This research aims to improve stakeholder engagement, particularly local businesses, in addressing environmental problems and taking on both ecological conservation and social responsibilities. A structured dataset was built to track all major environment‐related events in Vietnam. Findings, which were extracted from 344 news reports and 75 environmental events, highlight the lack of participation on Vietnamese businesses in sustainable development, with existing corporate activities still driven by practical concerns, that is, profitability. Notably, a minimum of one governmental agency was involved in 82.6% of the events categorized as environmentally damaging, with investigative or administrative tasks being their dominant role. Going forward, there is a need for systematic information collection and public disclosure on business and government involvements in environmental events. Given that Vietnam is expected to be hard hit by climate change, a better understanding of corporate sustainability issues would be beneficial to both the firms and society in the long run.