The Ethical Responsibility of Companies Toward Animals: A Study of the Expressed Commitment of the Fortune Global 200

Abstract

Reasonable arguments can be advanced tot show that companies have an ethical responsibility toward animals. However, hardly any empirical research had been conducted to establish whether companies acknowledge these responsibilities and how they articulate them. This study shows that 47% of the 200 largest companies in the world make statements of ethical responsibility toward animals. The findings show great divergence in the expressed commitment toward animal welfare among these companies. Companies that express responsibility show in their words quite a high level of concern, but they do so in documents of relatively low importance. Statements are generally made in consequentialist terms. The results of this study show that it is high time for the fields of business ethics and animal ethics to start working more closely together.