The Business Social Compliance Initiative (www.bsci-eu-.org) – cornerstone in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility – has officially been launched. More than 30 European retailers, brands and manufacturers start to audit and monitor the social performance of their suppliers worldwide with a common system giving benefits for both retailers and suppliers.
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The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) published a new report “Issue management tool: Codes & standards”.
This document has been developed in order to provide corporate members with a practical and user-friendly tool on a few key codes, standards and frameworks relevant to the sustainability agenda.
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Corruption is rampant in sixty countries of the world and the public sector continues to be plagued by bribery, says a report by a respected global corruption watchdog.
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global opinion poll commissioned by the World Economic Forum has found that business leaders have a better public image than politicians. Western Europeans were found to be more pessimistic about the future safety and economic prosperity of the world than Central and Eastern Europeans.
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AccountAbility and the International Register of Certified Auditors have come together to launch the world’s first individual certification scheme in the field of sustainability assurance.
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Boards are failing to disclose to financial investors how environmental and social issues pose strategic
risks and opportunities for their businesses, according to an international review of corporate
sustainability reports by SustainAbility, the United Nations Environment Programme and Standard &
Poor’s. Risk & Opportunity: Best Practice in Non-Financial Reporting finds that only three reports of
the Top 50 assess the balance sheet implications of key environmental and social risks, despite this
information being increasingly important to analysts, investors, lenders, insurers and re-insurers.
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Dutch state secretary Pieter Van Geel proposed a partnership with the WBCSD for a clean, clever and competitive Europe, before an audience of Chief Executive Officers from 70 multinational companies gathered in Amsterdam.
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During its EU presidency, the Dutch Government will organise the European Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), entitled -Competing for a Sustainable Future” in Maastricht, the Netherlands, 7-9 November 2004. The conference is hosted by Minister for Foreign Trade Karien van Gennip (Ministry of Economic Affairs) and co-organised by the ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
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Recruitment is now open for two new work streams being launched which will feature working groups looking at the clarity and purpose of the indicators (IWG), and at reporting as a process (RPWG). Starting immediately, sign-up forms are available on the website through which you can express your interest in participating in the IWG or its related advisory groups, and in the RPWG. Over the course of the next year, these work streams will review and build on the existing principles and indicators that make up the GRI Guidelines, and look at how the Guidelines should be interpreted and applied.
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ISO has now published on its website the new work item proposal on social
responsibility.
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After 10 months of research, working group meetings, and input via out practitioners’ network, the GRI has launched the draft Boundary Protocol for public comment. This protocol provides guidance on how to understand, set, and disclose reporting boundaries when reporting based on the GRI 2002 Guidelines.
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Mike Scott finds the banking sector embarking on a series of initiatives to show how seriously it takes the impact of projects on the environment
When it comes to unsustainable businesses, the financial services sector used to consider itself pretty low on the list. After all, the sector does not produce pollutants or greenhouse gases and is known for its good employment practices.
But it is having to take sustainability seriously now. Non-governmental organisations have targeted banks as the ultimate source of environmentally unfriendly projects, a plethora of sustainability indices has sprung up and institutional investors are taking note of environmental issues because they are hitting their bottom line.
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