-Human activities are causing between 10,000 and 40,000 species to become extinct each year” according to Richard Leakey a world-renowned conservationist. -At that rate we are probably approaching a point similar to mass extinction. [.] Such rapid catastrophic losses to biodiversity have happened before, and these catastrophes have always had far reaching consequences for the surviving species.”
Although the loss of biodiversity is considered a key environmental problem it is managed based on theories and methods that have been considered outdated in the financial markets for more than 50 years. The results are flawed decisions and misevaluations. This is one of the findings of the report “Managing Biodiversity Correctly- published by Gerling Group (Cologne) and the Center for Sustainability Management (CSM) e.V. (Lueneburg). If the practical skills and tools of financial services and insurances were considered more biodiversity could be saved.
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Some corporations continue to abuse the rights of people, destroy the livelihoods of communities, and pollute water and forest resources for future generations, according to a new report by Friends of the Earth International has been published. The report graphically illustrates the need for governments to agree to introduce tighter rules for multinationals at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.
Launched as world leaders prepare for the Earth Summit in Johannesburg later this month [1], Clashes with Corporate Giants reveals how even some of the top international companies who claim to be developing sustainable policies, are still causing major damage to the planet.
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Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., the global leader in intangible value analysis, has released a new 100-page report on the relative corporate environmental performance among 29 pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Innovest found that companies with better environmental performance (eco-efficiency)
outperformed laggards by 17% (1700 basis points) in the stock market since May 2001. The
results of the study suggest that investor returns can be substantially improved by investing in
companies with superior eco-efficiency. Mainstream Wall Street analysts typically overlook this increasingly important source of value-creation.
The analysis was conducted using Innovest’s EcoValue’21 Ã?? environmental performance rating model. The model analyzes over 60 aspects of environmental risk exposure, management quality and business development. Investor risk exposure related to environmental issues is growing due to factors such as increasing regulation, growing consumer demands for environmentally responsible products and services, increasing public concerns about global warming and other environmental problems, and expanding information transparency through the internet, which makes it easier for stakeholders to identify a firm’s negative impacts on the environment.
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August 2002 update of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
* GRI at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development
* Sustainability Reporting Events Held in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Australia
* Guidelines Revisions Near Conclusion
* GRI Welcomes EU Proposals on CSR
* Relocation of Secretariat to Amsterdam
* More Organisations Release Sustainability Reports
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The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)announced the availability of the
Pre-Publication Release of the 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines on
the Global Reporting Initiative web site
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Pamphlet launched on eve of Jo’burg Rio +10 Summit argues that significant development impacts from ‘corporate responsibility’ will not be forthcoming unless it is integrated into national economic competitiveness strategies and practices.
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How much capital flows when, where and for what purposes? Banks and financial service providers make these decisions, thereby exerting an enormous influence on economic and socio-political processes. They can also give significant impetus to sustainable development, for example by applying minimum environmental and social standards in their asset management and credit operations. The Munich-based rating agency oekom research examined in a “Corporate Responsibility Rating” the extent to which the finance houses rise to this challenge. 93 of the world’s leading banks and financial service providers were examined according to a total of 200 environmental and social criteria. The result: on a scale from A+ to D-, the HypoVereinsbank (DE) came out on top with a B, followed by Deutsche Bank (DE), Westpac (AU) and UBS (CH), each scoring a B-. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (JP) came in 43rd position with a D. The majority of the companies (50), proved to be so lacking in transparency that it was impossible to analyse their social and environmental activities in any depth.
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A new World Resources Institute (WRI) report released today calls on investors to pay closer attention to how oil and gas companies are exposed to environmental risks.
The new WRI report, Changing Oil: Emerging environmental risks and shareholder value in the oil and gas industry, warns that shareholders in leading oil and gas companies could see losses of more than six percent of their investments due to prospective actions to curb climate change and growing constraints on access to energy reserves. The report also finds that companies have made only very limited disclosure to investors on the relevance of these issues for future financial performance.
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The role of business in sustainable development is a key element in the coming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. A report published today overturns conventional wisdom by showing that it does pay for businesses in emerging markets to pursue a wider role on environmental and social issues.
Developing Value: The Business Case for Sustainability in Emerging Markets
challenges the myth that sustainability is only for rich companies in developed nations, and does not apply to the private sector in the emerging markets. Based on more than 240 real-life examples in over 60 countries, the study analyzes the -business case’ for sustainability in emerging markets – the opportunity for businesses to achieve benefits such as higher sales, reduced costs, lower risks and enhanced reputation from better corporate governance, improved environmental practices, and investments in social and economic development.
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On July 11th the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) launched a new study on the business case for Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), ‘Sustainability Pays’, produced by the Centre for Sustainable Investment at Forum for the Future. CIS set out to answer three key questions in the field of SRI:
– What is the business case for SRI?
– What influence can institutional shareholder have on investee companies through engagement? And,
– What are consumer attitudes to SRI?
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Innovest’s recent report on the global pharmaceutical sector notes a correlation between strong environmental performance and better stock performance, with some exceptions
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On behalf of the ICC member companies in all parts of the world, ICC comments with some serious concerns regarding recent developments in the ongoing debate within European Union institutions on the subject of corporate social responsibility (CSR). ICC members feel it is important for you and your colleagues in the Commission to be aware of these concerns in advance of the Commission’s forthcoming follow-up Commission Communication on the Green Paper on CSR.
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