Following increasing incidents of extreme weather events which disrupted business operations and supply chains around the world, climate change has climbed the boardroom agenda, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Global 500 Climate Change report released today. With the hottest US summer on record, fires in Russia and flooding in the UK, Japan and Thailand, among other events, 81% of reporting companies now identify physical risk from climate change, with 37% perceiving these risks as a real and present danger, up from 10% in 2010.
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Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains-spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain.
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A new survey suggests sustainability is an attractive sector to work in but CR roles will not receive the same recognition as other corporate functions until clear performance metrics are set
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“Sustainability,” little more than a buzzword in the corridors of corporate America a decade ago, is today a business concept that has been embraced by many companies in principle and, increasingly, in practice. Yet, while more and more companies are integrating corporate sustainability strategies and programs into their daily business operations, “sustainability,” is prone to multiple interpretations.
For this reason, and in an effort to understand the skills, drivers and collaboration strategies necessary for executive success, VOX Global, Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting and Net Impact, Berkeley conducted a national survey of sustainability leaders.
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A new Certification Standards Board has been created by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to oversee the ongoing development of the Cradle to Cradle product certification protocol. The board’s responsibility for Cradle to Cradle product certification represents an important step toward transparency for the certification process and independent third-party verification of the protocol, developed over the past 20 years by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart in collaboration with some of the world’s top brands.
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Peter Bakker, the president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD), believes that the corporate sector currently offers the best opportunity for saving the world.
Following the disappointing political outcome of Rio+20, he is on a mission to encourage business to move away from visioning the future and writing glossy reports to implementing change at scale. (Peter Bakker will speak on the [url]http://www.sustainability-congres.nl[link]13th Nationaal Sustainability Congres, 20 november in Nieuwegein[/url])
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Rattled in Europe by the REACH regulation and carbon dioxide emission curbs, international chemical companies are at the Rio Earth Summit determined to push for a global approach to environmental policy – but with a light regulatory touch.
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Despite tougher regulations and the growing relevance of “sustainability” as an investment theme, the breadth of sustainability reporting on stock exchanges globally has fallen since its peak in 2008, according to a new report commissioned by Aviva Investors. In a ranking of the world’s composite stock exchanges by overall sustainability disclosure, the Netherlands comes out on top, with Denmark (2), Finland (3) Spain (4) and South Africa (5) also in the top five.
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The vast majority of businesses say that sustainability is vital to their future growth, but almost half say that margins are currently lower on sustainable products and services, according to new research by Accenture.
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In a World of limited natural resources and human induced changes to the natural and social environment, the GDP is not an inclusive measurement to compare prosperity and the development potential of countries. Based on models for evaluating corporate sustainability and risk modelling tools, SolAbility has developed a Sustainable Competitiveness model with the aim of measuring sustainable prosperity and growth potential of nations. Data indicators tracked by the World Bank, the IMF and various UN agencies have been grouped into four pillars of Sustainable Competitiveness: Natural Capital, Resource Intensity and Efficiency & Sustainable Innovation Competitiveness. The Netherlands is ranked at place 8.
Social Cohesion
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Unilever has retained its top ranking among corporate sustainability leaders, according to a new survey of sustainability experts from around the world. But the survey also shows that perceptions of sustainability leadership have declined or stalled for nearly all institutional actors – including corporations, governments, NGOs and social entrepreneurs – in the last twelve months.
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he Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability, announced today the sixth annual selection of the World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies, highlighting a record 145 organizations that show leadership in promoting ethical business standards.
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