Business Sustainability in a Dynamic World

What is the future of sustainability in business? What does that future look like? As a sustainability  consultant, these are the questions I’m most commonly asked.  

 As we all evaluate the range of possible futures in these economic times, business sustainability is on the leading edge of strategic thinking. Leading businesses are acting now to prepare for the uncertain future.

 In a recent publication by Forum for the Future, the paper discusses 4 unique scenarios for the future of global business:

     · Global Interest: An effective globalized response to global challenges prompts increased resource productivity and low-carbon growth. Businesses have to play a greater role in supporting public services and infrastructure but reap the benefits. Successful companies have embedded sustainability management throughout their organization.

     · National Interest: Global businesses all but disappear in a retreat to nationalism and protectionism. Nations hoard their own resources and tighten their borders. Corporate and government agendas are closely aligned and sustainability for business means supporting the national interest.

     · Patched-up Globalization: Emerging markets rise as China stalls. Low carbon technologies, particularly bio fuels, thrive. Successful companies are multinationals with a local feel, helping to deliver local development needs.

     · Me and Mine, Online: A highly networked world undermines individual countries and companies. Products and services are delivered in a way we would barely recognize. Successful companies are now more like branded hubs, coordinating often temporary and short-lived supplier relationships to deliver customized products. Trust and transparency are key, and trends come and go swiftly – anyone with a motive and the ability to mobilize a groundswell of opinion can exert a powerful influence.

 There is no doubt that the landscape of business will continue to change.

 Taiga Company‘s sustainability consulting interfaces with businesses that are taking proactive sustainable action.  As sustainability consultants, we recommend a proactive approach rather than a reactive response to external factors. Decisive and immediate action to become a business sustainability leader is creating a competitive advantage and allowing businesses on the forefront to capture additional market share.

 Whether just getting started or are long-term pioneer of implementing sustainable concepts  into core business strategies, the time to act is now.

CSR Minute: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Microcredit Grants; INFACT Global Partner’s CSR Service

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Microcredit Grants; INFACT Global Partners’ New CSR Compliance Service.

CSR Minute: 12/15/09 – IDC’s G-20 Sustainability Index; Equal Exchange and Dancing Deer’s Gift Basket

Corporate Social Responsibility News: IDC’s G-20 Sustainability Index; Equal Exchange + Dancing Deer’s Gifts

New Anti-Corruption Guidance Raises Bar for Company Reporting | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) (Berlin, 9 December 2009) – As calls for corporate accountability increase, Transparency International (TI) and the United Nations Global Compact today published reporting guidance for companies committed to combating corruption.

Public reporting sends a strong signal to employees, investors and consumers, that a company is serious about clean business. The guidance, developed in the framework of the Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, equips business with a practical means to report on anti-corruption policies and actions comprehensively and effectively.

“Following the financial crisis the spotlight is on companies to prove they are responsible, accountable corporate citizens,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International, and Global Compact Board Member. “The Reporting Guidance helps companies to convincingly demonstrate they are fully assessing and addressing corruption risks.”

“Making a commitment to anti-corruption is only the first step,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact. “The true challenge lies in implementation as well as meaningful and transparent disclosure. This much-needed guidance will be of significant help to companies seeking to assess and improve their anti-corruption performance.” 

Recent TI research reveals that many leading companies make high-level, strategic commitments to prevent corruption but still have a long way to go in reporting how these commitments are integrated into their policies and activities. The new guidance aims to fill this current gap in reporting and is designed to fit the needs of all companies, from small enterprises to multi-national businesses, regardless of sector.

The guidance is the most succinct, practical guide currently available to what anti-corruption aspects companies should report on. It sets the standard for thousands of Global Compact signatories, while its use will be beneficial well beyond this network.

“The reporting guidance sets a new benchmark for reporting on anti-corruption,” said Labelle. “By following the reporting guidance, companies stand to strengthen internal anti-corruption systems through transparency, enhance their external reputation and allow progress to be measured.”

At the invitation of the Global Compact, TI chaired a taskforce consisting of businesses, NGOs and anti-corruption experts to develop the guidelines, which were successfully field tested by 19 organisations around the world. Every organisation reported that the guidelines will help them in implementing anti-corruption practices.

“This Guidance is the result of a global, multi-stakeholder endeavour to support companies in their efforts on anti-corruption reporting in the Global Compact Communication on Progress and beyond”, said Sven Biermann of Accenture, co-chair of the taskforce. “It promotes the strong benefits of reporting and provides structured and comprehensive guidance.”

Following this first introduction, the Global Compact Office will, over the coming months, work with participants and Local Networks around the world to advance adoption of the guidance into standard reporting practice. The Reporting Guidance will also be presented at the upcoming Global Compact Leaders Summit, to be held on 24-25 June 2010 in New York.

Transparency International is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, with over 7,000 participants in more than 135 countries. www.unglobalcompact.org

To download the Reporting Guidance click here.

CSR Minute Report: Adam Werbach, Global CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi S.

Adam Werbach, Global CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi S., talks about integrating sustainability into business practice

Coke Announces Global Rollout of Plant-Based Plastic Bottles

Nearly 1.6 billion servings of Coca-Cola-branded beverages are served each day. Now some of them will be just a little bit greener now that Coke has announced the global rollout of its PlantBottle, a plastic bottle made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and 30% plant based materials (derived from sugar cane and molasses). The new bottles stand to cut down on carbon emissions by up to 25% compared to traditional PET bottles.

The PlantBottle has a number of advantages over PET bottles and other plant-based bottles. In addition to its carbon cutting qualities, it can be processed through existing recycling facilities without contaminating petroleum-based bottles, and most importantly, it raises awareness of the need for more eco-friendly plastic bottles.

There’s just one problem: Coke is rolling out the PlantBottle for its Dasani brand of water. As avid readers of Inhabitat know, bottled water is anything but sustainable. Still, it’s a start, and Coke expects over 2 billion PlantBottles to have sold worldwide by the end of 2010. Next year, the company plans to expand the PlantBottle to its vitamin water brands as well. And eventually, Coke hopes to introduce bottles made from 100% recyclable and renewable materials.

Via Environmental Leader

 

via inhabitat.com

Quite the feat: CRMS students send 500 pairs of used shoes to needy souls around the world

Post Independent (John Stroud) Glenwood Springs, CO – CARBONDALE, Colorado — Friends and fellow Colorado Rocky Mountain School juniors Kelsey Bohannon and JJ Worley recently found a way to help needy people around the world, and keep what otherwise would be trash out of area landfills.

Through the Soles4Souls shoe charity, they collected some 500 pairs of used shoes from throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. The shoes will be sent to a warehouse in Nevada, and eventually shipped to villages around the world where people cannot afford to buy shoes themselves.

“I heard about it and it just interested me as a way for people do something for those in need without sending money,” said Bohannon, 16, who lives in Glenwood Springs.

“Some people don’t like giving money, because they’re not sure what’s really going to happen to it,” she said. “There’s not much else you can do with used shoes, though. You know someone is going to be wearing them who needs them.”

Worley, also 16, from Carbondale, looks at it as a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” sort of approach to global charity.

“People really do get tired of donating money. This is a way to get rid of something you’d be throwing away anyway, and for a good cause,” she said.

Bohannon and Worley put up flyers around the valley and set up collection boxes at Summit Canyon Mountaineering in Glenwood Springs and at Dos Gringos Burritos in Carbondale.

“They asked me to come empty the box at Summit because it was overflowing,” Bohannon said. “The shoes filled up my car.”

Once they collected all the shoes they realized it would cost $230 to ship them to Nevada, even after the 80 percent charity discount from UPS. So they approached the Aspen Skiing Company, and it covered the shipping cost.

“We didn’t even think about the money part of it,” Worley said. “We really want to thank the Skico for helping us out.”

They received some interesting shoes along the way, including some Go-Go boots, a pair of snowboard boots, and ballet slippers.

“Some of them are pretty fancy shoes, and not very used at all,” Bohannon said.

Miser’s Mercantile, a local second-hand store, also donated some of the shoes it had in stock, and the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary collected a box of shoes as well.

The students may do another drive in the future, but their collection efforts are done for now. However, Independence Run and Hike, a local running and outdoor gear store, is also a collection location for Soles4Souls.

The store, located in the Gateway Plaza at Highway 133 and Cowen Drive in Carbondale, is collecting “gently worn” footwear and/or monetary donations to help ship the shoes.

The shoes sometimes go to victims of a natural disaster, or who are subject to living in extreme poverty, according to the organization’s website, www.giveshoes.org.

“It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unused shoes lying in their closets,” it notes. “The charity can use each and every one of these pairs to make a tangible difference in someone’s life.”

Independence Run and Hike owner Brion After said he is glad to contribute, both in the charitable sense and because of the reduced environmental impact of recycling used shoes.

“We believe in taking care of the land that takes care of us,” he said. “Partnering with Soles4Souls enables the local running and hiking community to be environmental stewards and assist those in need throughout the world.”  jstroud@postindependent.com

For more information on Colorado Rocky Mountain School please contact lraleigh@crms.org

via 3blmedia.com

 

CSR Special Report: BSR Conference—Citi’s Sandy Fernandez

Sandy Fernandez, Relationship Manager, Global Community Relations, Citi, at the Business for Social Responsibility Conference, San Francisco, October 21-23

Sustainability Tips from Colorado Rocky Mountain School Students

Problem: The US throws away almost 50% of their food every year. That is approximately 52 tons of food annually. Just 5% of America’s food leftovers alone could feed 4 million people for a day. At CRMS even though we compost all of our waste, we are still disposing of 250 pounds of compostable waste per week. So while we are keeping it out of the landfill, we are still wasting it.

Solution: While we no longer use cafeteria trays at CRMS as it encourages overloading. We still need to remember to take only as much food as you can finish. It is better to go back for seconds than to take too much food the first time and end up throwing it away.

via 3blmedia.com

 

CSR Minute: October 19, 2009 – Ceres and Clean Economy Network’s Jobs Day; CauseMedia’s “NameYourCause” campaign

Corporate Social Responsible News: Ceres and Clean Economy Network’s Jobs Day; CauseMedia’s “NameYourCause” campaign