CorporateResponsibility.Net

Nike announced that it will again cut its carbon footprint. But will this be enough or are they just window-dressing? You decide. This is the start of the article.

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Footwear manufacturer Nike reduced the emissions of its supply chain by four per cent in 2009 compared to 2008 levels, according to the firm’s corporate social responsibility report (pdf) released yesterday.

Although the firm has been hit hard by the recession, revenue still grew by three per cent in 2009 and 14 per cent in 2008, indicating carbon cuts are not a result of decreased activity.

Nike said its total greenhouse gas footprint stood at 1.53 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2009, which is down from 1.6 million in 2008 and 7.5 million in 1997-98.

Read the complete article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/26/nike-cuts-carbon-footprint

As 2010 begins, there are looming questions about climate change action: Will the political agreement made in Copenhagen in 2009 be developed by the next “COP” meeting to include detailed targets and rules? Will those targets and rules be binding?

What will happen with the U.S. Senate’s vote on cap-and-trade? Will U.S. public opinion about climate change — which has a major impact on how the Senate votes — ever begin to converge with science?

There’s no doubt that the year’s most interesting stories could turn out to be “black swans” that we can’t currently foresee. But even amid the uncertainty, there are some clear trends that will significantly shape the business-climate landscape.

Read the complete article here:
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/01/14/10-climate-trends-will-shape-business-2010

Thanks to its climate change denying ways, the US Chamber of Commerce can now count another one of its members as an ex-member.

Speaking today at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s national conference, John W. Rowe — chairman and CEO of Exelon — announced his company would not be renewing its membership in the chamber because of the organisation’s increasingly strident opposition to meaningful action on climate change.

Last week, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Chairman and CEO Peter Darbee sent a letter to the US Chamber saying his firm would withdraw because of “fundamental differences” over climate change. Shortly thereafter, the Public Service Company of New Mexico announced a similar decision.

Read the complete article here:

http://www.greenbang.com/another-one-bites-the-dust-exelon-leaves-climate-denying-chamber_11892.html

Coca-Cola has stepped up its campaign to curb carbon emissions by boosting recycling rates for its cans and bottles with the launch of the UK’s first city centre “recycling zone” in Southampton.

Under a partnership with Southampton city council, the drinks giant is to jointly fund the installation of Coca-Cola branded recycling points and a vehicle to collect the recyclable material from the bins.

The new zone, which will be opened next week to coincide with the launch of a major new nationwide recycling ad campaign from the company, is the latest in a series of recycling zones backed by Coca-Cola and is designed to bolster recycling rates at sites with a high concentration of pedestrians.

Read the complete article here:

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249643/coca-cola-steps-recycling-zone

By Chris Milton

The Carbon Disclosure Project was launched in 2000.  It works on behalf of the largest global institutional investors to uncover and track greenhouse gas emissions from the largest global corporations. However, the launch materials for this year’s survey held some unexpected figures which show just how far these investment houses have come .. and how far they have to go.
There are ghost trains out there … I’ve seen them.  Full of spectral commuters, their skeletal mouths forever open in a ghostly wail as they are doomed to travel the British network without end. This is what a Government Minister once claimed in any case.  He said that only 90% of the UK’s trains reach an eventual destination.  Which means there’s a whole bundle of them out there, lost forever.
Not really.  But it’s always worth remembering that the statistics sword cuts both ways.
For example to mark the launch of its 2009 survey, the 2009 Carbon Disclosure Project issued a press release trumpeting the results of a survey it had conducted among its signatory institutional investors.
The headline figures were:

• 75% of the respondents factor climate change into their investment decisions (presumably as a risk) of which
• 80% consider climate change to be a relatively important impact to their portfolio

Sounds good, but there’s a flip side to these figures:

• 25% of institutional investors don’t believe climate change is a risk
• 40% of institutional investors don’t believe it’s a problem for their portfolio

Wow.  It’s really great that the majority of institutional investors appear to have a good grasp of climate change and the effect it can have on their investments. But if the CDP represents $55tr of managed assets, this means up to $22tr still isn’t being invested in companies which are contributing to solutions to climate change.
So there’s a fantastic opportunity out there for asset management companies to differentiate themselves and their products from one another on the grounds of sustainability. Say it loud and clear: if you are a sustainability sensitive investment house you can get more trade by pointing out that your competitors are not.  Surely that’s a good thing?
So come on .. let’s see a little competition!

Bio: A former CTO, Chris has a broad and varied background. He’s been involved with blue chips, consultancies & SMEs across a wide variety of sectors and has worked in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. In 2007 he decided to combine his knowledge of business and IT with his passion for all things sustainable and has been busy writing ever since. However, his greatest ambition remains to brew the perfect cup of coffee.

The European Commission will publish an action plan in March to boost the role of ICT in helping to green the EU economy, but extra effort from the technology industry may be necessary, EurActiv reports.

According to estimates by consulting firm McKinsey, widespread use of intelligent devices and applications could reduce global CO2 emissions by as much as 15% by 2020. The reduction would help the Union to achieve ambitious environmental targets agreed in December 2007.

Under the EU executive’s plans, cities, buildings and cars could all be equipped with new devices that are able to measure and reduce CO2 emissions. The growing shift to teleworking and online business will also have a positive impact on climate change. Read more (EurActiv)

Source: CSR Europe

Consultancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will today accelerate its push into the emerging sustainability services sector with the acquisition of international advisory firm Sustainable Finance Limited (SFL).

PwC will shell out an undisclosed sum for the 10-strong SFL, which was founded in 2003 and boasts operations in the UK, US and the Netherlands.

The company specialises in environmental and social risk management services to the financial sector, providing firms with advice on their sustainability and climate change risks. SFL also helped develop the Equator Principles in 2003, the international industry standard for managing environmental and social risks in project finance, and more recently worked on the Carbon Principles governing investment in US energy projects. Read more

Source: Business Green

IBM, Tesco and Dell are among a select group of major consumer and technology companies taking active steps toward addressing the risks and capitalizing on the opportunities posed by climate change, according to a new report from the nonprofit Ceres.

Yet there is still much work to be done, Ceres found, particularly at the board and CEO levels: The boards of 11 of the 63 companies analyzed in “Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Consumer and Technology Companies” hear climate-specific updates, and just seven CEOs have assumed leadership roles on climate change initiatives. None of the consumer and technology companies examined tie related performance to the compensation of their top officers. Read more

Source: GreenBiz

The UN talks on climate change have been ongoing at Poznan this week with the aim of coming up with a new international agreement to replace the Kyoto deal.

In support of a new deal 140 global companies are demanding that world leaders not to delay on climate change action because of the economic downturn and instead commit to deep and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and include mechanisms to reduce tropical deforestation. Read more

Source: Greenbang

Legal experts have today downplayed the immediate risk presented by climate change-related litigation against carbon intensive firms, but warned that such legal action remains highly plausible in the long term.

Myles Allen, a physicist and climate change expert at Oxford University, warned this week that improvements in climate computer models mean it will soon be possible to quantify the extent to which manmade greenhouse gas emissions contributed to extreme weather events, raising the prospect of victims being able to successfully sue heavy emitters.

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Allen said that advances in climate change science could soon be used to underpin legal action against the most carbon intensive industries. Read more

Source: Business Green