August 26th, 2010 by Doug Bannerman
An editorial in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, The Case against Corporate Social Responsibility, by Professor Aneel Karnani of the University of Michigan’s School of Business, joins a number of other recent well-meaning but uninformed essays critical of corporate responsibility. In July, Chrystia Freeland lit up the blogosphere with her article in the Washington Post suggesting the CR practitioner community is to blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. While legitimate criticism of corporate responsibility is healthy and welcome, suggesting it will destroy the free enterprise system is nothing more than hyperbole.
Karnani’s essay recycles the old Milton Friedman theory that the social responsibilities of a business in a free enterprise system are to make as much as money as possible unencumbered by outside interference from government bureaucracy or a meddlesome civil society. Karnani suggests companies must choose one of two conflicting paths: pursuit of the bottom line or pursuit of social welfare: “Can companies do well by doing good?” asks Karnani. “Yes — sometimes. But the idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed.”
The idea that companies seek to generate profits at the expense of the public interest is the real flawed argument.
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Tags: doug bannerman, strategy, sustainability, tomorrow's value rating
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August 12th, 2010 by Doug Bannerman
The issue of conflict minerals is finally center stage, as reported two weeks ago on Greener Computing, thanks to a provision in the new Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that requires U.S. manufacturers to demonstrate that their sourcing practices aren’t contributing to human rights atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The issue is also news on the other side of the pond, where human rights NGO Global Witness is suing the U.K. government, claiming it “turns a blind eye” to British firms who trade in “lucrative” Congolese conflict minerals.
The DRC has tremendous mineral wealth, and at issue are columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, wolframite (and gold) — a number of minerals with tongue-twisting names found in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including many of our beloved high-tech electronics.
While the term “conflict minerals” may not be top of mind when we’re texting OMG to our BFFs, the magic of all these gadgets is possible thanks in large part to tin, used to solder electronic components together; tungsten, used in light-bulb filaments and to make cell phones vibrate; and metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder capable of holding an electrical charge.
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Tags: conflict minerals, congo, doug bannerman, mining
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues, Responsible sourcing | No Comments yet, be the first to comment »
July 13th, 2010 by Mark Line
Today, I went to the first Global Business of Biodiversity conference in London. It was a significant, albeit chaotic, event attended by representatives of business, government and civil society.
It was used to launch an important component – aimed at the business community – of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a major international study. TEEB seeks to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise in science, economics and policy to enable practical actions.
It’s a serious attempt to grapple with the challenges of how to ‘value nature’ – much needed as many of the services we rely on remain largely taken for granted.
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Tags: agriculture, biodiversity, mark line
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July 1st, 2010 by Doug Bannerman
I recently attended the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Corporate Responsibility Forum in Washington, D.C. – an event for CR practitioners in the extractives sector and those of us who provide technical assistance to oil, gas and mining companies on the IFC’s Performance Standards. It was a very thought-provoking event.
Social investments are often a condition of IFC financing or a contractual obligation of host governments. There may be a considerable lag before new extractives projects generate taxes or royalties that governments can spend on social and economic development, especially with green-field projects. Further, today’s oil, gas and mining operations are highly technical and mechanized, creating fewer prospects for employment beyond the construction phase. Together these factors have an enormous influence on stakeholder expectations and extractives companies’ abilities to acquire and retain their ‘social license to operate’.
As poll data has indicated, trust in companies remains at an all-time low thanks to the global financial crisis. Yet stakeholders expect the private sector to find innovative solutions to our critical sustainability challenges. The bar has therefore been raised for companies in demonstrating the value they create through resource extraction.
Two sub-themes of the conference, Beyond Philanthropy: Strategic Community Investment and Measuring the Returns on Sustainability Investment spoke to this reality. There were two presentations I found particularly useful.
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Tags: chevron, climate change, doug bannerman, extractives, International Finance Corporation, mining, oil and gas, rio tinto, stakeholder engagement
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues, stakeholder engagement | 1 Comment »
May 7th, 2010 by Mark Line
It’s almost 20 years since the first Earth Summit in Rio, an unprecedented event attended by most world leaders. It was a moment in history that propelled sustainability onto the popular agenda, and there were two significant outcomes.
The first was the Kyoto Protocol, which was about reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases. The result? Climate change is now a topic everyone recognises and there is a significant, ongoing effort to work out the corporate and political response.
The other major development from Rio is much less well-known – the Convention on Biodiversity. What has that achieved? Few people recognise, and even fewer understand, the issues it addressed. Until recently, there’s been little hard evidence of government or company action. This is a problem.
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Tags: biodiversity, carbon, climate change, mark line
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February 18th, 2010 by Dave Knight
I was at the ACCA/KPMG Climate Change Challenge event the other evening. I was there with captains of industry, entrepreneurs, leading practitioners and experts in accounting, business and climate change.
I came away challenged. On one hand there was a total acceptance of the basis of the science. Sure, as our enquiry widens and we become cleverer at piecing together inherently complex issues like climate change, we will improve on the detail. But the contention that humans are inducing climate change to a degree which warrants immediate attention and action simply wasn’t a matter for debate.
On the other hand, there was a lack of consensus on the speed and scale of change that’s needed to prevent the most adverse consequences predicted.
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Tags: climate change, dave knight, sustainability
Posted in climate change | 4 Comments »
February 3rd, 2010 by Rob Pearson
Are buying decisions now being influenced by a product’s carbon footprint? Guardian News and Media (GNM) is a Two Tomorrows client – we provide ethical assurance to them on a range of issues. Their recent decision to choose a paper supplier on the grounds of its relative carbon footprint has prompted a lively debate on their website.
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Tags: Assurance, carbon, climate change, guardian, Rob Pearson
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues, climate change | 3 Comments »
January 25th, 2010 by Todd Cort
We work a great deal with clients in the energy sector. There is obviously a great deal of drive to engage in and discuss alternate energy technologies and infrastructure – wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, hydrogen, etc. But just because alternate energy gets the green stamp of approval does not mean stakeholders will give carte blanche to new developments. Communities and governmental stakeholders will continue to have concerns that need to be managed and communicated.
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Tags: climate change, renewable energy, stakeholder engagement, todd cort
Posted in climate change, stakeholder engagement | 5 Comments »
November 29th, 2009 by Alex Nichols
More of our clients are asking us about integrating their sustainability disclosure into their company’s main annual report. So in my fourth post on key issues in CR and sustainability reporting, some words of caution about going down the integration route . . .
As sustainability issues take their rightful place at the heart of business decision-making, they will no longer be seen as add-ons to be covered in a separate report. Instead, they will be material enough to merit inclusion as a core part of annual reports for mainstream investors.
The logical next step for reporters might then be for the annual report to swallow the sustainability report completely – as is already the case in some organisations.
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Tags: alex nichols, Reporting
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November 20th, 2009 by Alex Nichols
The World Travel Market (WTM) in London last week showed that the hotel and leisure industry is seeing growing demand for responsible travel.
Faced with a changed economic climate, travellers are seeking less luxury and more authenticity by getting closer to the people, communities and surroundings of their destinations. Often this involves taking on an activity rather than sunbathing constantly.
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Tags: alex nichols, hotels, tomorrow's value rating, tourism and leisure
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