Posts Tagged ‘mark line’

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?
(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
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.
(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Assurance | No Comments »

Marketing is not the panacea

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Last week was a food sustainability feeding frenzy for me. I participated in three events focusing variously on: food companies and sustainability, the role of marketing, and how to influence consumer behaviour. The first was a breakfast briefing, hosted by our friends at The Futures Company, where I was a panellist. Later that day I attended Unilever’s live webcast update on Sustainable Living hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby. The next day, I spoke at a Footprint Forum event at Innocent’s new HQ in West London, where we looked at sustainability issues and the food service sector. Richard Reed, one of the founders of Innocent, entertained us all with his take on sustainability in his unique business.

All of these events were well organised and the quality of the conversation was unusually high. It’s certainly the case that sustainability and the role of marketing is one of the issues du jour and rightly so. But certain aspects of this debate bemuse me.
(more…)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues, climate change | 1 Comment »

Why can’t we respond more decisively to messages about our impact on the planet?

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Last Saturday, I went to Earthquakes in London, a National Theatre/Headlong production here in Bath, UK. It was an epic play, essentially about the end of the world. The timeline stretched from the swinging sixties to some centuries into the future. The production looked at how we respond to information about the impacts of overpopulation, resource depletion and climate change.

Although its focus was broad – almost cosmic – at its heart was a very personal story about particular people, their relationships and choices. It posed uncomfortable questions about how we face up to corrupting influences, both subtle and obvious, to live out our personal responsibilities. And although all that might sound hard-going, the production was far from ‘worthy’. I think all of us left the theatre, challenged by a rather difficult question: Why can’t we all respond more decisively to difficult messages about our impact on a planet whose resources are dwindling?
(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues | No Comments »

Chaotic but significant: A major milestone in valuing nature

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

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.
(more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in biodiversity | No Comments »

Biodiversity is about far more than saving polar bears

Friday, May 7th, 2010

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.
(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues | No Comments »

What is it with this ‘Is CSR over?’ question?

Monday, June 15th, 2009

If you put your head above the parapet at any conference or in the media nowadays, it seems the only question being asked is whether CSR was just a fad. The expected answer is that all corporate social, environmental and ethical activity was just cynical PR – and in the midst of the recession will be abandoned in the name of short-term profit.

The question amazes me. For sure, when times are hard, budgets get stretched and priorities change. But why does it have to be all or nothing? As I explained to Richard Northedge at the Independent on Sunday this week (see the resulting article ‘Recession is excuse for companies to ignore community conscience’), the question isn’t good enough if we are to draw useful conclusions.

(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in General CR and sustainability issues | 1 Comment »