CorporateResponsibility.Net

Companies who are socially and environmentally responsible can claim a major competitive advantage but they need to communicate their activities to Irish consumers, according to a new survey by Business in the Community Ireland.

The 2009 Survey of Consumer Attitudes in Ireland towards Corporate Responsibility was commissioned by Business in the Community Ireland in conjunction with Ipsos MORI and it is the third such survey in the past decade, with previous versions taking place in 2003 and 2006.

When forming a decision to buy a product or service, 8 out of 10 people in Ireland say that an organisation’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility is important. Yet almost eighty percent (80%) of consumers could not name one company which treat staff well, give good customer service and are mindful of its impact on the environment.

In addition, whilst ninety-two percent (92%) of consumers are taking individual actions to limit their own environment impacts, three out of four people (75%) could not name a company doing the same. Read more (BITCI)

Source: CSR Europe

Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn’t plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time.

“We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward,” Linda Cook, head of Shell’s gas and power unit told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.

“They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio,” Cook said of solar and wind. Read more

Source: Reuters

The European Commission last week called on the IT industry to step up efforts to cut emissions, announcing plans for a wide-ranging green IT strategy designed to ensure economy-wide emission reductions of 15 per cent by 2020.

Announcing the new strategy, which is to be formally adopted in the second half of this year, commissioner for information society and media Viviane Reding said that while the IT sector had already made significant commitments to reduce its environmental impact, it still had “enormous untapped potential for saving energy right across the economy”.

“I would recommend to the IT sector to show the way for the rest of the economy by reducing its own carbon footprint by 20 per cent by 2015,” she said. “I see from the response of European IT companies to the Commission’s ongoing work that Europe is already well ahead in using IT for greening the economy.” Read more

Source: Business Green

The Walt Disney Co said on Monday that it planned to cut carbon emissions from fuels by half by 2012, and ultimately to achieve net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions at its office and retail complexes, theme parks and cruise lines.

Disney also set a long-term goal to cut to zero the amount of waste it sends to landfills — which totaled nearly 300,000 tons in 2006, much of it from construction, through diverting some to recycling centers, composting and buying more post-consumer recycled materials. Read more

Source: Reuters

Four out of five people say they are still buying sustainable products and services today—which sometimes cost more—even in the midst of a U.S. recession, according to a new survey.

Half of the 1,000 people surveyed say they are buying just as many sustainable products now as before the economic downturn, while 19% say they are buying more sustainable products. 14% say they are buying fewer environmentally sustainable products. Read more

Source: Sustainable Business

Corporate Knights, the Canadian CSR magazine, has published its 2009 list of the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world.

The Global 100 is a list of publicly-traded, MSCI World-listed companies that are best equipped to manage the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, based on research and analysis by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. The Innovest methodology compares companies to their sector peers on a best-in-class basis.

CSR Europe members on the list include Accor, BASF, Coca-Cola Company, Groupe Danone, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, L’Oréal, Novo Nordisk, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, SAP, State Street, Toyota Motor and Unilever. See the full list

Source: CSR Europe

One likes to think that humankind along with its creations is progressing rather than merely exploring different dimensions in an attempt to understand how we might and should live on this planet. Wouldn’t you agree? Think about universities. The first university, the university of Constantinopole, established in 425 was defined by research, teaching, academic independence and auto-administration.
Since then challenges, requirements and opportunities have multiplied and diversified. Besides cultivating brainpower, universities are now also expected to be centres for innovation, stimulate the economy and lead the “society’s efforts to achieve sustainability” (HEFCE: Sustainable development in Higher Education, 2005). Ultimately, universities should have a dual transformative role, i.e. unlocking the individual’s potential as well as improving a sense of collective wellbeing. This new vision of quality provides us with the opportunity “to demonstrate the full power and potential of higher education for the individual, for the economy, for the environment and for society” (New economics foundation: University Challenge: Towards a well-being approach to quality in higher education, 2008).
The wish list has certainly grown longer in the last 1600 years.
In terms of CSR, we live in interesting times. Just as businesses – who have been leaders in CSR – are winding down their CSR commitments in this economic downturn, universities are increasingly waking up to their CSR call. The second round of ‘Universities That Count’ benchmarking is currently taking place. Adapted from BITC’s CR index for the private sector, through the assessment exercise we now have an opportunity – for the first time in history – to understand holistically what our performance and impact as an institution is. I call this a progress. Until now, we’ve been defined by RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) and various other rankings focusing mainly on teaching and research, which, as necessary as they are, define us in a narrow way, especially in the light of this dual transformative role universities are envisaged as having.
This is a great moment for the HE sector to show leadership in CSR: as the private sector is withdrawing to their ‘quick cash-thinking’, universities as ‘higher places of learning’ can demonstrate the importance of CSR in advancing society’s development. Surely, challenges for businesses differ from those of the Higher Education sector. But maybe this is a key: our sector can provide new groundings for CSR and new innovative ways of ‘doing’ CSR through its own actions and research. Organisational development, models of self-governance, business education, behaviour change, citizenship… I hope developing CSR in the HE sector will lead to dialogue between the private and HE sector and will strengthen and broaden CSR for the whole society’s benefit and progress.

Article by Anne Raudaskoski

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

Unemployment is up and spending is down in most homes and businesses across the country. In an economy where companies have to justify every dollar spent, a lot of people may assume that investment in green initiatives would be plummeting. But that’s not the case.

In some ways the lagging economy has done more for green projects than any amount of environmental encouragement could, because it’s forced business owners to acknowledge that going green is good for the bottom line.

Chris Mines, an analyst for Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., predicts that spending on green IT initiatives will actually increase in 2009. This includes investments in projects to improve the efficiency of data centers, optimise technology, and reduce technology-related energy use across businesses. Read more

Source: Business Green

As the country anticipates Barack Obama’s inauguration this week, wondering if he can turn the economy around, marketers touting environmental messages wonder what the new presidency will mean for green marketing.

While the green movement appears to have an ally in Obama, who is pushing for funding of alternative energies and sustain­able industries, green marketing is showing signs of waning interest from consumers after reaching a high point last year.

“The first half of 2008 was prob­ably the peak of green marketing,” said Russ Meyer, chief strategy offi­cer at agency Landor Associates, pointing to examples such as the launch of Clorox Green Works, a line of eco-friendly cleaning prod­ucts, and the significant media sup­port behind green products. Read more

Source: DMNews