The Moral Challenge of Green Technology

Sustainable development requires that private corporations adopt "green technology", which in many cases also improves firm profitability. When this occurs, the actions are simply good business and are morally neutral--neither good nor bad. If "greening" is expected to harm the company financially then green technology is typically not adopted, and this can be morally problematic. In this paper we discuss DuPont CEO Chad Holliday's decision not to withdraw from the market or redesign the highly profitable product Teflon[R] even though it may present significant public health concerns. We conclude that the unregulated free market system is incompatible with our search for sustainability. Experience has shown that if green technology threatens profits, green technology loses and profitability wins. Keywords: morality, sustainability, green technology, sustainable development, DuPont, Teflon, free market