SOCIETY

Community Development

Apple decides to phase out toxins

Computer manufacturer Apple is to phase out the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals in its manufacturing. The announcement has […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

US insurers fail to make the CSR grade

American businesses are conspicuous by their absence from the upper reaches of a new sustainability ranking of the world’s 43 […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

Rio Tinto looks to make more safety gains

Rio Tinto is to introduce new measures to improve its safety culture despite big drops in the rate of occupational […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

Rolls-Royce decides to cut Sudan links

Rolls Royce has said it will ‘progressively withdraw’ from any contracts it has in Sudan, owing to concerns about the […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

Corporate Responsibility Index may change again

More changes are likely in Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index after another drop in the number of companies […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

SRI kitemark goes on export trail

The Australian Ethical Investment Association (AEIA) is aiming to export a kitemark system for socially responsible investment products and services. […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

CEOs reject profit-only business view

Only one in ten US business leaders favour views of their companies’ roles that focus mainly on the search for […]

TriplePundit

May 30, 2007

Community Development

Football club scores a first as it enters reporting arena

Chelsea may not win the English Premiership title this year but it has become the first prominent football club to […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Activist ‘wolves’ throw investors into confusion

Socially responsible investors in the US have been warned about SRI-like resolutions being proposed for company meetings that reprehend the […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

UK Foreign Office stakes claim to CSR territory

The British government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has produced a CSR strategy that commits it to a greater say on […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Sweet makers in a corner over child labour efforts

Pressure is growing on the global confectionery industry to show that its measures to bear down on child labour at […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

UN mulls over Ruggie’s request for more time

The United Nations Human Rights Council will wait until next month to decide whether to extend for another year the […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

MkOne made aware of what its labels say

British high street fashion retailer MkOne has withdrawn clothes made in Myanmar after boycott threats. The London-based company, which is […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Technology companies offered guiding hand

A British asset management company has produced a good practice framework to help internet and technology companies improve the way […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Building companies pool their resources on sustainability

Property management and construction companies have created the UK Green Building Council as an umbrella organization to unite their sustainability […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Nestlé ombudsman system ‘does exist’

Nestlé has denied suggestions that a whistleblowing system it was supposed to set up five years ago to root out […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Not unworkable, just a fresh way of thinking

EP talks to the Conservative party’s Jonathan Djanogly about the state of his party’s policies on corporate responsibility – and […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Management models for CSR

Jan Jonker, Marco de Witte (editors), Springer, 378 pages, hardback. £44 Management Models is an ambitious book – both in […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Ethical investors profiled

The average age of ethical investors in Britain is rising, according to a survey carried out for Friends Provident, the […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

New ethical foreign policy might repair UK’s damaged reputation

Companies, it’s often said, take more notice of corporate social responsibility once their reputations have taken a serious knock. So […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

East European business ‘is still ignoring CSR’

Companies in central and eastern Europe have been accused of making little progress on corporate responsibility in the 17 years […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Building a consensus on human rights and business

Normative principles are an essential step towards legally defined standards, says Sir Geoffrey Chandler John Ruggie’s recently submitted final report […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Dog race gets firms in trouble

Corporate sponsors of a celebrated long-distance sled-dog race in Alaska are being targeted by campaigners who say the event is […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Forestry association gets tough on PNG logging

A tracking system is being introduced by Papua New Guinea’s Forest Industries Association to detect any timber exports from illegal […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Online access to chief exec proves a hit

British Land says it has stimulated greater interest in its annual CSR report by giving stakeholders the opportunity to question […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Shanghai banks get CSR framework

Guidelines have been issued to establish ethical standards for financial institutions in Shanghai. The aim is to guarantee stakeholders’ rights […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

UK trio try labelling idea

Three British companies have begun using a labelling scheme that recognizes their efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of their […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Australian energy giant joins climate change body

Australia’s largest energy company is to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first emission registry and reduction and trading […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Lenovo is green world beater in computer field

The Chinese personal computer manufacturer Lenovo has been placed top in the latest Greenpeace green ranking of electronics industry companies. […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Dutch bank sets up Indian SRI fund

The Dutch bank ABN Amro has started the Indian Sustainable Development Fund. This follows the introduction of its SRI funds […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Malaysia gets its own CSR website

A website has been set up to keep stakeholders in Malaysia informed of companies’ ethical standards. The CSR Malaysia Community […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Tea firms put Compact on packets

Two Sri Lankan companies have begun to promote the principles of the United Nations Global Compact inside packets of a […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

British Gas sets up green-tinged offshoot

British Gas has set up a free-standing business to lead the company’s efforts to provide low-carbon products and services to […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Investors call for ‘radical’ rethink on short-termism

A group of institutional investors that manage combined assets of £170billion ($340bn) has issued a guidance note calling for an […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

ADB urged to adopt sustainable approach

A panel of experts has advised the Asian Development Bank to switch its emphasis from supporting economic growth to supporting […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Backlog of human rights complaints is reduced

National governments appear to have improved their clear-up rate for complaints made against companies for allegedly breaching the OECD Guidelines […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Delfgaauw rues ‘state of denial’ in reporting

Most companies are still not being open enough when disclosing their social and environmental impacts, a senior CSR figure has […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Coca-Cola signs water partnership

Coca-Cola has signed an agreement with the Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to collaborate on projects to improve community access […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Deloitte comes up with top KPIs

Deloitte and the German government have jointly set down what they consider to be the principal non-financial key performance indicators […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Maximizing returns by taking an SRI approach

Mainstream investors are now adapting SRI investment techniques to help satisfy their clients’ overriding need for good financial returns. EP […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

VicSuper takes reporting honours

The superannuation fund VicSuper has been given the Australian award for the best 2006 sustainability report by the Association of […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Ban Ki-moon gesture eases Compact fears

The United Nations’ new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has eased fears about the level of his commitment to the UN’s Global […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Academy changes hands but future still unclear

The UK government has handed over the running of its flagship corporate responsibility organization, the CSR Academy, to Business in […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

New portal lists all Apac SRI funds

Investors now have a list of all Asia’s socially responsible investment funds to guide them in their choice. The Association […]

TriplePundit

May 2, 2007

Community Development

Kellogg’s makes cereal packets a ‘social marketing’ tool

The Kellogg’s food company is to use the space on packets of its breakfast cereals as a ‘social marketing’ vehicle […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Online surfers invited to make a judgement call

Internet users are being given the chance to evaluate the social and environmental performance of companies on a new website […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Inquiry into UN norms moves into extra time

The man tasked with finding a way ahead for the United Nations on business and human rights has asked for […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Business challenged on fixation with technology

Heads of dozens of international companies have come under fire from a prominent institutional investor for drawing up a statement […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Stakeholder panels ‘must be more than talking shops’

Stakeholder panels are only likely to be of value when clear ground rules govern their establishment and they are given […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Aflac tries to set voting trend on fat cat pay

The insurance company Aflac has become the first big US company to offer its shareholders a vote on executive pay. […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Specialists to verify energy efforts

Construction and energy companies have formed a specialist international assurance group as part of their efforts to improve the energy […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

High street store offers SRI fund to its customers

Marks & Spencer’s finance arm has launched its first ethical unit trust. The M&S Ethical Fund, which will be jointly […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Making sense of where climate change fits into CSR

Five years ago, at the height of the furore about Enron, some within the SRI community sought to present CSR […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

European companies fall short on dialogue with unions

One in ten multinationals based in Europe has a strategic commitment to constructive consultation with trade unions, according to a […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

How honesty pays

Charles E. Watson. Praeger. 200 pages. Hardback. £22.95 Business ethicists have worked tirelessly to try to answer the question ‘do […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Hershey targets suppliers

An American snack food company is to develop an ethical supply chain monitoring programme that goes beyond recent efforts by […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

MEPs challenge the EC to deliver the goods

The European Commission’s big idea on corporate responsibility – the creation of a Europe-wide federation of companies called the European […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Banks get help to hand out unclaimed cash

UK financial institutions returning unclaimed assets to their customers are being offered a new service. In recent years the UK […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Colombia firms build code

Businesses are to draw up guidelines on how best to deal with human rights and security dilemmas in Colombia. Tipiel […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Faith can add a new dimension to the responsible workplace

Business organizations should not be afraid of allowing religion into CSR, says David Miller Many in the corporate world would […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Private equity firms begin to respond

Private equity firms have acted to counter suggestions that their increasing influence poses a threat to corporate social responsibility. Two […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Canadian body calls for better disclosure

Canadian financial regulators have been urged by a government-appointed body to produce guidelines that would require enhanced disclosure by companies […]

TriplePundit

April 2, 2007

Community Development

Climate change reporting ‘needs to step up a gear’

UK companies report only fitfully on their climate change impacts and need to introduce more rigour into their disclosure, says […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

FTSE4Good sorts the sheep from the goats

European oil and gas companies have consistently outperformed their US counterparts on social and environmental issues for at least the […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

Social issues to the fore as annual meeting votes draw near

This year’s proxy voting season  in the US looks like being one of the liveliest yet. Activist investors, buoyed by […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

Merger deals riskier due to lack of ethics research

Due diligence for mergers and acquisitions is being held back by a lack of good-quality research into the social and […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

Stand-alone green reports appear to have had their day

New figures indicate that annual stand-alone corporate environment reports in the UK are on the way out. Statistics released last […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

Strategy advice in demand

Consultancies advising companies on their strategic direction have commanded the highest number of searches by visitors to a new online […]

TriplePundit

March 30, 2007

Community Development

US company begins Saipan community programme

A total of $49,000 (£25,000) has been donated by the US financial services company Bridge Capital to schools and community […]

TriplePundit

March 23, 2007

Community Development

Abbott Laboratories offers cheap drugs in Thailand

The price of the antiretroviral drug Kaletra, used in HIV and Aids treatment, has been reduced in Thailand after negotiations […]

TriplePundit

March 23, 2007

Community Development

Indian gagging order upsets unions

A court has issued an order silencing five Indian labour organizations that have protested about work conditions imposed by a […]

TriplePundit

March 23, 2007

Community Development

Taiwan companies level pegging with foreigners on CSR

Foreign companies operating in Taiwan score only marginally better when it comes to CSR than local ones, according to a […]

TriplePundit

March 23, 2007