CSR management

A new mindset for corporate sustainability

If organisations want to be profitable in the future, they need to focus on shareholders, society and the environment simultaneously according to a report published by a group of leading corporate responsibility academics on January 15. A New Mindset for Corporate Sustainability outlines this “triple-pronged strategy” as well as how sustainability can be utilised to build innovation and collaboration across organisations.

It further highlights the ten steps corporations should take to become sustainable:
- Make innovating for sustainability part of the company’s vision;
- Formulate strategy with sustainability at heart;
- Embed sustainability in every part of the business;
- Walk the talk: Emphasise actions, not words;
- Set up a body at board level with the power to make sustainability matter;
- Set firm rules;
- Bring stakeholders on board;
- Use people power;
- Join the networks;
- Think beyond reporting; align all business systems with the company’s vision of sustainability.

The study was based on company case studies including Cemex and Marks & Spencer and the six academics hailed from China, Singapore, Spain, Britain and the US. They included Professor David Grayson, director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield School of Management. It was sponsored by Cisco and BT and also forms part of BT’s Bigger Thinking initiative, which aims to stimulate debate that will “challenge the status quo”. Contact Bigger Thinking www.biggerthinking.com/sustainability/innovation

M&S achieves

Marks & Spencer is to receive the Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development from the World Environment Center for its Plan A programme. The announcement was made on December 5, and the UK retailer will receive the award on May 9 in Washington DC. Plan A is Marks & Spencer’s 100-point five-year sustainability initiative, which aims to engage customers and suppliers in combating issues such as climate change, waste, the protection of natural resources and ethical trade. The WEC is a global organisation that works towards the advancement of sustainable development through the business practices of member companies and partnerships with governments, multi-lateral organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders.

Contact Marks & Spencer www.marksandspencer.com ; World Environment Center 001 202 312 1370 www.wec.org

Accounting for sustainability

The Prince of Wales announced the findings of his year-long Accounting for Sustainability Project on December 12, and through this produced two tools to help organisations become more sustainable.
These are:
- A free website resource providing guidance, systems and examples of good practice ( www.sustainabilityatwork.org.uk ).
- A ‘connected reporting framework’ that helps organisations take a new approach to reporting sustainability more clearly, concisely and comparably.
Sainsbury’s, Aviva, EDF Energy, HSBC, BP and BT are all using one or both of the tools. Contact The Prince of Wales
www.theprinceofwales.gov.uk

Alcan prize for sustainability

A centre for sustainable development based in India has won the Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2008. The Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation will receive the $1m prize, which is awarded annually to an organisation that demonstrates a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and social sustainability. The prize started in 2004 and is jointly developed, facilitated and managed by The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum. Rio Tinto Alcan is a global aluminium company.
Contact Alcan Prize for Sustainability http://alcanprizeforsustainability.com

ACCA Awards for Sustainability Reporting

UK telecommunications company, BT, won the award for best report at the 2007 ACCA Awards for Sustainability Reporting: Rewarding Transparency in December. Unilever, the global consumer products company, was runner-up. The other awards were as follows:
- Commendation for reporting on materiality: BT
- Commendation for transparent disclosures on public policy, lobbying and taxation: Vodafone
- Commendation for transparency in approach to assurance: BP
- Joint commendations for SME reporting: Shared Interest; Traidcraft
- Winner, electronic media commendation: BHP Billiton
- Runner up, electronic media commendation: Centrica
The awards aim to recognise the efforts of organisations in reporting environmental, social and sustainability information and further aim to raise awareness around corporate transparency issues.
Contact ACCA 020 7059 5000www.accaglobal.com

100 most sustainable companies in the world

Innovest, the financial firm, launched the list of the hundred most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum 2008 in Davos. The list includes companies such as Yell, Diageo, Lafarge, Sainsbury’s, Centrica and Nike. Thirty-two of the businesses that appeared on the list last year are not included this year and some of these Google, HSBC and Scottish and Southern Energy. A Chinese company – MTR Corporation, which runs Hong Kong’s mass transit system – was included for the first time. The list is drawn up by assessing how effectively corporations managed environmental, social and governance risks relative to their industry peers. Contact Innovest www.innovestgroup.com

In brief

• More than 100 companies have signed up to the National Business Travel Network, the government’s network of businesses committed to promoting sustainable travel as a cost effective way for corporations to address climate change while remaining profitable. The NBTN forms part of ACT ON CO2, the cross-government climate change campaign. www.nbtn.org.uk