News

Private initiatives for corporate responsibility have been a major development in international management over the last twenty years. The initiatives include issuance of codes of business conduct, implementation of management systems and broader efforts to improve business accountability. Yet, there is little agreement about what these initiatives mean or how effective they are. The OECD project on corporate responsibility seeks to shed light on various aspects of the corporate responsibility movement: What are firms and business associations doing? How have governments influenced the initiatives? What contributions, if any, have these initiatives made to improving the business sector’s ability to comply with law and regulation and to respond to broader societal expectations? ... lees meer

A conference organised by Business in the Environment (BiE), the business-led campaign for corporate environmental responsibility, on 2 October gave clear guidance to companies on how to -bridge the gap’ between investment in environmental and social responsibility, and the value attributed to this by shareholders. The conference followed research published in May which showed that although companies’ investor relations managers believed they were communicating effectively on these issues, investors did not agree. ... lees meer

ISO’s Committee on consumer policy (COPOLCO) is carrying out a feasibility study on standards for corporate social responsibility and has launched an online forum to gather stakeholder views. ... lees meer

The value of world’s ethical investment portfolio has been estimated at US$1.42 trillion in the September issue of The Cerulli Edge-Global Edition published by Cerulli Associates, a well-regarded Boston and London based research consultancy. The report’s figures highlight the dominance of the United States when it comes to ethical investment. Funds under SRI management in each region of the world, according to Cerulli, are: United Sates (US$1,350 billion), Canada (US$33 billion), Australia (US$0.5 billion), Japan (US$1 billion), Asia ex-Japan (US$1 billion) and Europe (US$38 billion). ... lees meer

-The sustainable mobility agenda which will take decades to resolve, will bring many major automotive companies to their knees.’ – this is a key conclusion in the latest sector report from the sustainable development think-tank and strategy consultancy, SustainAbility. Driving Sustainability treats sustainable mobility as a -Gordian knot’ problem – one of increasing complexity (1). The report outlines the four pivotal issues of sustainable mobility: climate change, life cycle management, liveable cities, and emerging economies. It also benchmarks the reported performance on these issues of ten automotive manufacturing companies (2). The headline news is that DaimlerChrysler narrowly beats BMW Group and Volkswagen in this issues benchmark, with 50% of the total maximum score. The overall average score is 34%, a poor overall showing for the automotive sector, showing the lack of commitment to, and in many cases understanding of, the key sustainable mobility issues. ... lees meer

An update fro GRI, the Global Reporting Initiative for guidelines for sustainability reporting. ... lees meer

Environment Australia published this month 2 reports about sustainability: * The role of Australia’s financial sector in sustainability * A Capital Idea: Realising Value from Environmental and Social Performance ... lees meer

A survey conducted by Hill and Knowlton through Harris Interactive found that a majority of Americans consider corporate citizenship – the impact a company has on society – when making investment and purchasing decisions. The bad news is that relatively few give companies high marks in this area. ... lees meer

AccountAbility launched the AccountAbility 1000 (AA1000) Framework in November 1999 to provide a practical framework for organisations to address issues of accountability and to improve overall performance. At its heart is a quality management process based on stakeholder engagement. Organisations apply AA1000 in many and varied ways. It acts as a guide to best practice in social responsibility in business and not-for-profit organisations world wide. In an increasing number of cases, organisations are publicly referring to their use of AA1000 or are using independent advisors to provide statements of quality assurance matched against the contents of AA1000. AA1000 is referenced in published reports from organisations as varied as Agrocel, British Airways, Camelot, the Co-operative Bank, CIS, CWS, the Ford Motor Company, London & Quadrant Housing Group, Novo Nordisk, Shared Earth, Southern Sun Group, Traidcraft, TXU Europe, University Hospital Lewisham and Van City. It has also informally influenced a far larger group. AccountAbility is committed to developing a revised version of AA1000 in 2001. AA2000 – Accountability Management will build on an analysis of the use of AA1000 and other standards and tools, and an assessment of the needs expressed by corporations and their stakeholders for quality processes of accountability management. ... lees meer