Microsoft is lobbying for more regulation! This reminds me that I was thinking of holding a competition to find ‘The ten things that are most wrong with today’.
In the category ‘Things wrong with modern government’; government by gimmick; by press release; and by over-prescription are all in with a shout. Today, governments cram the airwaves and the web with footling little initiatives and spurious press announcements to show that they are on the job 24/7, making the world a better place for the lucky voters. A bloated state bureaucracy follows up this with ludicrously detailed measures of ‘efficiency’ and success.
The UK government is pledged: ‘to reinstate an Operating and Financial Review (OFR) to ensure that directors’ social and environmental duties have been covered in company reporting and investigate further ways of improving corporate accountability and transparency’. Here’s what should happen. A revised OFR should prescribe that one of the non-executive directors should pen a 500 word statement ’What the board thinks its social and environmental duties are, how we have met them and what is any better as a result’. (S)he should list the number of times the board has addressed those issues and publish the papers the board considered. The same director should hold a webinar on the topic.
Here’s what will happen. Mr Cable will announce a consultation. Every conceivable interest group will pile in. The relevant civil servants will set a 12 month timetable for consultation. This will produce an overly prescriptive list of things to be included. The legislation will be drawn up in such a way as to excuse any director from having to give a personal account to anyone else about how they have exercised this duty.
Too harsh? Let’s wait and see. What is certain is that transparency about sustainability strategy will only be secured by questions that are simple and direct and by a mechanism that opens the directors of the company to direct and inescapable scrutiny.
Peter is an Associate Director at Corporate Citizenship. Email him on peter.truesdale@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss reporting, assurance and external standards.
‘Radical greening’ seen as top 10 business risk
Ernst & Young’s recently released 2010 Business Risk Report suggests that the most important business risks for 2010 are concentrated in the areas of regulation and compliance. Amongst the top ten risks for business was ‘radical greening’ at number 8 and Corporate social responsibility and the need for social acceptance at number 9. On the radical greening front, the report finds that in order to maintain their corporate image and reduce environmental impact, companies must take proactive measures, including more complex decisions regarding capital spending, production procedures, and installed technologies.
Appliance makers agree to build smarter, ‘energy-sipping’ products
Home appliance manufacturers in the US recently agreed to develop new energy and water efficiency standards for washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators and dishwashers. The signatories of the Energy Efficient and Smart Appliance Agreement of 2010 will jointly develop voluntary sustainability standards for home appliances. The new standards will take a life cycle approach and are intended to be used by governments, retailers, and other initiatives to identify environmentally responsible products. This effort is intended to provide an objective and practical measurement tool to assist the public in evaluating the sustainability of home appliances.
Contact: Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers www.aham.org
UK government installs metering to cut energy use
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) confirmed at the beginning of August that all departments have made detailed energy use data available to the public. DECC and the Home Office led the way with energy meters that update departmental energy use every five seconds, while other departments have provided online meters that provide energy data on an hourly or daily basis. Energy and Climate Change minister Greg Barker said providing information about energy use help to determine how much energy is being wasted, which is the first step towards changing staff behaviour across the government estate.
Contact: Data.gov.uk
Sony and WWF to crowdsource eco technology applications with ‘Open Planet Ideas’
Sony UK has introduced a new online community ‘incubator’ for collaborative technology solutions to environmental issues, with support from global conservation organisation WWF. Open Planet Ideas was launched on September 1, and challenges participants to reimagine the smart use of today’s technologies to address key sustainability issues like climate change, biodiversity and water conservation. Community members can draw their inspiration from the environmental information hosted on the platform itself, which will include facts and figures assembled by WWF.
Microsoft amongst companies lobbying for mandatory sustainability disclosure
Microsoft, Aviva, BT and Centrica recently co-signed an open letter with the Aldersgate Group, calling the government to ensure that directors’ social and environmental duties are covered in company reporting, and to investigate further ways of improving corporate accountability and transparency. The letter further outlines how governmental efforts should include a clear commitment for mandatory carbon reporting for all large organisations under the provisions in the Climate Change Act.
Siemens to strengthen wind business in North America
In August, Siemens announced it is to supply wind turbines with a combined capacity of 227 megawatts (MW) for a wind farm located in Oklahoma. The company has also signed a framework agreement with Samsung in Canada for the supply of wind turbines with a combined capacity of 600 MW. In fiscal 2009, revenue from Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio totalled about EUR23 billion, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, the company’s products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their CO2 emissions by 210 million tons. This amount equals the combined annual CO2 emissions of New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin.
Major US companies act to clean up their transportation footprints
Some of the world’s most prominent brands recently took actions to reduce the environmental and social impacts – including carbon emissions – that come from fossil-fuelled transportation of their products. Walgreens has decided to eliminate Canada’s Tar Sands from its transportation footprint, whilst recent actions by Gap, Levi Strauss, Timberland and FedEx have shown corporate commitments to reduce the environmental and social impacts of transporting products.
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