Archive for the ‘Assurance’ Category

Time to replant the EU Ecolabel flower?

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

I don’t think anyone should be surprised that Tesco has dropped its association with the carbon reduction label. The early reported costs of achieving the label beggared belief – and even with economies of scale, the approach was never going to grow legs. The whole scheme seemed like a pipe dream when it was announced, given the number of products on the average supermarket shelf.

And the problem was not only the reported costs of assessment, but also getting consumers to understand the results. Did we really think that consumers would understand or engage with the idea that 80g of CO2 for a bag of crisps was good or bad?

Let’s also be clear that Tesco has only ditched a carbon label, not a true ‘eco-label’ – i.e. one that seeks to take into account all manner of environmental impacts in a product’s lifecycle. A single issue label was always going to be controversial, particularly being promoted by only one of the big supermarkets looking for green hero status.

What’s the alternative?
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Posted in Assurance, General CR and sustainability issues, climate change | 1 Comment »

A sea change in the US auto industry?

Friday, January 27th, 2012

The word on the street was that the auto industry was dead on its feet not so long ago, but I am not so sure that this is true. My brother has worked with the big automakers most of his career – he returned from Detroit last week saying that the old buzz is back. In the short term at least, the health of the auto industry has always been linked to the health of the economy and this should be good news. But increasing car sales is not always received as positive by the sustainability community.

If you stand back from Big Auto’s marketing messages over recent years, it’s clear how the world has changed. Before the financial crisis, it was business as usual and above-the-line advertising was focused on pushing high performance vehicles and heavy SUVs. Before 2009, respecting the environment remained the preserve of the tree huggers in San Francisco, flaunting their Toyota Prius in a ‘cloud of smug’ (for those of you who watched South Park). But those days are over.
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Study of assurance market paints a skewed picture

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Assurance is often misunderstood and I’m concerned that a new study of the market for assurance of sustainability and corporate responsibility reports compounds the problem by painting a skewed picture of where the market is going and even what assurance is.
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GRI Focal Point USA can spark US companies to up their game on sustainability reporting

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

I had the honor to be at the New York Stock Exchange this week for the GRI Focal Point USA launch which puts “resources on the ground” for current and future sustainability reporters in the form of sustainability veteran and reporting expert Mike Wallace, GRI Director.

Webcast live, the event was attended by more than 200 representatives of US corporate GRI reporters, Wall Street investment firms, major accounting firms and organizational stakeholders such as Two Tomorrows. While some participants expressed disappointment at not getting to ring the opening bell, for many of us just being in the hallowed “cathedral of capital” was excitement enough.

For the GRI to establish a US presence brings the Amsterdam-based organization full circle. Originally launched as an initiative of Boston-based Ceres in 1999, the GRI was the brainchild of Alan White (present at Monday’s event) and co-founder Robert Massey.

In his opening remarks, GRI Chief Executive Ernst Ligteringen was direct in his rationale for setting up shop stateside: Despite the overall growth in sustainability reporting worldwide and year-over-year uptake of the GRI reporting framework, the US continues to lag Europe when it comes to GRI reporting.
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It’s time for companies to get their act together on AA1000AS (2008)

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

The new AA1000 Assurance Standard was launched late last year, but many companies are yet to appreciate its full implications, and are tending to dive into their reporting and assurance programmes without this understanding.

Instead, they seem to expect their assurance provider to interpret the requirements and inform them of the implications once the assurance process is under way. This is almost certain to lead to problems further down the line for companies seeking to have their reports assured against AA100AS. (more…)

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