The Co-operative: A revolution that’s back to the future
The Co-operative announces a new Ethical Operating Plan. It sounds very twenty-first century.
The plan encourages citizens to Join the Revolution. Its rather as if they are being asked to storm the Bastille or seize the Petrograd telephone exchange. The point of revolutions is to make the future better than the past. Unsurprisingly therefore the revolution’s manifesto is laden with more Fairtrade Goods and a billion pounds of finance for green energy: so far so twenty-first century. Equally modern is the commitment to supporting other co-operative enterprises. But hold on a moment! What’s this? These co-operative enterprises include co-operative schools. Will these co-operative schools be found among the ranks of Mr Gove’s free schools? The schools that send the National Union of Teachers and the whole educational establishment into a rictus of rage? Will they be Academies? We will see. Whether academies or free schools, any such step would indeed be revolutionary for the Co-operative Movement has close links to the Labour Party.
The most revolutionary shift proposed in the manifesto is that on membership. The aim is to lift it from the current 6 million to 20 million by 2020. If successful almost one-in-three Britons would be Co-op members. This would take membership levels back to where they were in the golden heydey of the Co-op just after World War Two.
For once the claim that a sustainability plan is revolutionary and ambitious is justified. Hold onto your hats though, it could be a bumpy ride!
Peter Truesdale is an Associate Director at Corporate Citizenship. Contact him at peter.truesdale@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss reporting, assurance and external standards.
Over 2,000 companies expelled from Global Compact
The UN Global Compact has expelled a total of 2,164 companies from across the world since it began in 2000 for failure to communicate progress on the Compact’s ten sustainability principles. This total includes more than 300 companies expelled since the beginning of January 2011, after a 12 month long moratorium on expulsions in developing countries. This short term measure was implemented as a response to the systematic lack of disclosures in some less developed markets, to give companies the time and opportunity to comply and disclose progress. The Global Compact requires participants to communicate with stakeholders annually on their progress in implementing the ten principles. Companies that that fail to issue a Communication on Progress for two consecutive years face expulsion.
Co-operative launches Ethical Operating Plan, encouraging customers to ‘Join the Revolution’
The Co-operative Group has launched its new Ethical Operating Plan, a move designed to both contribute to a more sustainable economy and drive its membership. The Group is encouraging consumers to ‘Join the Revolution’, claiming the Plan is the most radical sustainability programme in UK corporate history. Commitments within the Plan span the full range of Co-operative services and include ambitious carbon reduction and environmental targets, the world’s first ethically screened general insurance products, a radical conversion to Fairtrade certified products, a increase in membership from 6 million to 20 million and increased funding for other co-operative ventures including business enterprises and schools. The Ethical Operating Plan follows a recent trend for far-reaching sustainability plans, notably those of M&S and Unilever.
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published new guidance for companies when describing their products’ environmental credentials. Companies are encouraged to follow three steps: ensure the content of claims it relevant and reflects genuine environmental benefit; present the claim clearly and accurately; and ensure the claim can be backed up. The guidelines are designed to encourage consumer confidence in a marketplace full of competing and often confusing environmental claims. The Advertising Standards Agency has endorsed Defra’s guidance and maintains its position as the regulator of green advertising claims made in both broadcast and non-broadcast media.
Contact: Defra ww2.defra.gov.uk
US green business report presents mixed findings
GreenBiz has released its annual State of Green Business report, assessing and analysing the ‘greening’ of the US economy. 20 indicators are used including carbon intensity, the level of cleantech investing and non-financial corporate reporting. Positive findings within the report include an improvement in energy efficiency, increasing green office space, reductions in packaging intensity and reductions in paper usage. On the other hand, negative findings include growing levels of electronic waste and carbon intensity. The report also says that US companies lag behind European and Asian firms on corporate reporting; even US companies in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Leadership Index score significantly lower than their overseas counterparts. Many other indicators are showing improvements but only very gradual ones, including organic agriculture, which still represents less than 1% of US cropland.
Chemical firm BASF has launched a new website helping users to “navigate the confusion” of eco-labels and certifications. The database, the SELECT (Sustainability, Eco-Labeling and Environmental Certification Tracking) Eco-Label Manager, is designed to simplify efforts of both BASF employees and other businesses trying to understand and distinguish the current proliferation of environmental labels. Users of the system can view and compare requirements and specifications of different labels and certifications as well as assess their products against the different standards. The tool currently includes data on over 120 programmes, primarily from the US and Canada, with plans to extend the database worldwide.
BCLC report highlights successful global CSR partnerships
The US Business Civic Leadership Centre (BCLC) has released its 2010 corporate citizenship report entitled Frontier Markets, Global Partnership, Local Solutions. The report provides case studies detailing how private sector partnerships with NGOs, the public sector and international institutions are addressing the global development challenges of water, food security, economic development and health.
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