The Chinese dragon is awakening. Corporate responsibility in the worlds most populous nation is shifting faster than the sands of the Yangtze. Four years ago, only 32 Chinese businesses published CSR reports. Today, over 700 do.
The latest guidelines are an attempt to bring some order to this explosion in reporting. The most urgent priority is to establish some consistency and ensure quality. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences even provides software as part of the guidance to help create your own CSR report.
Whilst this may sound like the very definition of an “off-the-shelf” solution, it doesn’t mean all reports will be the same. Differentiation still matters in the People’s Republic – even if it’s for reputational advantage.
The new guidance states that Chinese companies need a “CSR system with Chinese characteristics”. The most interesting thing about CSR in China is that it is now taking on a dynamic of its own. The origins may have been in imitating western companies, but CSR today has distinct Chinese characteristics.
The language is different – “harmonious society” and “scientific development concept” are all the rage – but also the content. The relationship between the company and the government – whether state-owned or otherwise – is fundamental to understanding CSR.
In China, government is the stakeholder extraordinaire, juggling the perennial tension between economic growth and environmental problems. Businesses – particularly western brands – are viewed as the scapegoat, but occasionally lauded as a potential solution to sustainability challenges (such as in renewable energy).
That’s why the Chinese government has mandated that all state-owned enterprises must publish CSR reports by 2012. CSR is fast becoming the medium through which government and non-state actors articulate their contribution to creating the harmonious society.
The new reporting guidelines have been tailored to these specific, Chinese needs. What’s interesting is that despite the global inundation of reporting guidelines, a collaboration of Chinese bodies have got together to develop their own.
So whilst others are going global, China is crafting its own solutions. If Goldman Sachs is correct that China will be the world’s largest economy within 16 years, CSR in China is perhaps only just starting to get interesting.
Sustainability reporting: most complete guidance ever
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launched its G3.1 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines on 23 March. GRI is a network-based non-governmental organisation that aims to make sustainability reporting common practice. It also produces the world’s most widely used Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to facilitate the drive towards greater transparency. The new G3.1 Guidelines feature up to date guidance on issues that are critical in today’s society – human rights, gender and community. GRI is also launching guidance to help companies determine what to measure and report on, the Technical Protocol – Applying the Report Content Principles.Organisations that are already reporting on their sustainability performance are entitled to use the current G3 Guidelines or the updated G3.1 Guidelines. Both versions remain valid until the next generation of GRI Guidelines is in place. This next generation is due to be launched in 2013 and will be the only valid version of the Guidelines in 2015.
Mckinsey advice on Rainforest Schemes fundamentally flawed
A new Greenpeace report Bad Influence has revealed how advice given by global consultancy firm McKinsey to national governments could lead to an increase in the destructive logging it is intended to prevent. The report, examines the damaging influence of McKinsey’s advice on rainforest nations’ forest protection plans. McKinsey is the market leader in advising national governments on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) programmes. According to the report, McKinsey’s Marginal Abatement Cost curve, used to to rank the cost effectiveness of carbon abatement measures, overestimates the benefits of the logging industry and underplays or entirely ignores the costs of biodiversity loss and social upheaval. In some cases this results in recommendations being based on wholly inadequate data.”McKinsey’s REDD+ work does not lead to a reduction of deforestation and barely acknowledges governance issues in rainforest countries”, said Sarah Shoraka, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner.
CASS CSR 2.0 Reporting Preparation Guide Launched in Beijing
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) has launched its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report Preparation Guide 2.0 in Beijing. The publication was supported by the Sino-German CSR Project, the Chinese Enterprise Confederation, the China Light Industry Association, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the China Corporate Citizenship Committee, and China WTO Tribune. Mr. Chen Jiagui, Member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Director of the Economics Division of CASS, highlighted that CASS CSR 2.0 has further improved on its predecessor version CSR 1.0 so as to provide solutions to the problems encountered by companies wishing to compile CSR reports. Dr. Peng Hugang, Head of the Research Bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), emphasized the importance of CASS CSR 2.0 behind the background that the Chinese government wants all SOEs to publish CSR reports by the end of 2012.
Aviva has expanded its engineering, marine, construction and operational risks cover for onshore wind, solar and energy from waste power generation, including biomass energy production, environmental consultancy and building technologies. A range of covers are now available from Aviva to suit the diverse and broad nature of this sector, with potential policyholders ranging from small companies using a single solar panel to national onshore wind farms.Yawar Choudhry, commercial product consultant at Aviva, said: “The environmental goods and services sector is worth £107 billion in the UK. As incentives to lower emissions develop, the sector is forecast to increase in value by up to £45 billion by 2015.” Cover is available for those working in environmental consultancy, goods and services sector in areas such as land remediation, geological surveying, pollution control and environmental monitoring. Public liability cover will now include failure to supply power and cover for any reduction in the value of property due to exposure of electromagnetic radiation or electromagnetic fields.
To explore the topic of sustainability leadership GlobeScan and SustainAbility asked 559 sustainability experts from 66 countries which sectors of society, companies, and visionary individuals are most effectively advancing the sustainability agenda. The results found that a majority believe that social entrepreneurs are the only leaders effectively advancing the sustainability agenda, and they continue to grab “market share” from NGOs. Confidence in national government leaders continues to decrease. Unilever is perceived by many as an outright leader in sustainability and along with BP highlights a “what have you done for me lately?” style of thinking. Elements of integration into the core business are seen as the most important drivers of a reputation for sustainability leadership.
Initial steps by PUMA towards first-ever environmental profit and loss (EP&L) account statement
After more than ten years of implementation of its environmental and social efforts PPR, the French company behind brands including Gucci, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent, has announced a new sustainability initiative. The group launched PPR HOME which includes an initiative with PPR’s Sportlifestyle brand, PUMA, applying a methodological approach to measuring and costing their use of ecosystems and their ecological footprint. PUMA claim this is the initial step to measuring their full economic impact on ecosystem services and its supply chain and the delivery of the first Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) account statement. PPR has also implemented a Creative Sustainability Lab launched through a partnership with Cradle-to-Cradle(r) to re-consider product and business development.
Sony Europe’s ‘best-in-class’ environmental programme clinches International Charter award
Sony Europe has won the International Charter’s ‘Committed to the Environment Award’ for its long term strategy on reducing its environmental impact and use of resources. The International Charter promotes best practice and policy in a range of areas for businesses worldwide. Its ‘Committed to the Environment Award’ recognises companies that have a clear commitment to understanding their environmental impact and realistic strategies for reducing it. Road to Zero, Sony’s global environmental plan focused on achieving a zero environmental footprint by 2050, was singled out by the International Charter review team as a ‘best-in-class long term environmental strategy’ while Open Planet Ideas – a crowdsourcing scheme for using technology to meet sustainability challenges – was described as a good model for engagement on environmental issues.
Over 50% of executives surveyed believe that sustainability programmes contribute to the bottom line
There is widespread and growing acceptance of the increasing value that sustainability programs have in the private sector today, yet over 30% of businesses do not have a strategy for sustainable growth in place, according to a survey from KPMG’s global Climate Change and Sustainability practice.The survey, corporate sustainability: A progress report sureyed 378 senior executives representing a range of industries evenly split between the US and Canada, Asia Pacific and Europe, with contributions from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Just over 60 % of companies surveyed said that they currently have a working strategy for corporate sustainability – up from just over half polled in a similar survey in 2008. Nearly 50 % of all executives surveyed believe that implementing sustainability programs will contribute to the bottom line, either by cost reduction or increased profitability.
Charity Commission asked to investigate Nestle deal with the London Marathon
Baby Milk Action has asked the Charity Commission to investigate sponsorship of the London Marathon by Nestlé, the UK’s most boycotted company, after the London Marathon Charitable Trust said its sponsorship policy is confidential and refused to discuss the appropriateness of Nestlé as a sponsor. Commission guidance states: “Charities should be transparent about any relationship they have with a commercial partner and put in place the appropriate safeguards.” Last year, the first time the water available to runners was branded as Nestlé Pure Life, Baby Milk Action were told that the sponsorship policy was ‘confidential’. Nestlé is one of the four most boycotted companies on the planet because it is accused of marketing baby milk with strategies that that violate international standards.The company is currently attracting criticism over the impact of its bottled water operation.
Verizon Communications, a broadband communications servicer, has developed a new metric for measuring carbon efficiency. The metric, the “carbon intensity metric”, measures how many tonnes of carbon emissions Verizon produces, on average, to move one terabyte of data. The metric is calculated from the company’s total carbon emissions produced from electricity, vehicle and building fuels, divided by the number of terabytes of data Verizon transports across its network. The company claims the new calculation method will allow Verizon to better assess the success of their sustainability efforts and identify where they need to focus more attention to continue improving.
The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), with support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have developed a national publicly accessible web-based registry to report the additives used in the process on a well-by-well basis. announced in April that it is actively participating in the scheme . To date, a total of 24 companies have registered as participants on the scheme, including Chesapeake Energy Corporation, and 11 of those companies, have begun using this website to provide detailed information about the additives in their hydraulic fracturing operations.The website, which also includes information about how hydraulic fracturing works, information about the chemicals used and how fresh ground water is protected, may be used by the public. The website address is www.fracfocus.org/.
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