One early morning in the fall of 2007, Dennis Jonsson was reading the latest reports on global warming and thought that someone ought to do something about it. Then he realized that he and his fellow coworkers at Nordea, all with airline gold cards and access to the airport lounges, were part of the problem—especially since Nordea employees occupied many of the seats on the 7:10 flight between Copenhagen and Helsinki every morning.

Nordea is the largest bank group in the Nordic countries and the Baltic region. It has around 10 million customers, 1,400 branch offices, and a leading online banking position with 6.1 million e-customers. The bank has about 34,000 employees in 23 countries.

Since its foundation in 1820, the organization that is now Nordea has incorporated some 250 banks, including Danish Uni bank, Finish Marita, Swedish Nord banker , and Norwegian Christiania Credit cases.

The history of mergers has resulted in a geographically distributed organization that requires extensive travel between national branches.

Carbon dioxide emissions caused by one person traveling by airplane between two of the Nordic capitals is in the order of 200 kg—twice the amount a car with four passengers emits over the same distance.

In total, short- and long-haul air travel makes up about a third of Nordea’s total carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing travel is not only desirable from an environmental perspective, but from a cost-saving perspective, too. Every year a substantial amount of money is spent on air travel. In addition, for many Nordea employees who must travel frequently a reduction in travel days would mean more time home with friends and family..........................

1. What business, personal, and social costs are involved when traveling by airplane between Copenhagen and Helsinki?
2. How can IT be both the culprit and the solution to environmental problems?

3. What are the arguments against corporate social responsibility?
4. Why should firms be engaged in making the world more sustainable?