News

Launched today is the world’s first assurance standard developed to ensure the credibility and quality of corporate public reporting on social, environmental and economic performance, as demanded by campaigners and the public, and increasingly investors and regulators. The AA1000 Assurance Standard is unveiled today at BT’s global headquarters to an audience of several hundred senior executives from the business,public and non-governmental sectors. Plenary addresses will include those by Stephen Timms MP, the UK Government’s minister responsible for corporate social responsibility, Mervyn Pedelty, CEO of Co-operative Financial Services, and Ernst Ligteringen, CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative. ... lees meer

The Norwegian insurance company Storebrand has come out top in a sustainability assessment of the insurance sector carried out by Munich-based rating agency oekom research. Storebrand beat 69 competitors for the top place in oekom’s Corporate Responsibility Rating, a sustainability rating based on 200 environmental and social criteria. The Norwegian company scored a “B” on a scale of A+ to D-. Another 15 insurance companies were assessed as having sustainability performance well above average in an international comparison by oekom research. Over 15 sustainably managed funds with a total volume of more than 750 million Euros are using oekom’s ratings in making investment decisions. ... lees meer

Two leading international initiatives that promote corporate citizenship have agreed to strengthen their collaboration to help companies to improve their economic, social, and environmental performance. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Global Compact (GC) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced a new agreement that will see shared outreach, pilot programs, performance models, and technical activities aimed at elevating corporate involvement in sustainable development. ... lees meer

Business in the Community has released the results of its first annual Corporate Responsibility Index today. The index publicly benchmarks the responsible business practice of top companies in the UK. A total of 122 companies took part, with a further 15 having promised participation next year. 53 of the FTSE100 took part. ... lees meer

Key performance indicators for HIV/AIDS management were set out for public feedback today. Standardised HIV/AIDS reporting is an essential element of the global response to the pandemic. To address this need, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, initiated a multi-stakeholder process based in South Africa to build a comprehensive and credible framework for HIV/AIDS reporting. ... lees meer

As corporations nationwide seek to rebound from a year of scandals, an upcoming issue of Fortune will feature a special advertising section on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) showcasing corporations innovative CSR policies and practices. The section will appear in the May 26 issue of Fortune. ... lees meer

A recent study conducted by the Pielle Consulting Group surveyed 200 UK companies about their CSR and corporate governance practices. The study will officially be launched at an upcoming international conference of the World Council for Corporate Governance. ... lees meer

This is to inform you that Nutreco has reached a common understanding with Friends of the Earth the Netherlands (“Milieudefensie”) about the developments around the Johannesburg Summit in August last year. You probably remember how Milieudefensie and its Friends of the Earth sister organisations accused us of not abiding to local laws in Chile (minimum wages, union rights, environment). Milieudefensie now acknowledges in a official statement that they made some mistakes. This gives us the possibility to “close the book”, stop the rumour, have a proper evaluation and continue a constructive dialogue with this key international NGO. We also agreed that we, Nutreco, will initiate a more detailed environmental impact assessment of our Chilean fish farms in lakes and ocean. Hopefully we can build upon the research work we are now doing in Scotland together with the independent Dutch research institute CREM on the development of a biodiversity assessment tool. Today, this Milieudefensie statement is published on their web site (www.milieudefensie.nl) Nutreco also have its statement on www.nutreco.com. We will also use the Milieudefensie statement in the Social & Environmental Report 2002. See below both the statement of Nutreco and Milieudefensie. ... lees meer

The European Parlement’s Environment Committee is to discuss a draft opinion on the Commission’s follow up Communication to the CSR Green Paper on 19 February. On 19 February, the Environment Committee in the European Parliament is to discuss a draft opinion by Dutchman Alexander de Roo, Greens/EFA) on on the Commission’s follow-up Communication to the Green Paper on CSR. The lead Committee (Social Affairs) has already held a brief discussion on the draft report by Philip Bushill-Matthews (EPP-ED, UK) on 21 January. ... lees meer

Standards Australia International have released a Draft for Public Comment Australian Standard on Corporate Social responsibility (DR 03028). ... lees meer

The progressive careers agency, Lifeworth.com, released their Annual Review of Corporate Responsibility, The Review describes a growing interest and concern about the relationship between corporations and governments Lobbying by companies and their trade associations against social and environmental regulations or against measures to help citizens in poorer countries is identified as an emerging concern. “NGOs are gearing-up to place the political activities of corporations and their associations firmly on top of the corporate responsibility agenda this year” said lead author Dr. Jem Bendell. “If you help people with one hand while lobbying against them with the other, it won’t take long for people to call it hypocrisy. Corporate lobbying is becoming a key business risk,” he said. ... lees meer