Environment

Activist campaigning has typically focused on individual brands. The reasons for so doing are obvious enough. It increases the chances of publicity, it keeps the campaign message simple, and - most importantly - it's premised on the idea that the vilified company has a responsibility to take action. The private sector has typically adopted a similar individualistic approach. Even the Global Reporting Initiative, which is pushing for a cross-industry standard, focuses exclusively on single company reports.

Yet the issues companies are grappling with - and which the campaigners are calling on them to resolve - often lie way beyond the capacity of any single company. There are also very real limitations to what an individual company can do in a competitive environment, where disproportionate costs will render a company's economic model unsustainable.

So the move by the mining and extractive industries, initiated over two years ago, to look collectively at the macro issue of sustainable development is a welcome sight. The final report makes interesting reading in that it provides an integrated framework and vision for the mineral sector as a whole. The call for collective action and co-operation opens the door for similar industry level initiatives in the future.