs locally for this project, allowing Australians to get job opportunities as employees. This Adan project can help many people get out of unemployment. However, there are actually deaths, illnesses, and injuries at Adan's workplace. Reportedly, Adani exploits the labor force, including the use of child labor, and low wage payments. If Australian workers were treated like any other workplace, this Australian project could have the same result for the worker, and Adan is unreliable. Thirdly, Adani’s Coal Mine is located around the Great Barrier Reef, where large quantities of coal are produced and shipped. Large amounts of groundwater drainage and air pollution are expected in the area, which may cause enormous damage to the environment including global warming, Great Barrier Reef, land, and water. Finally, for people and farmers living in the area where the Adani mine is located, Adani's unrestricted access to groundwater could limit local people's water use, and carbon pollution could adversely affect the body. Locals are concerned about the destruction of their bodies, environment, land, and water by this Adan project.

Identify the ethical, social, and/or environmental issues in the case

This Adani project provokes ethical conflicts. Firstly, Adani needs to safely and reliably provide more energy to the Indian market, considering the workers, the law, the environment, and the communities in which it works. However, considering past Adani’s human rights abuses, corruption, and illegal trade, Adani has no hesitation in violating laws, contract conditions, or moral boundaries for his own benefit, and has no respect for any person and society. Therefore, if this awareness of Adani is not improved, this Adani’s project could lead to human rights ethics issues. Secondly, it is the corporate social responsibility of the project to carry out the business of producing and shipping coal, considering Australian workers, the law, the environment, and the communities in which it works. If this project is executed, Adani will provide much coal to the Indian market and earn many profits. In addition, the Australian Government believes that the project will be an opportunity to reduce the unemployment rate as it suffers from the unemployment rate in Australia, and it can also promote economic growth. However, environmental pollution from mining, transportation, and burning of coal, and the use of large amounts of water from acarine can cause great damage to local people and the environment. Therefore, it's unclear if the implementation of this project could increase the number of profits.

Australians are concerned that the impact of the Adani project will cause serious environmental issues. Coal-burning promotes air pollution and promotes global warming, and the use of large amounts of water at the Adani mine can lead to drought in Australia.

Analyze these issues utilizing the concepts of ethical conflict, social responsibilities, and/or environmental issues

The two theories that is applied in this case are ethics of rights and utilitarianism. Human rights are owned by individuals, are a high priority on very important issues, and are inviolable. They cannot simply be waived. Even if you are not interested in this right or its human rights, you cannot waive it if another agent, government, or business, breaches it. Exploiting labor or having workers work long hours in a low occupational health and safety category is a violation of human rights to workers, and ethical issues related to it can be considered using the ethical theory that determines respect for human rights.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory, and the goal of utilitarianism is to maximize overall utility. This theory can be used to determine if Adan's project will increase stakeholder, societal and environmental interest and that it will bring happiness to society.

Another theory that can apply in this case is the normative stakeholder theory. The perspective of Normative stakeholder theory deserves consideration for the interests of all stakeholders, not only for their ability to promote the interests of other groups such as shareholders but also for themselves. The company also needs to consider the interests of its stakeholders, and this theory helps Adani to determine if they are paying attention to stakeholders and whether they can benefit from this project.

Considering Adani's social responsibility and whether Adan's project is sustainable is very important in implementing Adani's project. It seems best to address social responsibility from a problem perspective and address pressure from any origin, regardless of the particular label or concept facing MNE. Adani is a company that does not consider workers, the law, the environment, or the communities in which it works. In addition, the cheating committed by other Adani projects already exposed has not been explained to Australia. As a result, Australia has had many frictions and many ethical, social, and environmental issues that will make this project difficult to sustain. The United Nations Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) taken in 2015 are the most synthetic international political endeavor to accomplish sustainable development. Each goal provides a purpose and a clear way for creating a sustainable business. With reference to goals 6, 8, 11, 14, and 15 of the 17 goals, these are the solutions to the problem between Adan and Australia, and the use of these goals improves sustainability. Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 14: Life below water, and Goal 15 Life on land.

Conclusion

This journal revealed some ethical conflicts, environmental issues, and social responsibilities that need attention. It is described the major stakeholder groups and devised ways to address stakeholder impact using three theories: utilitarianism, ethics of rights, and normative stakeholder theory. Moreover, It was considered to use SDGs to avoid ethical, social, or environmental problems, and to take measures against the effects on the problems.

References

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