Corporate Responsibility

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  Google News: Corporate Responsibility

• Why Social Media Is Vital to Corporate Social Responsibility - Mashable (blog)

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:21 am

  Mashable (blog)Why Social Media Is Vital to Corporate Social ResponsibilityMashable (blog)Intel's Director of Corporate Responsibility, Michael Jacobson, says his department takes advantage of social media by marketing the positive ways Intel is

• Kesko is Finland's best service sector company reporting on its corporate ... - Bolsamania.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:28 am

  Kesko is Finland's best service sector company reporting on its corporate Bolsamania.comKESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 06.11.2009 AT 13.00 1(1) Kesko was rewarded for the best corporate responsibility report and good supply chain reporting in Outokumpu awarded again for the best corporate responsibility reporting in FinlandBolsamania.comall 4 news articles »

• Corporate Social Responsibility Weekly Recap (October 28 - November 4, 2009) - Reuters

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:02 am

  Corporate Social Responsibility Weekly Recap (October 28 - November 4, 2009)ReutersIf you have any questions or would like to subscribe to our Corporate Social Responsibility news, please contact Business Wire's Media Relations team at Corporate Social Responsibility Weekly Recap (October 28 – November 4, 2009)Business Wire (press release)all 4 news articles »

• Corporate Social Responsibility Weekly Recap (October 28 – November 4, 2009) - Riverwired

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:17 am

  Corporate Social Responsibility Weekly Recap (October 28 – November 4, 2009)RiverwiredNEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following releases focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and moved during the week of October 28 – November 4, 2009.

• EthicsCentre CA-Media Advisory: The New Legal Role in Corporate Social ... - Market Wire (press release)

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:02 am

  EthicsCentre CA-Media Advisory: The New Legal Role in Corporate Social Market Wire (press release)4, 2009) - Over the past five years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a business buzz word. While CSR reports give companies a neat and tidy and more »

• 
  Mallenbaker.net: Corporate Social Responsibility News

• UK: Sustainable palm oil ads banned for the second time

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:42 am

  A magazine advert that promoted the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil has been banned by the UK's advertising watchdog for untruthful claims. (3 Nov 2009)

• Peru: Firm accused of torture is hit by armed attack

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am

  British mining firm Monterrico Metals has said that gunmen have attacked its copper mine leaving at least two of its workers dead. The company is currently the subject of legal action accusing it of complicity in the torture and killing of protestors. (3 Nov 2009)

• Are global CSR leaders failing to use the web effectively?

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am

  A new report has suggested that global leaders in sustainability are failing to make the most of the potential of the web for their CSR reporting and general communications. It names ENI as the global leader that does the best. Many points are criticised across the board for not being up to scratch. (2 Nov 2009)

• US: BP challenges record fine for explosions in Texas

  30 Oct 2009 | 10:53 am

  Oil giant BP has said that it will challenge a record fine of over $87m levied for failing to correct problems that led to the explosion in 2005 that killed 15 workers. (30 Oct 2009)

• Jamaica: Company sues government over import block on mace

  28 Oct 2009 | 10:23 am

  Future Services International is suing the Jamaican government for blocking the import of mace for pepper spray to help protect its employees against violent crime. (28 Oct 2009)

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  CSRwire.com

• Companies Prepare to Share Water Efficiency, Engagement, Labelling and Footprinting Strategies

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:01 am

  Sustainable water stewardship is helping business save money and energy as well as prepare for future freshwater shortages, according to participants of the upcoming Corporate Water Footprinting conference. Sustainability experts from top companies including Diageo, PepsiCo International, BC Hydro, Patagonia, Raisio, Intel, American Water and Coca-Cola are speaking at the event taking place December 2-3 in San Francisco and benchmarking best practices for sustainable water stewardship. Through a combination of corporate case studies and expert panels, Corporate Water Footprinting will offer…

• Cadbury Delivers 5,000 Bicycles to Ghana, Africa

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:03 am

  Cadbury Canada announced this week the delivery of 5,000 bikes to children in Ghana, Africa as part of its innovative consumer promotion called The Bicycle Factory. The bikes will reach more than 200 communities in central and southern Ghana and will provide access to education to thousands of kids who would normally be at risk of not going to school. In addition to providing kids with a reliable form of transportation to get to school, the bikes will also provide each community with access to water sources and medical care. Many of the 216 communities are part of the Cadbury Cocoa…

• Webinar: Chemicals Policy Reform and its Importance for Business

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:51 am

  On Friday, November 13 at 11 am PST, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, the Business NGO Working Group for Safer Chemicals and Sustainable Materials and the American Sustainable Business Council will host a webinar on chemicals policy reform and its importance for business. Click here to register for the Webinar This webinar will provide an opportunity to understand The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and its reform as well as to hear from some leading businesses on why policy reform is important to them. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 is broken. The U.S. EPA has only required…

• PeaceTags Announces 2009 Holiday "PeaceBaby" Necklace

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:30 am

  PeaceTags, a Seattle-based company creating necklaces engraved with quotes from famous peacemakers, announces its 2009 holiday PeaceBaby tag featuring a peace quote from Dr. Riane Eisler, internationally renowned author and humanitarian. Eisler has been honored as one of the world's 20 greatest peacemakers. Her quote "peace is putting love into action" will appear on the PeaceBaby tag, a petite version of the original sterling silver dog-tag line. PeaceTags donates all net proceeds of its necklaces to veteran’s and peace-making causes "When I learned that this little company is run by…

• Winner of Second Annual John P. McNulty Prize Announced

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  The Aspen Institute and Anne Welsh McNulty are pleased to announce that the second annual John P. McNulty Prize has been awarded to Patrick Awuah of Ghana, founder of the Accra based Ashesi University. Meant to celebrate the spirit and memory of Institute trustee John P. McNulty, the $100,000 prize recognizes an extraordinary young leader making creative, effective, and lasting contributions to his or her community and is given annually to an Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) Fellow. In addition, this year prizes of $10,000 are also being awarded to the other finalists On Thursday…

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  CSR Reporting

• Cisco and New Models of Social Responsibility

  elaine

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:15 am

  I am still really looking forward to the upcoming Global Virtual Summit (November 5th and 9th , 2009) entitled New Models of Social Responsibility, presented by Communitelligence and Cisco. The summit boasts a truly impressive line-up of speakers. As my Company, BeyondBusiness , is one of the Media Sponsors for the summit, I was privileged to have the opportunity to interview some of the speakers. You can read my interview with Cecily Joseph, CR Director of Symantec here. This post is all about another impressive woman on the sustainabilty scene - Kathy Mulvany, Director of Marketing and…

• buy it ethically

  elaine

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:54 am

  Back to embedding... this time i will take a look at the procurement section of the Ethical Corporation's latest research publication on How to embed Corporate Responsibility across different parts of your Company. This is a 100 page report published at end September 2009. It provides an analysis and case studies covering 5 organizational functions: Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Communications, Procurement and Logistics and Operations. Last time i blogged about embedding in the Human  Resources function. This time, being an ex Supply Chain executive (8 years in Supply Chain…

• Dying to work at France Telecom ?

  elaine

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm

  Every so often things make you quite angry. During the past 20 months, 25 France Telecom employees have committed suicide and several others attempted to do so. What is it about the culture in this Company that puts people under so much pressure that they take their own lives? What is the repsonsibility of a Company to ensure that the working environment and culture can not allow such an epidemic of suicides  to take place ? One suicide is an exception. 25 suicides is a corporate crime.  The France Telecom 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility Report was published in…

• Symantec and New Models of Social Responsibility

  elaine

  30 Oct 2009 | 2:40 am

  I am really looking forward to the upcoming Global Virtual Summit (November 5th and 9th , 2009) entitled New Models of Social Responsibility, presented by Communitelligence and Cisco.  The summit boasts a truly impressive line-up of speakers, including one of my heroes Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of Timberland.  As my Company,  BeyondBusiness ,  is one of the Media Sponsors for the summit,   I was privileged to have the opportunity to interview some of the speakers. In this first interview-post, i will share some insights from the impressive  Cecily Joseph,…

• A special kind of non-profit

  elaine

  26 Oct 2009 | 5:39 am

  I am dedicating this post to Beit Issie Shapiro. Beit Issie Shapiro is a non-profit organization based in Israel  that develops and provides services for children and adults with developmental disabilities. It has played a leading role in promoting the inclusion of people with special needs in society and advocates for better legal provisions for people with special needs. The organization was founded in 1980 by Naomi Stuchiner, currently President of Beit Issie Shapiro, as a way to fulfil the dream of her late father to contribute the quality of life for people in Israel. Beit…

• 
  Business & Sustainable Development News

• (Not yet) marching as to war - Climate change and public opinion

  The Economist via LN Publisher

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  Signs of climate-change doubt in some democracies. Even as politicians and protesters gear up for a fateful climate-change meeting in Denmark, some of their fellow citizens have little stomach for a fight.

• For peat's sake, stop

  The Economist via LN Publisher

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  Bogs, mires, marshes, swamps, fens and quagmires—whatever they are called, and wherever they are found, peaty wetlands emit about 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year as a result of human activity that drains them and thus exposes them to the oxidative effect of the atmosphere. Nor does this figure include the effect of fire on dried-up bogs. That can double the amount of CO2 released in a year, in those places it affects. That, at least, is the conclusion of a report published by Wetlands International, a lobby group, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting being…

• U.N. climate treaty may need extra year

  Reuters

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  A U.N. climate treaty may need an extra year beyond a December deadline to agree details, delegates at U.N. talks said on Thursday even as a U.S. Senate committee approved a carbon-capping bill.

• European patent office to study green innovation

  EurActiv.com

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  The European Patent Office (EPO) has embarked on a detailed study to map the growth in eco-innovation since the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The move comes ahead of the next month's UN climate summit in Copenhagen and as major industry players line up behind green technology.

• Who should monitor corruption?

  The International Herald Tribune via LN Publisher

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  The perils of corruption, particularly for the poor, are real. Corruption flourishes in the dark, seeps into daily life and before long becomes the norm. Even a small bribe can deny a family food or a child medicine. That is why it is imperative to put a spotlight on corrupt practices everywhere and to pursue ways to prevent and punish them

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  Business in the Community News

• Ministers pledge response to Building Stronger Communities recommendations

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Dame Julia Cleverdon, Vice President of Business in the Community, yesterday welcomed the Government’s response to the Building Stronger Communities Taskforce recommendations at a Ministerial Summit held at Admiralty House, Whitehall.

• Dispelling the myths on the new Vetting and Barring Scheme

  1 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Dispelling the myths on the new Vetting and Barring Scheme

• Business in the Community supports the launch of DFT’s Cycle to Work Guarantee

  27 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Business in the Community is working in partnership with the Department for Transport and the National Business Travel Network to urge businesses to sign up to the Cycle to Work Guarantee.

• RfO Annual Awards 2009 announced

  22 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Five organisations from the RfO network; Deloitte, BT, MITIE, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence, were named as winners in this year's awards held at Lancaster House on 21October 2009.

• The Prince’s Charities get cooking

  21 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pm

  Twenty employees from Business in the Community, The Prince's Trust and The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment teamed up to support healthy eating activities in some of the most deprived boroughs in London.

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  NYT: Green Inc.

• More Readers Air Their (Clean) Laundry

  By Green Inc.

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  In our fourth installment, Green Inc. readers respond to our post on efficiency, clothes dryers, and the resurgence of backyard line-drying with pictures of their clotheslines.

• Defining 'Sustainable' Palm Oil Production

  By Pete Browne

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:49 am

  The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil upset some conservationists when it concluded its annual meeting this week without including greenhouse gas emissions standards in its certification process.

• Syngas With Carbon Capture at Cook Inlet

  By Stefan Milkowski

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 am

  As the nation looks for ways to burn coal without producing so much carbon dioxide, developers, researchers, and environmentalists are looking at underground coal gasification, or U.C.G., with cautious optimism.

• Study: Managing Emissions Intensity

  By John Collins Rudolf

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:59 am

  A new World Bank study finds that some countries have managed to de-link economic growth and CO2 emissions.

• On Our Radar ...

  By R.M. Schneiderman

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:21 pm

  The aesthetics of the Prius (or lack thereof) and other energy and environment stories from around the Web.

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  WSJ.COM: Environmental Capital

• Green Ink: Out Today

  Keith Johnson

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:29 am

  We’ll be back Monday as usual.

• Al Gore On Copenhagen, Clean-Energy Subsidies, and Global Warming

  Stephen Power

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  Count Al Gore among those who think President Obama should go to Copenhagen in December for a United Nations conference on climate change. Associated Press “It’s really important for the United States to play the role the rest of the world expects us to play.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the former vice president said he believes President Obama will attend the summit; explained why he think it’s appropriate for the U.S. to subsidize companies – including some backed by an investment firm in which he’s a partner – pitching solutions to oil…

• Fickle Breezes: Sen. Schumer Takes Aim at Chinese Wind Farm in Texas

  Keith Johnson

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:23 am

  Note: This post was updated Thursday afternoon. That big new wind farm in Texas, to be financed and supplied by the Chinese, is giving New York senator Chuck Schumer fits. Sen. Schumer is afraid the $1.5 billion project, a 600-odd megawatt wind farm in west Texas, will be partly underwritten by federal clean-energy funds. That’s money meant to jumpstart not just clean energy in the U.S.—Texas hasn’t seceded yet—but also clean-energy jobs in the U.S. The Texas project will create thousands of jobs in China—potentially with taxpayer money, Sen. Schumer says. “The idea that…

• Boxer Rebellion: Senate Panel Approves Climate Bill Without GOP

  Keith Johnson

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:05 am

  Okay, so Sen. Barbara Boxer has moved the energy and climate bill out of the Environment and Public Works Committee and onto the Senate floor. That doesn’t get the bill any closer to garnering 60 votes, but as Sen. Boxer said, it can’t get 60 votes while stuck in committee, either. The chairwoman of the environment committee defended her decision to pass the bill despite a Republican boycott; usually, Senate panels require at least a token presence of the minority party. Rules do allow for a simple majority vote, rules that “are there to be used when the Majority feels it is in the best…

• Panasonic’s Big Bet on Batteries

  Keith Johnson

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:48 am

  Panasonic’s $4.45 billion deal to take control of Sanyo really does seem to be all about clean-energy—especially batteries. It’s also a sign that the clean-energy race may not always go to the swift, but to the strong. The deal matches up two companies that currently account for “most of the batteries currently used in hybrid cars,” the WSJ notes today. Those would be nickel-metal hydrid batteries. Then there’s the next big thing: Lithium-ion batteries for electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars. The two account for 30% of global production capacity there, the WSJ notes. If…

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  CSR-NEWS.net

• Global Stock Exchanges and Investors Address Need for Sustainability Reporting at UN Dialogue

  Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)

  2 Nov 2009 | 2:06 am

  (New York) – Institutional investors and CEOs from stock exchanges around the world meet at UN Headquarters in New York today to explore how the world’s exchanges can work together with investors, regulators, and business to encourage responsible long-term approaches to investment. The event, co-hosted by the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (PRI), UN Global [...]

• Regional Support Center Opens in Latin America with Strong Backing

  Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)

  31 Oct 2009 | 4:06 am

  (Bogota) – The Regional Center for the Support of the Global Compact in Latin America and the Caribbean was launched today at an event that drew participation from the private and public sectors throughout the Latin American region. 115 members of the regional business community and Government leaders attended the launch held at the Presidential [...]

• Call for Papers - Ethics, Energy and the Future: Technology for a Sustainable Society

  Kristin Vorbohle (editor)

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:29 am

  June 24th-26th 2010 Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands Keynote Speakers include: Simon Caney, University of Oxford Stephen Gardiner, University of Washington Axel Gosseries, University of Louvain Jeroen van den Hoven, 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology Andrew Light, George Mason University Henry Shue, University of Oxford Climate change is one of the most urgent problems the world is currently facing. It is commonly [...]

• New Human Rights Dilemma Workbooks Provide Interactive Learning Experience

  Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:44 am

  (New York) – The Human Rights Dilemmas Forum is a web-based forum to address and discuss dilemmas confronting business in their efforts to respect and support human rights. The Forum is part of a project funded by the GE Foundation and implemented by Maplecroft for the UN Global Compact. Recently, the Forum released two interactive Dilemma [...]

• UN Global Compact and OECD Intensify Collaboration

  Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)

  27 Oct 2009 | 3:24 am

  (New York/Paris) – The United Nations Global Compact and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) have recently begun to enhance their collaborative efforts, particularly in countries that have both Global Compact Local Networks and National Contact Points (“NCPs”) on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Following its participation in the 2009 Annual Meeting of [...]

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  FabianPattberg.com

• Video: The post-crisis Consumer

  Fabian

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:55 am

  What will the post crisis consumer want once we are back on track with economic growth?  This is a big topic for marketeers at the moment. Sustainability and a more sustainable lifestyle are key elements in the quest to move out of this crisis and into a healthy economic situation. This video is addressing this overall issue incorporating a lot of sustainability elements towards the later parts of the presentation. Enjoy! Related posts:Video: Controversial view on the problem of feeding the massesThe current State of the Sustainability MovementVideo: Killing fields – the true cost of…

• Listening to a CSR Critic

  Fabian

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:31 am

  Today I listed to a radio show here in the UK with the focus on CSR and one of the guests in the station was a self declared CSR critic. His main argument against promoting CSR best practice for organizations was that: “CSR only costs companies money. And by following the CSR route we will make the world a poorer and over regulated place.” What a statement. This statement really made angry and just showed me how much work we still need to do to convince skeptics but especially the public that CSR best practice is common business best practice. Here is the link to the radio show for you to…

• My Twitter Lists on Sustainability and CSR

  Fabian

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am

  Some of might have heard and seen that Twitter recently introduced a new feature with the so called “Lists”. Here is the link to the Twitter blog including the list announcement with more information.  In short: These lists enable everyone to organize their followers and whom they are following in a much better way. I have spend some time over the last weekend to set up my lists. These are my lists I have set up: Sustainability and CSR People on Twitter http://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/sustainability-csr-people The biggest benefit of Twitter for me is that I am able to connect with…

• My Top 5 Sustainability news this past week – 01.11.2009

  Fabian

  1 Nov 2009 | 8:24 am

  This past week has been another interesting week in terms of Sustainability news. We can clearly see that Climate Change will feature more and more often now in the Sustainability news field as we approach the Copenhagen summit in December. Here are my top 5 Sustainability and CSR news items for the past week: Marks & Spencer describes its journey from corporate social responsibility to sustainability http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/948198/Marks—Spencer-describes-its-journey-corporate-social-responsibility-sustainability/ Two employees from the M&S Sustainability…

• Using Scribd to find useful Sustainability publications

  Fabian

  29 Oct 2009 | 11:15 am

  Todays post is one of my weekly resources posts again. I don’t know whether you ever got the chance to take a closer look at Scribd but there are some interesting resources and publications for free on there. What is Scribd? Here is what the website says: “Scribd is the largest social publishing company in the world, the Website where tens of millions of people each month publish and discover original writings and documents.” And they really have publications for everyones interest. I have had a closer look and I believe that there is also value for the Sustainability professionals…

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  edie.net

• Call for higher fines for polluting firms

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Government's environmental watchdog the Environment Agency has called on courts to up fines handed out to polluters as it names the worst hit regions.

• BAS teams up with edie for awards

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Building Automation Solutions (BAS) have joined up with edie to sponsor the 2009 Awards for Environmental Excellence.

• DECC signs up to 10:10 campaign

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  The Department of Energy and Climate Change has joined the growing number of organisations to sign up to a campaign to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

• NI water quality 'getting better' despite washout summer

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Northern Ireland's bathing water quality is getting better despite the difficulties posed by wet summer weather and flooding.

• Edie forum for Copenhagen talks

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  With less than a month to go until the eyes of the world focus on Copenhagen Edie wants to hear your views on the crucial climate change talks.

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  Worldchanging: Bright Green

• Can We Manipulate the Weather?

  WorldChanging Team

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pm

  Chinese scientists claim to be able to control the weather. But is so-called geoengineering more than wishful thinking? And, if so, should we be worried? Image: Unseasonal snowfall in Beijing, which scientists claim is the result of their geoengineering, November 2009. Photograph: ADRIAN BRADSHAW/EPA The unseasonal snow that fell on Beijing for 11 hours on Sunday was the earliest and heaviest there has been for years. It was also, China claims, man-made. By the end of last month, farmland in the already dry north of China was suffering badly due to drought. So on Saturday night China's…

• Walk Score Adds Transit

  Clark Williams-Derry

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:20 pm

  Popular walkability ranking now includes bus stops and rail stations. Walk Score, which has become the most widely-used measure of pedestrian friendly neighborhoods in North America, has added a new trick: they're now incorporating transit data into their walkability ratings. So in addition to stores, restaurants, parks, and the like, Walk Score now treats nearby bus stops and rail stations as key ingredients of a walkable neighborhood. What makes this extra nifty is that Walk Score has already partnered with a bunch of national real estate websites to incorporate walkability rankings into…

• Interview with Rajendra Pachauri: Amid Mounting Pessimism A Voice of Hope for Copenhagen

  Yale Environment 360

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:44 am

  With skepticism growing about the chances of reaching a climate agreement next month in Copenhagen, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says he is “cautiously optimistic” that a treaty can still be signed. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, Pachauri says the global community may have to move ahead without any commitment from the United States. Few people have as much stake in the outcome of the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Yet despite growing…

• New Study: Changes to Economic Policy Necessary for Switch to Low-Carbon Economy

  Joe Romm

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am

  by Bill Becker New Study: Changes to Economic Policy Necessary for Switch to Low-Carbon Economy In case we need more evidence that an urgent economic transformation is required to avoid catastrophic climate change, it can be found in a new study commissioned by World Wildlife Fund International. Conducted by Climate Risk Pty. Ltd. of Great Britain and Australia, the study concludes: Runaway climate change is almost inevitable without specific action to implement low-carbon re-industrialization over the next five years [emphasis added]… World governments have a window that will close between…

• The Future of Environmental Law Mapping

  WorldChanging Team

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:17 am

  By Laurent Granier Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and mapping offer great opportunities for the transfer of legal data from books to maps. GIS applications have been evolving in many directions, well beyond geography. Many fields such as environmental economics, social science, health science and administration are now aggregated with scientific representations. The methods for environmental and social mapping are now participatory too. Together, these tools offer new, integrated visions of our territories (or anthromes) and could greatly assist environmental lawyers and policy…

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  NextBillion.net

• Weekly Round-Up: Financial Services Friday

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:32 pm

  Authored by: Nathan WyethHere are stories that caught my eye this week, an event coming up in San Francisco, and an opportunity for bloggers writing at the intersection of technology and poverty: The Financial Access Initiative out of NYU has concluded in a new report that 2.5 billion people don't have access to a financial institution, including microfinance.  Jonathan Murdoch, FAI's managing director and a professor of economics and policy at NYU, has an illuminating quote: "Until now, the margin of error when considering the world's unbanked was about plus or minus a…

• Base of the Pyramid Career Paths: What Would You Ask?

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:05 am

  Authored by: Francisco Noguera Are you interested in getting involved in social enterprise? In finding a job and build a career around it? Perhaps even starting a venture of your own or join one that is in early stage?  If your answer to any of the above was yes, you'd probably be interested in knowing how you can best prepare yourself for it. What skills are critical to build a career that relates to the BoP, and what are the best ways to hone those? What opportunities are out there to get started? Where will future opportunities come from? Is it likely…

• Product Management Internship

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:14 am

  Organization: Kickstart InternationalLocation: Nairobi, KE KickStart International is an award winning non-profit social enterprise with a mission to help millions of people in developing countries escape from poverty and to "kickstart" sustainable economic growth. KickStart develops simple money-making tools and markets them to poor, entrepreneurial persons who use them to start profitable new businesses, increase their family wealth and boost local economic growth. (www.KickStart.org). The organization is recruiting for a qualified, enthusiastic volunteer to assist us full-time over a…

• Base of the Pyramid Initiative Intern

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:01 am

  Organization: Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis & MalariaLocation: New York City, USJob Description: The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) is an alliance ofover 200 international companies leading the private sector fight to end these three epidemics.GBC leverages the business sector's unique skills and expertise-including comprehensiveworkplace policies; community programs; core competencies; leadership and advocacy andpublic-private partnerships - in the global drive to eradicate these deadly illnesses. In 2009, GBC began to explore Base…

• CK Prahalad Releases Two New Case Studies

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:30 am

  Authored by: Moses Lee According to Thinkers 50, a biennial ranking of business gurus, C.K. Prahalad is the most influential management thinker in the world. This is the second straight time that Prahalad has topped the list.  "C.K. Prahalad's influence on the business world is immense," said Des Dearlove, co-creator of the ranking, in a statement. "He coined the term 'core competencies' in the 1990s, which set the strategy agenda for a generation of managers. More recently, his work on The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid has shown the role business can play in…

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  CorpWatch

• FRANCE: France jails 'Angolagate' power players

  27 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  A French court slapped jail terms Tuesday on the main players in a network that smuggled arms to war-torn Angola and included an ex-minister and the son of the late president Francois Mitterrand.

• Berkeley, Oakland urge oil money transparency

  20 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

• IVORY COAST: Trafigura offers deal to 31,000 Africans over dumped waste

  17 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  British oil trader Trafigura has offered to settle a court case brought by 31,000 Africans who say that they were injured in the largest personal injuries class action mounted in an English court. The action resulted from the dumping of 400 tonnes of waste in the Ivory Coast by an oil tanker, the Probo Koala, in 2006 — one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history.

• IVORY COAST: Trafigura offers deal to 31,000 Africans over dumped waste

  17 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  British oil trader Trafigura has offered to settle a court case brought by 31,000 Africans who say that they were injured in the largest personal injuries class action mounted in an English court. The action resulted from the dumping of 400 tonnes of waste in the Ivory Coast by an oil tanker, the Probo Koala, in 2006 — one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history.

• FRANCE: French nuclear plant reveals plutonium level discrepancies

  15 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  The French government has demanded answers from a nuclear research facility after nearly triple the registered amount of plutonium was discovered there during its dismantling this summer.

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  Richard Murphy: Tax & Corporate Accountability

• The taxman cometh to the Isle of Man

  Richard Murphy

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:35 pm

  The taxman cometh | Comment is free | The Guardian . In the 60s, the Isle of Man recast itself as an offshore tax haven. How will the Manx ‘nation’ react now that status is under threat? The Guardian considers the issue. And draws no conclusions. Apart, it seems, from the fact that the Tax Justice Network is unpopular in the Isle of Man. Really?

• The STEP report on International Finance Centres

  Richard Murphy

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:50 am

  I have already commented briefly on the STEP report on international finance centres – otherwise called tax havens / secrecy jurisdictions. I was challenged to say why I had so many problems with it. Rather than write at length I made this video. Sorry visual quality is not fantastic – I don’t run a recording studio.

• BBC admits errors in TaxPayers’ Alliance reporting

  Richard Murphy

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:35 am

  The Other TaxPayers’ Alliance | BBC admits errors in TaxPayers’ Alliance reporting. In a recent post we asked who would be the first journalist to quote the TaxPayers’ Alliance and its “partners” – the Drivers’ Alliance and Big Brother Watch – in the same story? The bad news is that the BBC almost won the accolade, scoring two out of three for its report, “Drivers ‘losing out’ to railways”. The good news is that an Other TPA member complained and received the following reply from BBC News Interactive UK Editor Pat Heery: “I accept your point that we should have…

• Financial Secrecy Index - what the papers said

  Richard Murphy

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:32 am

  Tax Justice Network: Financial Secrecy Index - what the papers said. TJN survey of press reaction to the Financial Secrecy Index.

• Big fine for UBS wealth management division

  Richard Murphy

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:22 am

  FT.com / Companies / Banks - Improper trading case adds to woes for UBS. News on Thursday that employees in UBS’s wealth management division in London made unauthorised trades that cost clients more than $42m could not have come at a worse time for the Swiss bank. According to the FSA final notice on Thursday, UBS’s internal controls were so weak that a desk head and three other employees were able to place up to 50 unauthorised foreign exchange and precious metals trades a day for a period of two years without being caught. The employees took advantage of rules that let them place…

• 
  Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward

• Introducing … the Green Confidence Index

  joelmakower

  27 Oct 2009 | 7:55 am

  Today marks the launch of a new monthly index, the Green Confidence Index, aimed at tracking Americans' attitudes about and confidence in their leaders and institutions, nationally and locally, on the subject of environmental responsibility, as well as in their own understanding of issues and their willingness to make green purchasing choices. It is the first comprehensive monthly tracking of consumers' green attitudes and purchasing. The Index was produced by my colleagues at GreenBiz.com in partnership with a leading market research firm, Earthsense, and a leading polling firm,…

• How to Talk About [Whatever It's Called]

  joelmakower

  25 Oct 2009 | 9:14 pm

  Do people care about the climate?It's an open question these days, and opinion polls offer little help. Some show that climate ranks fairly low among public concerns, while others indicate a high level of concern among the populace. And in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, now a mere six weeks away, those opinions count for something, particularly in the United States, where lawmakers are looking to be swayed one way or another. Here's a sampling of the hodgepodge of public opinion. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press last week reported that "There…

• A Look Inside Good Housekeeping's Green Seal

  joelmakower

  18 Oct 2009 | 8:34 pm

  It's long stated as near fact by observers of the confusing and confounding green marketplace that what's needed, once and for all, is something akin to a Good Housekeeping Seal for the environment. Good Housekeeping, it seems, represents a pinnacle of credibility and consumer confidence. So, now that Good Housekeeping has introduced its own green seal, what should we make of it? First, some background. The original Good Housekeeping Seal was introduced in 1909, when there was little regulatory oversight of consumer products. It represented an audacious marketing promise from its…

• Sky Vegetables: Taking Green Roofs to New Heights

  joelmakower

  7 Oct 2009 | 9:06 am

  "Hi, I'm Keith. We take underutilized space in urban areas and grow food there, creating green jobs, providing access to fresh produce, localizing the economy, and creating a better life by building communities through growing vegetables." I have to admit, it was one of the cooler, more compelling elevator pitches I've heard, and I've heard a lot. This one came at a cocktail reception several weeks ago, at the Food Marketing Institute's Sustainability Summit, a gathering of major retailers and consumer packaged goods brands, where I was a keynote speaker. As such…

• Who's Invested in Newsweek's Least-Green Companies? (Maybe You)

  joelmakower

  21 Sep 2009 | 5:01 am

  One aspect of Newsweek's just-released rankings of 500 leading companies' environmental policies and performance is to view the list from an investor perspective. Specifically: Who are investors in the worst-ranked companies? You might be surprised to find that it's you. An analysis of the publicly available data shows that the 50 largest investors in the companies receiving the lowest scores — those ranked 490 through 500 on Newsweek's list — include three leading public employee pension funds as well as major mutual funds that hold millions of Americans'…

• 
  GreenBiz.com

• Steven Chu: The Nerd in the Cabinet

  Marc Gunther

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am

  The current Secretary of Energy is also a Nobel Laureate and former physics professor at UC Berkeley, and a self-described 'energy conservation nut.'

• SRI Field Continues to Shift with RiskMetrics' Acquisition of KLD

  Robert Kropp

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:46 am

  The rapidly changing landscape of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research providers received another major update this week as RiskMetrics Group announced the acquisition of KLD Research & Analytics. The acquisition, which has been widely anticipated for a month, follows RiskMetrics' purchase of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, like KLD a provider of ESG research, in February.

• Nike Debuts Latest Collection of 'Considered Design' Products

  GreenBiz Staff

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:04 pm

  Nike will debut a new collection of athletic footwear Saturday made with environmentally preferred materials. A portion of revenue from the N7 line will support Native American youth sports through the N7 Fund.

• Johnson Controls: The Quiet Company Raises Its Voice and Its Profile

  Leslie Guevarra

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:51 pm

  Though a giant in the buildings and automotive industries, Johnson Controls Inc. was long considered a quiet company — seldom a major presence outside its lines of business. That's changing as the firm increasingly raises its voice and its profile to spread its mantra of "Efficiency Now."  

• Diversey Ups Emissions Reductions Investments, Earns Bigger ROI

  ClimateBiz Staff

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:40 am

  One year after setting a goal to cut corporate emissions by 8 percent before 2013, Diversey CEO today announced the company had already surpassed that target, and upped the goal to a 25 percent reduction in the same time frame.

• 
  PSD: The World Bank Group Blog

• Weekend Reading: Unemployment Edition

  Brian Hoyt

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:42 pm

  Can development workers win wars? Is transport infrastructure the most important aspect of urban evolution? The Treasury's courtship of the blogosphere. Is China's changing worldview bad for business? America's largest retailer: it's not Wal-Mart. Why are some marathons more volatile than others? The EU's role in reducing state fragility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thoughts on migration: Kosovo edition. Unemployment What America can learn from Europe about unemployment. Other difficulties that arise from high unemployment. Plus, unemployment charts galore from Calculated…

• Rethinking the brain drain

  Ryan Hahn

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:43 am

  An article in Foreign Policy last month asks us to rethink the brain drain. Authors Michael Clemens and David McKenzie (the latter an employee of the World Bank) argue that the movement of skilled labor is a boon to both developed and developing countries. They decry the term "brain drain" as a serious mischaracterization of the phenomenon. Perhaps they need an alternative catchy phrase to supplant the term—how about brain train? While most of their argument is convincing, I think they may be overstating their case in one spot. The authors argue that…

• The theory of industrial policy meets reality

  Ryan Hahn

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:40 am

  The idea of industrial policy has been seeing a bit of a resurgence since the financial crisis. It's good to be reminded of the reality of what these policies end up looking like in practice. It seems that Ethiopia's private sector coffee exporters are not too sympathetic to the idea. (H/t African Agriculture)  

• Does GATS require network neutrality?

  Ryan Hahn

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:09 am

  A new paper argues that permanent blocks by WTO members on internet services like search engines, photo sharing, etc. run afoul of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The International Economic Law and Policy blog has the details.

• Small businesses and the case for safe savings

  Brian Hoyt

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:25 pm

  Writing in this blog last July, Anushka Thewarapperuma penned a favorable review of a new book by Daryl Collins and Jonathan Morduch on how people living on less than $2/day manage their financial lives. The authors discovered that the world's poor are quite good at managing their finances: The poorest people on earth engage in the sort of sophisticated money management that would make Chuck Schwab proud. Thewarapperuma ended her post by noting that Collins "will be coming out soon with a pilot study using the same methodology of financial diaries, this time…

• 
  CSR International

• The CSR Media Boom: We Got What We Deserve

  24 Oct 2009 | 5:39 am

  Having just spent a morning reading the latest issue of Time magazine (one of my favourite mags, when I get a chance to read it), it really got me thinking about how far the world has moved since I started out in my CSR/sustainability career nearly 20 years ago.20 years ago, finding credible media coverage on environmental or social responsibility was like hunting for a needle in a haystack. Now CSR/sustainability issues are the haystack. For example, in this week's Time, there are stories on:The President of the Maldives and his Cabinet holding an underwater meeting to urge UN leaders to…

• CSR for SMEs: Lessons from Mexico

  10 Oct 2009 | 6:17 am

  In a country where more than 95% of businesses are micro-enterprises, how do you make CSR relevant? Well, you start by replacing the corporate C with an enterprising E. In Mexico, as in all of Latin America, CSR translates as RSE - Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, or Social Responsibility for Enterprises. You also figure out how to turn social, environmental and ethical responsibilities into a business model, rather than a peripheral add-on. This is what the IDEARSE Centre for Enterprise Sustainability & Responsibility at Anauhuac University has done, as part of the government's SME…

• Worth more alive than dead: Our biodiversity challenge - Part 2

  30 Sep 2009 | 1:29 pm

  In essence, what we need is the equivalent of "The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change", for biodiversity. And happily, that is exactly what we are getting. TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity - is working to put a cost on the loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity loss, and to recommend policy actions. What TEEB needs to prove - much like the Stern Review - is that the cost of inaction is not only real, but also enormous. Fortunately, this argument is getting a boost from the crescendo on climate change. And more specifically, the links between deforestation…

• Worth more alive than dead: Our biodiversity challenge - Part 1

  27 Sep 2009 | 1:32 am

  One of my enduring critiques of the CSR movement is that it has failed to have a dramatic impact on some of the biggest global challenges we face. Despite all the CSR reports and ISO management systems, many things are getting worse, not better. This is indisputable when it comes to biodiversity loss. It is not exaggerating to say that we are causing the sixth mass extinction in the history of planet earth.I always have to pinch myself when I present figures on this - WWF's Living Planet Index, which tracks populations of 1,313 vertebrate species, has gone down 30% since 1970. Just think…

• The Three Curses of CSR: Curse 3 - Uneconomic Role

  2 Sep 2009 | 3:27 am

  Curse 3: Uneconomic CSR If there was ever a monotonously repetitive, stuck record in CSR debates, it is the one about the so-called ‘business case’ for CSR. That is because CSR managers and consultants, and even the occasional saintly CEO, are desperate to find compelling evidence that ‘doing good is good for business’, i.e. CSR pays! And indeed, the lack of sympathetic research seems to be no impediment for these desperados endlessly incanting the motto of the business case, as if it were an entirely self-evident fact. The rather more ‘inconvenient truth’ is that CSR sometimes…

• 
  CSR Europe

• Consider Us, a global UNEP FI Campaign, gives children a voice at Copenhagen

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  The global UNEP FI Campaign 'Consider Us' aims to engage capital markets with their most important long term stakeholders - children. The campaign has grown exponentially since its launch last month during UNEP FI's annual Roundtable held in Cape Town South Africa where it was highly well received by delegates. Consider Us is empowering children around the world to send messages of 20 words or less to the leaders of capital markets and governments to consider them. Messages are being collected in schools and via www… read more

• Finnish Business & Society appoints Mikko Routti as Director

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Finnish Business & Society has announced the appointment of Mikko Routti as the new Director of the organisation. Previously, Mr Routti has led risk management services at Deloitte & Touche Finland and Nokia, where he also served as a member of the company's Corporate Responsibility Steering Group. His areas of expertise include risk management, corporate governance, and international trade and development issues. As of November 2009, Mr Routti is responsible for leading and developing FiBS' activities in cooperation with the association's Board… read more

• Dow and BASF win IChemE Award for jointly developed HPPO technology

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and BASF announced today that they have received the Institution of Chemical Engineers' Innovation and Excellence Award in Core Engineering for their jointly developed Hydrogen Peroxide to Propylene Oxide (HPPO) production technology. The annual award - presented on November 3 in York, United Kingdom - recognizes the project or process that best demonstrates a chemical engineering solution to improve resource efficiency, lifetime value and/or process optimization. Read more (CSR Wire) read more

• Accessing credit a daunting task for eco-innovators

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Companies are finding it difficult to get loans for eco-innovation projects because banks lack the technological knowledge to approve them, according to European businesses. Many innovative projects to slash emissions hit the wall when banks deny them access to venture capital, business representatives warned at a conference organised in Brussels on 22 October by the Lisbon Council think-tank. Read more (EurActiv)  read more

• Europe needs more businesswomen

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Entrepreneurs are the people who have the creative ideas, drive and determination to set up new small businesses: the seeds from which big enterprises can blossom. However, women currently make up only a third of the EU’s entrepreneurial community because of an environment that makes it more difficult for them to set up and grow their own companies. Only about 8% of the female workforce is self-employed, compared with 16% of men, and almost three times more self-employed men than women have their own staff… read more

• 
  GM: Community Involvement News

• Chevrolet builds 1,500,000th Corvette

  Pricing also announced for the 2010 Corvette Grand Sport Detroit (June 10, 2009) — At the June meeting of the Greater Atlanta Automotive Media Association, Karen Rafferty, Chevrolet Product Marketing Director, today announced the recent production of the 1,500,000th Corvette at GM Bowling Green Assembly.  

• General Motors and the College for Creative Studies on the lookout for next generation car designers

  112 Detroit Public High School students learn techniques of car design Detroit (May 18, 2009) — Car designers are inspired by everything around them. They often draw their inspiration from fashion, architecture, even furniture design. A trendy purse or shoes, a new office building, or a chair can trigger new ideas for the design of a seat or head or tail lamps.  

• New GM And U-M Institute Of Automotive Research And Education Focuses On Fuel-Efficiency And Reinvention Of The Automobile

  Detroit (May 7, 2009) — General Motors and the University of Michigan today announced the formation of the GM/U-M Institute of Automotive Research and Education, with a strategic focus on reinventing the automobile and developing the next generation of high-efficiency vehicles powered by diverse energy sources.  

• General Motors Unveils Unprecedented Customer Protection Package - "GM Total Confidence"

  Payment protection for first 24 months of ownership... lose your income and we'll make up to nine payments for up to $500 per month Finance a new GM vehicle we'll help protect its retail value at trade-in time on your next GM vehicle Safety and security of one year of OnStar standard Fully backed, 5 year/100,000 mile limited powertrain warranty with roadside assistance and courtesy transportation... provides the best coverage in the industry GMconfidence.com website launched with program details Detroit (March 31, 2009) — General Motors today announced the most comprehensive customer…

• GM and Opel Launch Website to Support Fact-Based Discussion

  gmeuropefactsandfiction.com dispels common misinformation and urban legends Find answers to questions around company structure, actions and plans Detroit (March 13, 2009) — The current need for bridge-financing for GM’s European operations is rooted in a catastrophic economic crisis, the worst of its kind in more than 70 years. Given the significance of the situation politically and for society, it’s only natural that rumor, speculation and urban myths should begin to circulate at this time. In addition to informed reporting based on fact there is also misinformation and…

• 
  GMability: Education News

• Fall Updates

  What's been happening on GM Education? DETROIT (October 16, 2009) — For the latest GM Education tips, games, activities and lesson plans for the classroom, check out the latest newsletter edition.

• Summer is Finally Here!

  Looking for fun summer activities for your children? Want to catch up on the latest GM Education updates? DETROIT (July 1, 2009) — Check out the GM Education Newsletter's latest edition.

• GM Sponsored Teams Grab 1st & 2nd as Part of Winning Alliances at FIRST World Championship

  FIRST™ Championship Draws More Than 10,000 Students and 533 Robots from 28 Countries in Robotics Challenge at Georgia Dome in Atlanta Atlanta (April 18, 2009) — Twenty-thousand spectators, students, mentors, volunteers, sponsors, and FIRST™ supporters gathered over the weekend to experience the ultimate celebration of science and technology that ignites students' scientific savvy in three levels of Championship competitions.

• LIVE Web Chat: Green Wheels for the Future, Please!

  What will our children demand for their tomorrows? DETROIT (April 17, 2009) — In honor of Earth Day, GM Education and Greenopolis have teamed up to bring a unique opportunity to classrooms around the country and to the general public - a live web chat about the future of transportation and sustainability with GM Director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Concepts, Dr. Christopher Borroni-Bird.

• New “Teach Green” Blog Encourages Conversation and Sharing of Tips and Ideas for Classrooms

  GM’s education web site offers teachers and students resources and activities that highlight energy, environment and sustainability topics Calling all teachers! GM’s K-12 education web site has just launched a new blog to help encourage conversation, information sharing and the exchange of advice amongst teachers who want to promote “green” lessons in their classrooms. To help get the conversation going, GM has tapped a couple of teachers that were recipients of a “Live Green” teacher grant sponsored by GM and Discovery Education last year. These teachers will…

• 
  GMability: Environmental News

• Testimony of Michael Robinson - General Motors To the EPA & NHTSA

  Regarding Proposed Rulemaking to Establish Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards DETROIT. (October 21, 2009) — Good morning, I’m Michael Robinson, GM Vice President for Environment, Energy and Safety Policy for General Motors. On May 19 th, President Obama announced the Administration’s intentions to adopt a national program to address vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy. GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson proudly joined the President and others in the Rose Garden that day because we recognized the…

• FastLane Blog Post: Let’s be frank about climate change

  By Mike Robinson, vice president, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy DETROIT. (October 15, 2009) — You may have noticed today is Blog Action Day 2009, and the focus for thousands of bloggers around the world is to engage people in a frank discussion about climate change – something you probably wouldn’t expect us to do.  But like we continuously ask of you, we’re joining the conversation to help raise awareness on this important issue, and more importantly, what we’re doing to be part of the solution.  Quite frankly, this is an issue that affects all…

• General Motors Statement Regarding Joint EPA/NHTSA NPRM On Fuel Economy/GHG Emissions

  DETROIT. (September 15, 2009) — A strong, single national fuel economy standard will benefit consumers and automakers alike by helping get more clean and efficient vehicles on the road quickly and more affordably.  

• U.S. EPA Joins Government, Industry and Academic Consortium to Develop Next Generation EcoCARs

  Collegiate Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition to Create Thousands of Green Automotive Engineering Graduates WASHINGTON D.C. (August 6, 2009) — EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has joined the EcoCAR consortium of government, industry and academic leaders who are helping to develop the next generation of automotive engineers who will design and build the environmental vehicles of the future.

• Flint Metal Center Receives Neighborhood Environmental Partners Award

  FLINT, MICHIGAN (July 24, 2009) — Flint Metal Center recently won the Neighborhood Environmental Partners Program Award for its outstanding commitment to community based environmental projects. The State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality presented the award to plant representatives at an award ceremony in Lansing, Michigan.

• 
  Triple Pundit

• Imagine H2O Prize Competition to Drive Water Innovation

  3p Guest Author

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:26 pm

  As 3p readers know, the growing scarcity of freshwater is causing significant social and environment problems around the world.  From a rise in cholera in parts of Africa to chronic water shortages in Australia as a result of drought, people everywhere are feeling the impact of the global water crisis.  

Imagine H2O, a non-profit that [...]

• Thanks to Triple Pundit’s Sponsors

  Nick Aster

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:45 pm

  As November rolls along, we’re happy to see our community of readers, contributors, and sponsors growing. Our sponsors in particular are what make it possible to continue to publish great content and continue to build the 3p movement. Please take some time to check out what they’re doing and if you’re in a [...]

• European Lawmakers To Give Free Carbon Credits to Heavy Industry

  BC Upham

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:14 pm

  The EU, that bastion of environmental common sense, is giving away its carbon credits. For free. To some of their biggest polluters. Reuters reports that European Union lawmakers have approved a list of heavy industries, including metals, textiles, building materials and ceramics, that will be handed free carbon credits starting in 2013, rather than have to [...]

• Barcelona Climate Talks End after a Week of Boycotts- Next Stop: Copenhagen

  Tom Schueneman

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 am

  The final week of climate negotiations in Barcelona have now ended. The last meeting before the main event in Copenhagen next month served to emphasize the lingering stalemate between rich and poor nations, and the equally unmoving impasse between political factions in the United States. On Tuesday, delegations from 50 African nations boycotted the climate talks [...]

• Give more, Useless

  Audrey

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am

  Believe me, USELESS, I get it. I get the point you’re trying to make. Your anti-consumerism, “Use less, give more” message is not a new one. However, following it with a list of products to purchase definitely is. I understand that you mean to be somewhat ironic. And I get how handy it is that when [...]

• 
  The Inspired Protagonist

• Will This Conference Make Business More Responsible?

  Inspired Protagonist

  28 Oct 2009 | 6:35 am

  At the registration desk, I got my goody bag. I peered inside and found a corporate responsibility report from ExxonMobil, a sponsor (believe it or not) of the Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) annual meeting that took place last week in San Francisco. For a moment, I thought I had checked into the wrong event. Aron Cramer, President and CEO of BSR, began his address to the thousand people at the conference by saying, "Our work is not about creating a green economy but a strong economy." I cringed. His statement both confuses and inverts the truth. The only way to create a "strong…

• Owning Up to Responsibility

  Inspired Protagonist

  25 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  When a corporation gets it wrong and bad things happen, we've come to expect a fairly standard response. Public relations teams twist facts and logic. Blame is aggressively laid elsewhere. Innocence is strongly proclaimed, and not much changes. At best we get a fix or a settlement without any admission of wrongdoing, and business as usual is free to continue. So it was refreshing to see the new president of Toyota offer not just one but a whole series of mea culpas in a recent speech to reporters at the Japan National Press Club. Akio Toyoda offered a mournful apology for an August car crash…

• Environmentalism's Dirty Secret

  Inspired Protagonist

  22 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pm

  It's easy to think of pollution as a problem we all share. Bad air, dirty water, chemical contamination, and other challenges spread themselves out roughly equally. Or so we think. The truth is more complicated: Some places are more polluted than others, and the worst conditions tend to be in poor and minority communities. For too long, this has been environmentalism's dirty secret. Well-intentioned activists work on environmental issues but many go home to the relative health and safety of clean neighborhoods, which have been kept that way by money and influence that force the sources of…

• Can We Buy Our Way To Salvation?

  Inspired Protagonist

  21 Oct 2009 | 11:33 am

  Anand Giridharadas, in a Sunday New York Times piece entitled "Boycotts Minus the Pain," poses some wonderfully important questions about the role and limitations of ethical consumption. As a lifelong salesman of bath tissue and laundry detergent that aspire to be both sustainable and responsible, it's not surprising that I have my own point of view. Giridharadas asks which, "problems demand politics and which the mall. Child labor in Vietnam and unscrupulous intermediaries in the coffee trade lent themselves to buycotting. What can the market do about Darfur or health care in the United…

• Why I Speak To MBA Students

  Inspired Protagonist

  19 Oct 2009 | 10:31 am

  Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a group of Columbia University MBA students. The next day I received an interesting email, which asked: "If you were given the power to decide how each of the MBAs in the room tonight spent the next 10 years of their careers, what would you have us do? What is the lever we should be pushing? Where can we have the most impact on the "system" right now? Many of us have a passion for change, but are still searching for "what to do with our lives," are unsure of where to push, and how to do it." This is a great question and between its lines, we can…

• 
  The Business Ethics Blog

• Sugar Subsidies, Fraud, and Rationalization

  27 Oct 2009 | 1:34 pm

  Today in class I taught Joe Heath's wonderful paper, "Business Ethics and Moral Motivation: A Criminological Perspective" (J. Bus Ethics, 2008. 83:4, 595-614). It's a paper that draws on the criminology literature to debunk several 'folk theories' regarding what it is that motivates wrongdoing, theories too often drawn upon by scholars and other commentators in business ethics.Coincidentally, this item in today's news illustrates one of Heath's key points about the role that rationalization plays in fostering wrongdoing in business.From the NY Times: Fraud Plagues Sugar Subsidy System in…

• Can Life-Saving Decisions Really Be "Tough Calls"?

  15 Oct 2009 | 10:22 am

  Big business means big decisions. Tough decisions. In some industries, those decisions affect whether people live or die.Here's a story that gives insight into the thought process that goes into such a decision. From BNET: How I Made the Toughest Call of My CareerNot many CEOs run companies whose products have saved the lives of family members; Bill Hawkins does, and his connection with Medtronic, the $14.6 billion Minneapolis-based medical device maker, runs deep. His father has had eight coronary stents implanted; his father-in-law has both a Medtronic heart valve and a pacemaker; and his…

• Should Consumers Trust Big Pharma?

  8 Oct 2009 | 1:17 pm

  Lots of people don't trust Big Pharma. And to a significant extent, that's for good reasons. (I've blogged about some of those reasons here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, just to cite a few examples. See also some of the entries on the other blog I co-author, the Research Ethics Blog.)Trust in big pharma is an important issue. Pharmaceuticals are responsible for saving and improving a huge number of lives. Vaccines alone have prevented literally millions of deaths. Survival rates for many cancers are better than they used to be. And AIDS, once a death sentence, is now regarded…

• Micro-Philanthropy on Zynga's "Farmville"

  5 Oct 2009 | 7:16 am

  Video game developer, Zynga, has just launched an interesting project that stands to bring significant benefit to the poor of Haiti.Zynga's products include the popular "Farmville" application on Facebook (currently listed as having over 53 million active users). The game lets users play at being farmers — plowing fields, planting seeds, and harvesting crops. The game includes a virtual economy, with virtual cash: seeds have a price, and the crops players eventually "harvest" are sold for virtual money. Players also have the option of ponying up real money (via credit card or PayPal) to…

• Barriers to Talking About Doing the Right Thing

  2 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pm

  This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of giving a talk at an excellent event held by the Conference Board of Canada's Corporate Ethics Management Council.The substance of my talk was not about business ethics per se but about lessons I've learned in blogging about business ethics over the last 4 years.In my talk, I noted that I'd run into a trio of key challenges, ones that I strongly suspect pose challenges for people trying to talk about ethics within their own institutions.One problem is familiarity or comfort with talking about ethics. For some people, talking about ethics just doesn't…

• 
  Principled Profit

• Breaking: No Vote to be Taken on Medicare-for-All

  Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:43 pm

  This just in: Proponents of single-payer health care, a/k/a Medicare for All–the system used by almost every developed country in the world–will not get our promised floor vote after all. If I were in Congress right now, I’d vote no. The bill has gotten weaker, more complicated, and more expensive with every turn. As I understand it, it is a giveaway to big insurers and might actually leave fewer people insured than we have now. A travesty! President Obama–WHERE is the “change” you promised so loudly one year ago? As The Who sang in my very favorite song,…

• Social Responsibility: A Global Virtual Summit–Q&A with John Gerstner/Discount Offer

  Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert

  2 Nov 2009 | 6:54 am

  What motivated you to organize this conference? You could say this was an alignment of some stars that had been orbiting for quite awhile. First, social responsibility (or sustainability, corporate citizenship and green) is a topic I’m very interested in, going back to when I was Manager of Environmental & Safety Communication at John Deere about 10 years ago. Next, I credit Rick Sauter, Communitelligence Vice President, who had initiated talks with Cisco about partnering on a conference. When the topic of social responsibility came up, there was an mutual a ha moment. Six months…

• With Social Media, I Can Cross Time Tunnels to the Distant Past

  Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert

  31 Oct 2009 | 2:18 pm

  Thirty-one years ago, the housemate with whom I’d found an apartment moved out, and I invited a poet friend of mine to take his place. We shared that apartment for several months, until he, too, moved on, and another friend moved in. Today, I went to see that poet friend for the first time since around 1980. We’d been completely out of touch–but about a year ago, a mutual friend tracked my wife down on Facebook. Turns out that mutual friend also convinced my old housemate to join Facebook, where we found each other a month or so ago. The friend who moved in after him stayed…

• Negroponte/Quadir: How Laptops and Cell Phones Attack Systemic Poverty in Developing Countries

  Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert

  28 Oct 2009 | 11:38 am

  Horace Mann, founding President of Antioch College, famously said “Be ashamed to die until you have won one victory for humanity.” Neither Nicholas Negroponte nor Iqbal Quadir will ever have to worry about shaming themselves in front of Horace Mann’s ghost. These two M.I.T. professors have both made substantial contributions in developing countries, bringing life-changing technology to villages that don’t even have electricity or running water. Negroponte is the key mover behind One Laptop Per Child, an initiative to develop and distribute rugged but cheap (like $100…

• Two Keys to Energy Sustainability Through Clean Renewable Energy

  Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert

  27 Oct 2009 | 9:06 am

  Great article, “100% Renewables by 2030 for Less Than Fossil Power: A Case is Made,” by Stacy Feldman on SolveClimate.com (a site new to me). Go read it, then come back here! Stacy is absolutely correct that we have the keys to solving both the carbon and energy crises, with safe, sustainable renewable technology–and that neither renewable but unsustainable and highly polluting biomass, nor non-renewable, highly dangerous, highly centralized nuclear are NOT viable long-term solutions. One key is decentralizing energy generation. When power is generated at or near the place…

• 
  Development Crossing: Discussion Forum

• Reporting Disaster

  CSO Partners

  Disasters are not what the media likes to report. They have to be at least the scale of Aila, if not tsunami, to be adequately covered by the esteemed dailies. Many areas of India are reeling under recurrent drought. Flash floods annually destroy life and property. But these are never breaking news, not sensational ever to be so. Is that not a reflection of our own sensibilities? There is also a pattern in what the media reports about the disasters, i.e., those worthy enough for more analysis than a small box insertion. A few items on the scale of destruction, a few criticism of the…

• Blue Tits or Robins?

  Mark Harrison

  These are UK common garden birds by the way! Other birds are available that illustrate the same condition. In evolution it has been researched that birds are second to humans in their ability to learn and adapt to their environment. Within the species however there are different rates of learning that broadly can be split into two groupings, one is solitary learning the other is team learning both can produce positive results but team learning is both faster and more adaptable. In the case of the blue tits these agile birds flock in small groups and have a wide territory of operation while…

• TWTRCON DC 2009 -- What I learned!

  Kenneth Westling

  Hello! So I have been meaning to share some of my notes from TWTRCON DC 09. For those of you that don’t know, I attended TWTRCON in Washington, DC on October 22, 2009, and I attended the event on behalf of Development Crossing (@DevCrossing) and why not get some self promotion here as well…I was there as World in Motion (http://twitter.com/WorldinMotion). I found the whole experience very rewarding and wanted to pass on some of the knowledge I learned with all of you. The conference began at 7:30 in the morning, a time of day I haven’t been acquainted with since my internship over the…

• Rainforests and the Corporate Sector - Focus Group/ Short Interview/ Survey

  Geetanjali Singh

  Disney Invests In Saving Forests Hope for Rainforests - Gucci Group Commits to Protecting Indonesia’s Rainforests Sky, WWF launch rainforest initiative A Google partnership to save an Amazon tribe and rainforest Doing a CSR project at school along these lines.. would you like to participate in a survey/ or a short interview? Please reply. Appreciate any help! :) Geet

• Interview with Cindy Cooper from Speak Shop

  Development Crossing

  As part of our ongoing interview series, Cindy Cooper, Co-Founder of fair trade language tutoring site Speak Shop, shares her thoughts with us today. A big thank you to Cindy for taking the time... 1. Could you provide a brief overview of the organization and your role and responsibilities in it? Speak Shop (www.SpeakShop.com) makes it easy to take one-on-one Spanish lessons online via webcam with teachers in impoverished countries like Guatemala and Nicaragua. A lot of people study languages abroad, but not enough to make it a year-round sustainable source of income for these language…

• 
  Google Blog Search: Corporate Responsbility

• New on Twitter: Corporate Social Responsibility News ...

  Phil Dennison, Senior Marketing Specialist, Business Wire

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:17 am

  Anna-Christina Cabrales, our Global Disclosure & Financial Reporting specialist, will be tweeting the latest in Corporate Social Responsibility news from Business Wire as well as links to other CSR-related topics around the Web. ...

• Why Social Media Is Vital to Corporate Social Responsibility ...

  Editor-in-Chief

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:21 am

  Melissa Jun Rowley is a freelance entertainment correspondent for CNN, a writer for Causecast, and producer for “That Morning Show” on E!

• Crossroads: A Review of Corporate Social Responsibility in China

  Rich

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:33 pm

  Crossroads is a review of Corporate Social Responsibility in China.

• SmartBlog on Workforce » Blog Archive » Building a corporate ...

  Brooke Howell

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:26 pm

  The Greater Washington Board of Trade hosted a Corporate Social Responsibility Workshop this morning featuring Tara Greco, vice president of corporate social responsibility at APCO Worldwide, and Bill Hanbury, president and CEO of ...

• Novotel Greens Three More Hotels In Hong Kong - ChinaCSR.com ...

  editor

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am

  *Note: All of our corporate social responsibility email newsletters are in HTML format. CSR Assessments and Training in China! Compliance and Sustainability are two sides of the same coin, and businesses must keep their suppliers aware ...

• 
  WordPress Tag: Corporate Responsibility

• OHS must raise its profile in the debate of directors' liability and accountability

  Kevin Jones

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:41 pm

  The global financial crisis has highlighted many business management issues.  Probably one of the mo

• Asbestos is an example of immoral economic growth

  Kevin Jones

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pm

  The financial newspapers often refere to a BRIC group of countries or, rather, economies.  This stan

• Why Marks & Spencer 'get' sustainability

  Dan Gray

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:29 am

  Avid Radio 4 listener though I am, I can’t say I’ve ever made a point of tuning in to ‘You and Yours’. However I made an exception this morning, using R4’s Listen Again service to catch up on Tuesday’s special programme on “Corporate Social Responsibility”. Good or bad, it’s bound to provoke a blog post, I thought, and so it has. Listening to David Henderson from the Institute of Economic Affairs prattling on about the ‘imposition’ of CSR as a huge cost burden for business, I could feel my inner ‘grumpy old man’…

• VIDEO: WashU flashmob confronts Coal Executives

  Juliana Williams

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:02 am

  Written by Will Fischer, student leader at Washington University in St. Louis. Something loud is afoot on our sleepy campus in St. Louis. Washington University students are beginning to re-discover what connects them. Students that have never worked together before have just executed the largest direct action on our campus. The target: big coal’s influence on our institution. At the end of this summer, Washington University appointed two new members to its board of trustees, Gregory Boyce, CEO of Peabody Energy, and Steven F. Leer, CEO of Arch Coal. As you most likely know, they are the…

• Good corporate advice tainted by poisonous product

  Kevin Jones

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:44 pm

  In Matt Peacock’s book, “Killer Company“, an entire chapter is devoted to the lega

• 
  Technorati Tag: Corporate Responsibility

• Blog Focus: Fort Hood

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:07 pm

  As more information about Major Nidal Malik Hasan emerge, bloggers give their two cents on what occurred at Fort Hood

• Cold & Flu Survival Toolkit - Remedies From My Home To Yours

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm

  All the tips and tools we use in our home to survive cold & flu season. Some you've tried and some will likely be new. See what works for you.

• UNM Soccer Player Elizabeth Lambert Suspended Indefinitely For Violent Play

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:49 pm

  Was UNM defender Elizabeth Lambert competing in soccer or the WWF? You be the judge.

• Android Won't Take Over The World

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:26 pm

  DTN protocol will be used with Google's OS to increase interplanetary communication.

• TwitterPeek: Will You Pay For Such A Device ?

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pm

  My question for you is this: will you pay for a device that only sends and receives tweets ?

• 
  Change2

• Corporate Volunteering: Top 7 Requests & the Bad, Better and Best Responses (1 of 7)

  Chris Jarvis

  The following blog entry is a cross-post from my blog Realizing Your Worth. “We want a volunteer experience that can be done in no more than a day, and no less than a half-day.” Companies want to engage their communities through employee volunteering programs. For most, this means calling a non-profit and scheduling an activity. But how should non-profits respond? Is there a “best” answer for everyone? Everybody wants to volunteer. And those who don’t....well, they’re bound to feel a little left out of conversation at the next cocktail party. Volunteering is the latest and…

• Ethical Investor on human rights and indigenous engagement

  Oliver Wagg

  Ethical Investor continues its examination of responsible business and investment this month with an indepth discussion of human rights and indigenous engagement. Please see a PDF of the highlights. Happy to send a complimentary print copy to anyone who's interested. EI88HumanRightsArticleslowres.pdf The magazine includes our Cleantech Investor supplement, with a look at power storage technology, and profiles of up- and-coming cleantech stocks.

• Kyoto Round 2: the US and EU weigh in

  Paige Andrews

  In my last post , I discussed the news coming out of the climate talks in Bangkok that developing countries have been in an uproar over the fear that the United States and the EU are trying to kill the Kyoto protocol. This December in Copenhagen, the UN aims to achieve an agreement on an international framework which will take effect once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Discussions have become divided, however, as to whether or not the Kyoto protocol should extend past its expiration with newly defined targets for developed countries or if the protocol should be replaced with a new…

• Bank Offers Free Health Care: Now That’s Corporate Social Responsibility!

  Chris Jarvis

  The following blog entry is a cross-post from my blog Realizing Your Worth. Corporate Social Responsibility is essential to build strong relationships with consumers. On the brink of collapse, Puerto Rico’s Doral Bank transformed itself with an aggressive CSR strategy. By offering free mammogram testing and education on health care for women, Doral bank has quickly established itself as a trusted community partner. Banking on relationships What do you do when your stock is declared ‘toxic waste’ and '0ne of the biggest disasters on the NYSE of the past few years'? In the wake of scandal…

• The U.S., in Bangkok, with a microphone: Are we witnessing the death of Kyoto?

  Paige Andrews

  C.P.R. may be needed to revive climate talks and the Kyoto Protocol following two weeks of negotiations in Bangkok. The U.N. climate talks in the Thai capital have resulted in very little save an intensified fear and distrust between rich and poor countries. Fear rose as several developing countries, including China, Brazil and India, accused the United States and the European Union of trying to kill the Kyoto Protocol. Such accusations come following a public showdown this week between the US and China in which the U.S. urged other rich countries to create a brand new international agreement…

• 
  APEsphere

• Can India be the conscience for the world?

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:57 pm

• Rethinking Jobs for a Sustainable Economy

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:33 pm

• A Call to Green Marketers to Unite and Vanquish Consume

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:21 pm

• Case in Point : Nestle Waters’ Hit and Miss

  1 Nov 2009 | 7:48 am

  Nestlé's new PR campaign, which aims to "set the record straight"on the environmental impact of bottled water, fails to include the record.

• Case in Point : New York's Green Giant

  19 Oct 2009 | 5:13 pm

  New York's iconic landmark, The Empire State Building, is undergoing a radical transformation into a sustainable model for urban living.

• 
  Green Inc.

• More Readers Air Their (Clean) Laundry

  By Green Inc.

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  In our fourth installment, Green Inc. readers respond to our post on efficiency, clothes dryers, and the resurgence of backyard line-drying with pictures of their clotheslines.

• Defining 'Sustainable' Palm Oil Production

  By Pete Browne

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:49 am

  The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil upset some conservationists when it concluded its annual meeting this week without including greenhouse gas emissions standards in its certification process.

• Syngas With Carbon Capture at Cook Inlet

  By Stefan Milkowski

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 am

  As the nation looks for ways to burn coal without producing so much carbon dioxide, developers, researchers, and environmentalists are looking at underground coal gasification, or U.C.G., with cautious optimism.

• Study: Managing Emissions Intensity

  By John Collins Rudolf

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:59 am

  A new World Bank study finds that some countries have managed to de-link economic growth and CO2 emissions.

• On Our Radar ...

  By R.M. Schneiderman

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:21 pm

  The aesthetics of the Prius (or lack thereof) and other energy and environment stories from around the Web.

• 
  Canadian Business Corporate Social Responsibility

• HR: Gateway to Better Corporate Responsibility

  Paul Klein

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am

  The article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail about business schools introducing oaths of ethical conduct for MBA graduates is worth reading. (Here’s a link to MBA oaths from Harvard, Telfer School of Managements, and Richard Ivey School of Business: Sampling of Oaths.) I support these student-sponsored initiatives and also have a practical suggestion for ensuring that employees of corporations, governments, and non-profits act more responsibly: get HR onside. HR executives and managers have control over six opportunities to really entrench CSR at an operational level: job…

• Queen’s CSR Weekend

  Paul Klein

  31 Oct 2009 | 8:29 am

  The highlight of my participation in the CSR Weekend at the Queen’s School of Business was helping to judge the annual Nexen Awards. Seven teams of MBA students presented their ideas about the best ways for a company operating in the oil sands area to improve their CSR initiatives. Needless to say this is very difficult territory – it’s clear that the impacts of oil sands operations are under scrutiny from advocacy groups around the world, the situation is extremely complex, and that there are no easy answers. However, the judges were very impressed by the degree to which…

• Queen’s CSR Weekend

  Paul Klein

  30 Oct 2009 | 5:44 am

  I’m in Kingston for 2 days participating as a speaker and panelist in the 3rd Annual CSR Weekend hosted by the Centre for Responsible Leadership at the Queen’s School of Business. Here are two things I learned yesterday. - On Making Ethical Choices in Business: The recession lowered the ethical water mark so that people and business who weren’t doing the right thing became more conspicuous. The danger may be that with an improving economy inappropriate behavior may be become more difficult to discern. - On Young Business Students Today: Boy these people are smart! Perhaps…

• More spending on Brands with a Social Purpose

  Paul Klein

  21 Oct 2009 | 1:18 pm

  According to the 3rd annual Edelman goodpurpose survey that was launched today, despite the prolonged recession, the social purpose of brands is more important than ever.  The Edelman survey sampled 6026 adults in the U.S., China, Canada, U.K., Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Japan and India to track attitudes and actions regarding the social purpose of brands and corporations. The report contains some remarkable findings. Here are a few highlights: 71% think brands and companies spend too much on advertising and marketing and should put more into good causes – up almost 10 percentage…

• How to Market Your Cause to Skeptical Consumers

  Paul Klein

  17 Oct 2009 | 6:23 am

  We all know that the business value of cause marketing is directly proportional to the degree to which stakeholders know about the cause program. However, all too often corporations are leery of broadcasting their cause initiatives because they’re afraid of being seen as inauthentic by skeptical consumers. Since 2007 Self magazine has been conducting research to explore women’s emotions resulting from the good a consumer perceives she does by purchasing socially responsible products and brands. As reported in Advertising Age,  skepticism was the area most questioned by those who…

• 
  MakeGood Blog

• Happy Movember!

  Michelle

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:47 pm

  We always hear about Breast Cancer awareness (especially in October) and MakeGood is glad that Prostate Cancer has caught up in terms of awareness and publicity. Which is great becuase males should be more aware of “down there” when it comes to health! Stats show that 1 in 6 males will be affected by prostate cancer and 4,400 Canadian men will die this year from the disease. What is Movember? Movember is a charity event that happens in November where men grow their moustaches (lovingly called the ‘mo’) in support of prostate cancer. Family and friends support these men…

• Charity Survey for October 2009 - the votes are in!

  Michelle

  30 Oct 2009 | 1:52 pm

  This month, MakeGood was delighted to have received so many suggestions  for some very worthy causes this month. However, there can only be one winner ….and the people have chosen…. *drum roll* Upwardly Global at 62% of the MakeGood Community vote. (Thanks for the suggestion @WorldCupCSR) “Upwardly Global is a nonprofit organization that brings highly qualified immigrants and progressive employers together.” Basically, they provide services and programs to help refugees, asylees and legal immigrants with a high skill level obtain a job similiar to what they were doing…

• New Model of Corporate Social Responsibility

  Michelle

  22 Oct 2009 | 10:53 am

  MakeGood is a proud MEDIA SPONSOR for …..*drum roll*…… Talk about practicing what you preach, this summit on social responsibility will be a VIRTUAL one! The annual  summit is intended to: Expand understanding and visions about the business case for social responsibility globally Spark more organizations to think out-of-the-box when starting and or evolving their programs Share ideas and practical, how-to information on managing and communicating social responsibilty programs on a budget that can work for organizations of any size, anywhere. Build a knowledge resource and…

• Universities and Engaging the Next Generation of Volunteers

  rickgoossen

  19 Oct 2009 | 2:31 pm

  How does a large educational institution engage the next generation of volunteers?  Further, what are the lessons for non profit organizations (NPOs), which face similar challenges?  There are both challenges and opportunities as universities grapple with engaging new donors. Many established educational institutions and NPOs have a bedrock or support, but it is often concentrated among so-called “baby boomers” (1949-1966) and “traditionalists” (1922-1945).  Meanwhile, they are missing out on the “Generation X” (1965-1980) and “Generation Y” (1981-present) cohorts. This is…

• JUST IN - Bill Clinton Receives Honorary Doctorate From McGill for Global Leadership

  rickgoossen

  16 Oct 2009 | 9:21 am

  McGill University conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Bill Clinton today in recognition of his global leadership during and since his two-term presidency.  Clinton is only the second US President to receive an honorary doctorate from McGill, with the other being Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. Clinton’s message was one of spreading hope on a global scale.  He spoke of bringing opportunity to all corners of the globe and to eradicate barriers to equality that exist because of economic, health, human rights and other inequities. Clinton used the term “communitarian consciousness” to…

• 
  David Coethica's Blog

• Most Influential CSR Tweets

  davidcoethica

  29 Oct 2009 | 5:18 pm

  David Connor tops wefollow.com list of most influential CSR Twitter people

• Fox News & US Chamber of Commerce Stung by Yes Men Climate Change Hoax

  davidcoethica

  19 Oct 2009 | 6:22 pm

  Fox News, Reuters and the US Chamber of Commerce stung by climate change hoax annoucment by the Yes Men

• I’ve not been slacking!

  davidcoethica

  13 Oct 2009 | 6:38 am

  David has joined Justmeans.com to provide additional CSR commentary and apologises for any delay in normal service!

• Responsible Business Triage

  davidcoethica

  6 Oct 2009 | 2:54 pm

  Do we need to triage business leaders who don't understand Corporate Social Responsibility?

• A Green Football Pitch?

  davidcoethica

  15 Sep 2009 | 3:13 pm

  Here are a few questions about professional football (or soccer to those in the USA) that have piqued my CSR interest recently and need answering. • 29.9 million* people attended a professional game in the UK last season – That’s one hell of a carbon footprint. How big is it, who cares and what is being done? • [...]

• 
  Opportunity Sustainability ℠

• Trust – Part III: Build, Destroy, Restore

  Matthew Rochte

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  This is part III in a series on trust and corporate responsibility.  In part II we introduced a Model of Trust.  In this segment we will explore 1) how trust is formed, 2) how it can be destroyed, and 3) what can be done to restore trust. It concludes with a client case study using the model to rebuild trust. Review: Model of Trust: Trust is made up of three pillars: ability, sincerity, and history. Our degree of trust is determined by a sum of these pillars. Ability: Do they have the skill, knowledge tools to do the task Sincerity: Do they have the desire/interest/motivation to do the task…

• CSR – Where to start?

  Matthew Rochte

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

  Q: My company wants to start a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.  Where do you start CSR initiatives? A: Done right, CSR is a systematic and strategic approach to business sustainability.  Note:  I will be using sustainability and CSR interchangeably. The first questions to ask you and your company revolve around your company’s intent behind CSR, what’s driving it, and who is leading it. There is no wrong answers to these questions. The intent is to set the environment within which your efforts will be taking place.  The more aligned they are, the easier…

• Social Media and CSR

  Matthew Rochte

  28 Oct 2009 | 11:32 am

  Check out this thought provoking video on Social Media and Socialnomicstm. Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomicstm. ~video description on Youtube In the middle of the video is a powerful message for corporations wondering about the power and influence of Corporate Social Responsibility. Do you like what they are saying? Do you like what they are saying about your brand? YOU Better. Then follow…

• Great CSR implementation articles on Oct 26th

  Matthew Rochte

  26 Oct 2009 | 11:28 am

  I regularly tweet about CSR and sustainability issues and every once in a while I run across a good guide, list, or case study.  Today has had a flush of these articles that deserved sharing and preserving a little longer than Twitter does. Communicating Corporate Responsibility: 7 rules for communicating CSR by Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. 1)Demonstrate, don’t assert. 2)Get the facts. 3)Engage critics. 4) Be transparent. 5)Define the company’s “sphere of influence.” 6)Earn credibility. 7)Connect corporate responsibility to business strategy. BSR…

• Trust – Part II: What Is Trust?

  Matthew Rochte

  20 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am

  In all of my client dealings as an executive coach and CSR consultant for nearly 20 years, trust has been at the core of leadership, relationships, and business success. Ironically, for all of its importance, trust is the one concept whose meaning people almost always assume and equally deeply misunderstand. For most people, trust is seen as something of a Boolean choice – something that exists or doesn’t exist – to trust or not to trust, whether it is between two people or between a customer and a company. Yet we all know deep down that trust is far more complex and…

• 
  Realizing Your Worth

• Corporate Volunteering: Top 7 Requests & the Bad, Better and Best Responses (1 of 7)

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:30 am

  “We want a volunteer experience that can be done in no more than a day, and no less than a half-day.”Companies want to engage their communities through employee volunteering programs. For most, this means calling a non-profit and scheduling an activity. But how should non-profits respond? Is there a “best” answer for everyone?Everybody wants to volunteer. And those who don’t....well, they’re bound to feel a little left out of conversation at the next cocktail party. Volunteering is the latest and greatest way to contribute to society. It’s trendy - and unlike skinny jeans, this…

• Who Offers The Best MBA In The World For Corporate Social Responsibility?

  23 Oct 2009 | 7:21 am

  Society is demanding a higher level of responsibility from business and the time has come for academics to step up to the challenge. Turns out, Canada’s Schulich School of Business at York University is doing just that.One of Realized Worth’s most widely read articles was, 'MBA Program Trashed on Harvard Business Podcast.' In the article, we examined some of the push-back MBA programs are facing and why. One central issue in the discussion deals with the tendency of MBA programs to reflect on trends and new ideas rather than developing them. For more on this line of thought read…

• Where To Find Sustainable Business Employment?

  21 Oct 2009 | 10:38 am

  Socially Responsible jobs in companies really do exist!GUEST BLOG POST: Mark Swartz (MBA, M.Ed.) is the National Career Advisor on Workopolis.com's homepage. His current focus is 'Sustainable Business Employment,' helping people profit their career, company and society. You can find out more about Mark on Linkedin.Green and Ethical Opportunities Are IncreasingThe idea of employment being sustainable has a lot of appeal in this day and age of job insecurity. Now there’s a whole new meaning to the term. “Sustainability” implies that your job involves green, environmental initiatives, or…

• Bank Offers Free Health Care To Community: Now That’s Corporate Social Responsibility!

  11 Oct 2009 | 11:41 am

  Corporate Social Responsibility is essential to build strong relationships with consumers. On the brink of collapse, Puerto Rico’s Doral Bank transformed itself with an aggressive CSR strategy. By offering free mammogram testing and education on health care for women, Doral bank has quickly established itself as a trusted community partner. Banking on relationshipsWhat do you do when your stock is declared ‘toxic waste’ and '0ne of the biggest disasters on the NYSE of the past few years'? In the wake of scandal and corruption charges, the stock of the Puerto Rican Doral Bank tanked. (It…

• How Did Corporate Social Responsibility Hold Up In 2009?

  7 Oct 2009 | 6:39 am

  You’ve heard it said: the economic crisis means death to Corporate Social Responsibility. Goodbye “green” and all you friendly tree-huggers. The bottom line is back. Serious business is taking over. Didn’t we all suspect it was just a fad anyway?Funny thing is, it wasn’t a fad. Green is gold and the crisis is only proving the point. Turns out, CSR may be the most important business strategy today.Boston College, Center for Corporate Citizenship, has just released a report, “The State of Corporate Citizenship, 2009.” It is a survey of 756 senior executives conducted between June…

• 
  Saturday, 7th November 2009

• OAG Expands Partnership With Trade & Logistics Siam

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  Portal users would be able to upload or generate electronic rate sheets

• Kuehne + Nagel Opens New Logistics Hub

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  A multifunctional facility that provides 44,000 sqm of warehousing and handling space

• BirdDog Logistics Acquires Churchill Transport Group

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  To further enhance its ability to provide freight management services

• Epes Transport System, Texas Star Express Launches 'SkyBitz'

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  An asset tracking and cargo sensor solution to increase asset efficiency and security for fleet of approximately 2,800 trailers

• CEVA Renews Three Separate Agreements With Carrier-Toshiba

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  To support the important parts of the Carrier supply chain

• 
  Sustainability & CSR Conversations

• China Insight:: Google Maps, Environmental Pollution and Online Activism

  admin

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm

  One of the trend anyone can come to grip with when observing the evolution of social and political landscapes in China is the exponential rise of the Internet (338 millions users in June 09)… and with it, the rise of Internet activism as fast as the controls are tightened. Few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that a Chinese netizen, Guo Baofeng, put together an open-source Google map that locates major pollution sites around china. As it went publicly-launched, the map attracted a lot of interest on Chinese Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and forums: the number of views more than…

• Google Sidewiki & CSR: Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run!

  admin

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pm

  Any company or other type of organization who thought they could escape or avoid the social media revolution, are now in it whether they like it or not, not only via search, conversations on social networking and microblogging sites … but now on their own websites. Two weeks ago, Google released Sidewiki, a Google Toolbar-based plug-in that enables web users to post or view a comment in a browser window alongside any website they are visiting (yes, any, all of them!) – even if that site doesn’t have any social functionality. Sidewiki comes with the new Google toolbar, that…

• Weekend Links #8

  admin

  1 Nov 2009 | 1:39 am

  The weekend links are the weekly roundup of what I came across this week on the web – blogosphere, twittosphere, and online media – and that are the most representative of what’s going in the CSR and Sustainability space. In few words, some online conversations that caught my attention! This first link offers you a selection of online tools to monitor climate change, to learn more about the issues and potential effects of global warming. This second link explains why a “Green Image Better Than the Reality is NOT Good Public Relations”! Yes, and thank you for making the point…

• Social media: the next frontier in CSR & stakeholder engagement

  admin

  1 Nov 2009 | 1:28 am

  Last week two new studies exploring the intersections of social media and CSR were published, and widely commented online. The respective results of both studies clearly demonstrate how big the gap remains between all the great stakeholder engagement opportunities offered by social media and digital communications … and what companies are actually doing about it when it comes to communicating their CSR strategies and initiatives: On one hand, Cone’s new media study in the US underlined that new media users overwhelmingly believe companies or brands should not only have a presence in new…

• Exploring new models of social responsibility communications LIVE!

  admin

  26 Oct 2009 | 11:53 pm

  As the name of this blog says it all, I am a true believer of the role and power of conversations to move the Sustainability and CSR agendas forward, whether with businesses, governments, consumers, or just citizens like you and me. At a very personal level (and I am sure the entire CSR and Sustainability community will agree with me), I can’t but realize how much digital / social media (i.e. starting blogging for instance) has become such a great, and essential, professional tool for me to, among other things: Stay active and expand my knowledge of sustainability and CSR issues as well as…