In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska, spilling 11 million gal (41 million L) of crude oil. During the international outcry over the environmental consequences of the spill, environmentalists criticized a number of the structural features of the petroleum industry and the operational practices of the super-tanker transport of oil.

In this climate, new approaches were suggested to motivate not only oil companies but all industries to support the protection of the environment. The Valdez Principles are perhaps the most important of the approaches suggested during this period. They were developed by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES), which was a consortium of 14 environmental groups and the Social Investment Forum, an organization of 325 socially concerned bankers, investors, and brokers. CERES was founded by Boston money manager Joan Bavaria, and it has the support of several major environmental groups, including the...