SOCIETY

Community Development

Kelloggs turns to actors to get its message across

The cereal manufacturer Kelloggs has taken the unusual step of using undercover actors to convey waste-cutting messages to employees.   […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Legal firms will study influence of law on CSR

Fifteen corporate law firms from around the world are to participate in a United Nations-led effort to determine whether corporate […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Executive pay emerges as full-blown CSR issue

Pressure on companies to tackle excessive executive pay has ratcheted up significantly in the past month as investors and politicians […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Stress levels increase as CSR professionals fight their corner

CSR practitioners are feeling more stressed than they did three years ago. A survey of individual members of the UK-based Corporate […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

University outlines living wage benefits

A university college that has introduced a ‘living wage’ for cleaners has published a document outlining the business benefits the […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Cocoa firms agree sustainability guidance

Sustainability principles for the cocoa industry have been unveiled by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF). The principles, produced after two […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

‘Choice editing’ is better than changing behaviour

High street retailers should offer less choice so that consumers are forced to buy goods that are more socially and […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Private equity giants sign up to code

Some of the world’s best-known private equity companies have agreed responsible investment guidelines. The companies, all members of the US-based […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Verheugen rules out change

Corporate responsibility regulations will not be imposed by the European Commission despite waning public faith in business as a result […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

‘Black holes’ undermine supply chain progress

Many manufacturing and retail companies still have huge gaps in their ethical supply chain management programmes, according to a leading global […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Obama urged to create new CSR office

Further signs of the high expectations of a change in attitude to corporate responsibility at the White House have emerged […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Law firms plump for synchronised carbon reporting

Eighteen law firms and the Law Society of England and Wales have simultaneously published reports revealing their individual carbon footprints. […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Don’t make staff redundant – lend them out to society

Secondment programmes can be a useful corporate tool in a recession, say Matthew Farmer and Ed Williams At a time […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Visser sets up global body

CSR International, a networking body for corporate responsibility practitioners, was created last month. The new association, set up as a […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Co-op to spend £70m on ethics drive in the slump

The UK’s Co-operative Group has set aside £70million ($100m) for the next financial year to advertise and promote its ethical […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Sustainable investing: the art of long-term performance

Cary Krosinsky & Nick Robins (Eds). Hardback. 272 pages. Earthscan. £19.99 Although it was largely written before the recent market […]

TriplePundit

March 6, 2009

Community Development

Female CSR practitioners earn less than the men

Suggestions of a gender divide in the corporate responsibility profession appear to have been confirmed by the second annual CSR […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Finding value at the bottom of the pyramid

BlueOrchard is blazing a responsible investment trail in microfinance – and finding that institutional clients see its modus operandi as increasingly […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

How to act responsibly when jobs are on the line?

As the recession leads to significant cutbacks in all business sectors around the world, EP looks at some recommended good […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Oil and gas sector starts work on GRI guidance

Five multinational oil groups are to work with the Global Reporting Initiative to produce sustainability reporting guidelines for oil and […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Norway makes bid for global leadership role

The Norwegian government has published a white paper on corporate responsibility that signals a greater future role for the country […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Why the executive pay experience gives useful pointers on taxation

The worldwide backlash against ‘fat cat’ pay, particularly in the part-nationalised financial sector (see page one), offers a salutary lesson […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Duke will keep Wal-Mart faith

Wal-Mart’s new chief executive Mike Duke has assured stakeholders that the company’s corporate responsibility efforts will continue on his watch. […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Investors hit internet providers over privacy concerns

A coalition of US investors has filed resolutions with ten publicly held internet service providers (ISPs) urging them to report […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Coalitions ‘are way forward’ for pro-poor ideas

Companies trying to implement ‘bottom of the pyramid’ schemes should pool their efforts, not work in isolation, the Ashridge business […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

UTZ agrees global tea code

A tea producers’ ethical code has been created by a body that runs one of the largest certification programmes for […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

Saudi firms ‘on right track’

The responsible business performance of most Saudi Arabian companies is ‘intermediate to good’, according to the country’s first comprehensive CSR […]

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March 6, 2009

Community Development

SRI grows in Australia

Responsible investment grew by eight per cent in Australia during 2007-08 from A$52.8billion to A$57.1bn ($33.2bn-$36bn, £23.8bn-£25.7bn), reports the Responsible […]

TriplePundit

March 5, 2009

Community Development

Impax launches environmental fund

An environmental investment fund has been set up in Australia by Impax Asset Management, an investor that concentrates exclusively on […]

TriplePundit

March 5, 2009

Community Development

CarbonNeutral moves into Singapore

CarbonNeutral, the international carbon offset and carbon management company, has opened a Singapore office. Its first local clients are the […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Ikea spends $48m to help Indian poor

Ikea, the Swedish retailer, is giving $48million (£34m) to Unicef to improve the health and living conditions of children in […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Ambulance group rewards Vedanta

Training and first aid promotion among employees, contract workers and other stakeholders and citizens has earned the 2008 St John […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Call for ban on new Philippines mining

A moratorium on new mining in the Philippines has been recommended by a British working group. The UK-based Working Group […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Jupiter moves into China

Jupiter, the UK fund management consultancy, has set up an investment company to cover China. Jupiter China Sustainable Growth, to […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Indonesia gets palm oil project

Oil palm companies in Indonesia are being encouraged to start new plantations on degraded soil instead of cleared forest land. […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Diversity progress wins Asia Pacific award for Baxter

Baxter International, the US healthcare products company, has been honoured for its Building Talent Edge programme aimed at developing an […]

TriplePundit

March 5, 2009

Community Development

Australian government to advise GRI

A senior Australian Treasury official is to be appointed to the governmental advisory group of the Global Reporting Initiative, the […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Hindustan Zinc helps 500,000 children

A prestigious annual award for rural and community development projects has gone to Hindustan Zinc, part of the Vedanta metals […]

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March 5, 2009

Community Development

Global coalition forms to promote sustainable cotton

By Ethical Performance — From its localized beginnings 5,000 years ago in Mexico and the Indus Valley in India, cotton […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

PetroChina under fire over Darfur

A multi-signature open letter formally complaining that PetroChina is supporting genocide by the Sudan government in Darfur has been delivered […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Fairtrade Foundation denies failings in sub-continent

The Fairtrade Foundation has strongly denied accusations in The Times newspaper that its system is failing many tea workers in […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Firms told: ‘lobby for good’

Too few companies use their lobbying powers to push for beneficial social change, says a new paper. Authors Kyle Peterson […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Acer puts suppliers on notice

Suppliers to the Taiwanese electronics company Acer have been told they must maintain social and environmental standards if they are […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Dubai favours ‘minimalist’ line

Businesses in the United Arab Emirates take a generally limited view of what CSR involves, says new research. A survey […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

$300bn fund examines Gaza holdings

The world’s second largest sovereign wealth fund, run by the Norwegian government, is examining whether it should exclude companies that […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Gates Foundation backs Indian social entrepreneurship

Small farmers in poor communities in India will benefit from a $15million (£10.6m) grant made by the Bill and Melinda […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Zimbabwe could fall off Kimberley’s approved list

Calls are growing for Zimbabwe to be withdrawn from the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme to prevent the sale […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Yamana Gold makes it into social index

The Canadian mining company Yamana Gold was brought in to the Jantzi Social Index last month on the grounds of […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Hong Kong firms lagging on CSR

Most leading Hong Kong listed companies ‘fail to adopt sound corporate social responsibility policies and practices, particularly associated with supply […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Finance sector gets advice on global warming

A group of international financial institutions has combined with the environmental organization The Climate Group to produce guidance for the […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Big spenders set out their ethical purchasing goals

Two arms of the British state that together spend more than £50billion ($73bn) a year – the Ministry of Defence […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Novartis rewarded for earthquake efforts

The China Charity Award has gone to Novartis, one of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals companies, for its support of relief […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Ford-backed Indonesia project hits 40 mark

More than 40 companies and non-governmental organizations have now joined the Health and Business Roundtable Indonesia, which has the backing […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

UK hits Aon with bribery fine

The UK broking arm of Aon, the US insurance broker, was fined £5.25million ($7.5m) for bribery last month, providing further […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Apple says social report would be waste of effort

The personal computer manufacturer Apple is heading for confrontation with shareholder activists over its refusal to produce a sustainability report. […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Credit card firms accept ‘fairness’ charter

Credit card companies and the UK government have agreed ‘fair principles’ on interest rates and charges.   The cost of […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Jeans maker’s health project aims for return on investment

Levi Strauss has established a programme in Egypt to improve health education among women in the country’s fast-growing garment industry. […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Why ISO 26000’s ugly duckling may eventually turn into a swan

It would be easy to adopt a sceptical position on the potential value of the ISO 26000 social responsibility standard, […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

‘Now, more than ever, firms need to report’

EP talks to Global Reporting Initiative chief executive Ernst Ligteringen about sustainability reporting in an economic downturn – and other pressing […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Australia gets first degree-level CSR course

Australia’s first graduate level qualification in corporate responsibility is now being offered at La Trobe University, Victoria. The qualification has […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

ETI takes tough stance as Primark upsets members

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) has gained its members’ backing to consider sanctions against the UK clothing retailer Primark over […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Australia gets new green fund

An investment management company has set up Australia’s first fund specializing in the three environmental sub-sectors of alternative energy and […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Powerful retailers unveil a code for all seasons

A group of multinational retailers has produced the first part of what it hopes will become a single global standard […]

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January 29, 2009

Community Development

Ethics code is proposed for security companies

An outline of a proposed international code of conduct for private military and security companies has been produced by an […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Multinationals pledge to be ethical leaders

Seventeen companies with a combined turnover of $1trillion (£737billion) have become founder members of a new body on business ethics. […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Making sustainability work

Marc J. Epstein. Hardback. 288 pages. Greenleaf. £17.50 In his foreword, John Elkington draws parallels between this book and Robert […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Wal-Mart sets up skills centre in Punjab

A retail training unit has been established by an Indian subsidiary of Wal-Mart to improve the work-related skills of people […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Bremer warns of Obama restrictions

The financial crisis could severely curtail new US president Barack Obama’s efforts to make significant progress on corporate responsibility, an […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

CSR staff feel content and secure in their jobs

At the beginning of last year EP announced the findings from its first ever CSR salary survey, carried out jointly […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

When an ethical stance is not just academic

Mindful of its client base, the giant TIAA-CREF pension fund for teachers is trying to incorporate corporate responsibility issues into […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

To make real progress we need better leaders

Technology can help us transform the world, but commitment is lacking at the top, says Mark Lee Not so long ago […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009

Community Development

Clinton initiative reined in

The activities of the Clinton Global Initiative, which supports companies in making new corporate responsibility commitments, have been restricted after […]

TriplePundit

January 29, 2009