Editor’s Note: This article, published in December 2011, provides information on company performance from 2009 and 2010. For an updated list of the world’s largest environmental consulting companies, click here.   Although the environmental consulting market remains highly fragmented, a dozen large firms are spearheading the globalization of the environmental consulting industry to meet the demands
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On November 1, 2011, the amended China Provisional Regulation of Resources Tax (资源税暂行条例)[1] came into force. The amended regulation imposes a five to ten percent tax rate on the sale of crude oil and natural gas. The tax rate for rare earth ores and coking coal also increased, while the tax rate for regular coal,
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In a last-minute deal reached on December 11, 2011 at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Durban, South Africa, governments decided to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, but not later than
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Canadian law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has issued a summary of environmental law that applies to projects in the Alberta, Canada oil sands in western Canada. Oil sands are composed primarily of sand, bitumen, mineral-rich clays and water. Bitumen, in its raw state, is a heavy, viscous, crude oil. According to the Alberta government, Alberta’s oil sands have 170.4 billion barrels of proven reversible reserves. These reserves are the second-highest source of proven crude oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia , , ,

In this “as good as it gets” economic recovery, companies are intent on growing the top line while minimizing costs. Corporate staffs are shrinking or disappearing entirely, and the traditional EHS role faces internal competition from other groups that are taking on parts of the broader sustainability agenda. In this context, EHS VPs who keep their heads down and do their jobs well may be highly skilled, highly valuable, highly overworked—and highly likely to be headed to extinction. In contrast, entrepreneurial EHS leaders are keeping and expanding their roles by moving beyond their traditional comfort zones . . . .

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