This is a time of great political uncertainty in the UK. Four days after a general election, the outcome is still unclear and the business of Government has – to all intents and purposes – been put hold. The negotiations between the three major parties will undoubtedly have been resolved by the time this edition goes to print. However, this short hiatus in the normal functioning of the political system is a timely reminder of the power of Government (or lack of it) to influence our lives.
Ironically, while everyone is bemoaning the leadership vacuum in Westminster, business appears to be getting on with things in a flurry of self-regulation. Several of the news items in this section report on companies seeking to meet standards for supply chain management far beyond the regulatory requirements set by national Governments.
Unilever is seeking to source its entire palm oil supply from certified sustainable sources to meet social and environmental industry standards. IBM is effectively requiring 28,000 of its global suppliers to adopt environmental management systems. Across the board, in response to growing public pressure, leading companies are seeking to impose ‘beyond compliance’ standards on their suppliers to ensure they maintain their own good reputation.
It would seem that our reliance on Government to legislate for social and environmental standards is diminishing all the time, and business is willing and able to fill the gap. The trend is clear. Many more companies supplying goods and services to leading businesses will come under pressure to develop an appropriate response to the challenge of sustainable business practice; or be forced to look for alternative customers.
Andrew is a director at Corporate Citizenship Email him at andrew.wilson@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss new approaches to developing your organisation’s corporate responsibility strategy.
New packaging system for PUMA
On April 13, PUMA launched the latest stage of its long term sustainability plan, with a sustainable packaging and distribution system by industrial designer Yves Béhar. This new system aims to significantly reduce the amount of waste and CO2 emissions that traditional product packaging such as shoe-boxes and apparel polyethylene bags generate. The system underpins PUMA’s target of reducing carbon, energy, water, and waste by 25%, and developing 50% of its international product collections in footwear, apparel and accessories according to best practice sustainability standards by 2015.
On April 7, Unilever announced that it has secured enough GreenPalm certificates of sustainable palm oil to cover the requirements of its European business; as well as those of its business in Australia and New Zealand. This is part of Unilever’s overall commitment to buy all its palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015. GreenPalm is a certificate trading programme, endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is designed to tackle the environmental and social problems created by the production of palm oil. By selling certificates through the GreenPalm programme, palm oil producers can earn more for their crop through sustainable farming. Last year Unilever purchased 180,000 GreenPalm certificates at a premium to the market price for ordinary palm oil. This accounted for over 80% of all the certificates traded globally in 2009. Unilever plan to double this volume in 2010.
On April 21, IBM announced a new management system for first tier suppliers, aiming to advance sustainability across the company’s global network of suppliers. Those firms with which IBM holds a direct commercial relationship will now be required to establish and follow a management system to address their corporate and environmental responsibilities. IBM’s suppliers are now required to; define, deploy, and sustain a management system that addresses corporate responsibility, including supplier conduct and environmental protection; measure performance and establish voluntary, quantifiable environmental goals; and publicly disclose results associated with these voluntary environmental goals and other environmental aspects of their management systems.
PepsiCo drops RECs in favour of $30 million in on-site generation
PepsiCo, since 2007 one of the leading US purchasers of renewable energy credits (RECs), is putting a virtual halt to that practice. Instead, the company will use its purchasing power toward on-site renewable energy projects. PepsiCo’s renewable energy purchasing has stayed steady at near 1.226 billion kWh in recent years. The company has used renewable energy for 100% of its facility operations, earning it a coveted place near the top of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership. Over the next three years, the firm will be investing in excess of $30 million dollars toward new renewable energy projects in the US, according to Rob Schasel, Director of Energy and Resource Conservation at PepsiCo.
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