Will corporate giants achieve what governments can't?

Last week saw some of the world's biggest companies, including Unilever, General Motors and Georgia Pacific, announce wide-ranging corporate social responsibility programs that should sharply reduce their environmental impact. That's great news, writes Marc Gunther of GreenBiz.com, but also a reminder of the extent to which governments have been sidelined as drivers of global sustainability. "Big companies are doing what governments once did, without the democratic controls we have, at least in theory, over governments," Gunther writes.

Here are a few of the specifics:  Unilever unveiled a bold plan to "enable billions of people to increase their quality of life – without increasing their environmental impact."  Chevrolet announced $40 million of carbon reduction projects. Forestry giant Georgia Pacific signed an agreement to protect endangered forests in the southern U.S., winning praise from the Dogwood Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council.

These companies join GE, Google, DuPont, Shell, Levi-Strauss, PepsiCo, Starbucks and Coca-Cola, among others -- companies that, to varying degrees, are redefining themselves to deal with the long-term trends they've identified, and to meet the rising expectations of business that come from their employees, their customers, communities and NGOs."  And investors.  Read more