Blue chips develop social impact assessment handbook
A group of 12 multinational companies including, L’Oréal, Marks & Spencer and AkzoNobel have launched a new handbook that assesses a product’s social impact throughout its lifecycle. The Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment is a free practical tool that allows sustainability professionals to assess a product’s entire lifecycle, scan their supply chains for risks and improvement opportunities, and improve sustainable product development, reporting and communication. The Roundtable for Product Social Metrics, who published the Handbook, claims it is the first cross-industry publication of its kind to offer a practical, objective methodology for product social impact assessment. “Stakeholders increasingly demand transparency about the social impacts of products”, said João Fontes of PRé Sustainability, spokesperson for the Roundtable. AkzoNobel hope the Handbook will enable them to identify areas that require attention and drive further improvements. “Having the ability to measure our products’ social impacts will enable us to better understand how our operations are impacting the lives of the people we work with”, said senior sustainability specialist Carmen Alvarado. (Edie)
International Development
Agricultural PPPs may be keeping African farmers in poverty, Fairtrade warns
By prioritising profits over the needs of smallholder farmers, agricultural public-private partnerships (PPPs) across Africa may be worsening poverty, the Fairtrade Foundation has warned. In a new report Fairtrade, the leading global not-for-profit, warns that increasingly popular PPPs may not be the solution to global hunger and poverty. The partnerships link up farmers with governments and private companies to increase investment in agriculture and boost productivity. However, using four case studies from Ghana, Malawi and Kenya, the report found evidence that partnerships are ignoring the needs of local farmers, failing to treat them as equals, and excluding them from decision-making processes. Barbara Crowther, director of Policy & Public Affairs at the Fairtrade Foundation said that smallholder farmers account for 70 per cent of the world’s agricultural produce and notes how PPPs have the potential to improve lives, productivity and increase market access for communities. However, “there is a real danger that by allowing commercial interests to determine the direction of PPPs, the voice of smallholder farmers is not currently being heard and their genuine needs are being neglected”, she added. (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Corruption costs poor nations $1 trillion a year
At least $1 trillion is being taken out of poor countries every year through shady deals for natural resources, the use of shell companies, money laundering and tax evasion, according to campaigners. A report by the US-based anti-poverty organisation One says much of the progress made over the past two decades in tackling extreme poverty has been put at risk by corruption and crime. The report blames corruption for 3.6 million deaths every year as the money recovered from corrupt activity could provide antiretroviral drugs for more than 11 million people living with HIV/Aids. “When governments are deprived of their own resources to invest in health care, food security or essential infrastructure, it costs lives and the biggest toll is on children”, the report says. It further claims that shell companies were involved in 70 percent of the more than 200 biggest corruption cases between 1980 and 2010. One is urging the November G-20 leaders meeting in Australia to “shine a light” on phantom firms, making information public about who owns companies and trusts to prevent them being used to launder money and conceal the identity of criminals. (BBC, Thomas Reuters Foundation)
Corporate Reputation
Halliburton agrees $1.1 billion Gulf of Mexico spill deal
Halliburton, the US oil services group, has agreed a $1.1 billion settlement to resolve damages claims from individuals, businesses and local governments over its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The company said the deal would bring to an end “the substantial majority” of the legal actions against it from the private sector and local government following the blowout at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Halliburton had supplied the cement intended to seal the well and prevent leaks of oil and gas, which appeared to have failed in the accident. Claimants covered by the settlement are principally commercial fishermen, charter boat operators, and owners whose property was physically touched by the oil, as well as other businesses and individuals whose incomes and livelihoods were affected in the two years after the spill. Lead Negotiator, Joe Rice, praised the settlement but said: “There are still many issues yet to be resolved related to responsibility for this tragic event four years ago that continues to negatively affect businesses and individuals throughout the gulf coast”. (Financial Times*)
Policy & Research
UK companies demand fair share of local growth cash
Regional growth bodies, which are due to be handed £17 billion of public money between now and 2021, lack “transparency and accountability”, a business group has claimed. The Federation of Small Businesses said that only one in three of England’s 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships published annual accounts. It warned that the organisations needed to “up their game” in reaching out to small companies, amid concerns that they are dominated by big businesses. LEPs – partnerships between business leaders, academics and the public sector – are aiming to drive growth in the regions, tackling local skills shortages, upgrading broadband and overhauling infrastructure and transport policy. “LEPs are receiving increasingly large amounts of money to distribute at the local level. It should be made clear how decisions are made on how to spend their funding”, the federation said. Alex Pratt, chairman of the LEP Network management board, said that greater transparency was a “no-brainer” and would be implemented in the coming months. (The Times*)
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