Medtronic issued its 2011 Corporate Citizenship update, which focuses on supply chain management, communicating with its global workforce, and balancing environmental responsibility with its goals to boost growth.

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What do Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway and the Bank of China have in common? They are all large companies refusing to respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) request to disclose their emissions. Unlike them, 404 global large companies replied to the questionnaire sent to them this year by the CDP, on behalf of 551 [...]

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By Jeff Klein One of the key insights that emerged out of writing Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living, was a recognition that my principle orientation to work, business and life is generally process-based and process-focused, as compared with a product or outcome-focused orientation. In this context, the motto – The [...]

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This article outlines the 3 stages of recycling and argues for a closed-loop recycling system that protects the environment and promotes a greener economy.

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This article offers insight into how some corporations are fueling US unemployment rates by increasing the hiring rate of legal and illegal immigrant workers, subsequently reducing the American workforce. This practice contradicts with major corporations who subscribe to CSR best practices which involve “a way of managing a business by considering the impact of activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment.” With rising unemployment rates, an increasing population, and shrinking workforce we have to assess the role of corporations in economic stabilization and sustainability.

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Deciding to operate in sustainable and socially responsible manner is one thing, but for many companies, knowing how to achieve that goal is quite another. That’s why the OECD’s “Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit” is a useful place for businesses that are serious about implementing sustainability measures to start. It helps answer the age-old question: What do [...]

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H&M has recently overtaken Walmart as the biggest buyer of organic cotton. The global market for organic cotton grew by 20% and H&M used more than 15,000 tonnes of it in 2010 – an increase of 77% compared to 2009. This is great news for organic cotton, but H&M needs to make many more improvements [...]

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The Bon Appétit Management Company is the nation’s leading sustainable dining services. They are an onsite restaurant company that provides café and catering services to corporations, colleges and universities and specialty venues. They are pioneers in environmentally sound sourcing policies. They have developed programs that encourage local sourcing, address the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, cage-free eggs, [...]

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Water stewardship has become an important CSR focus for many companies. Good water stewardship is especially important to beverage companies like Pepsico,and Coca-Cola where water makes up large quantities of the actual product they produce. The same also goes for alcoholic beverages. Brewing packs a walloping carbon as well as water footprint. It takes 58 gallons [...]

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The insurance company Allstate uses a lot of paper – in 2009 it used approximately 3.7 billion sheets, equal to approximately 450,000 trees. So it’s not surprising that the company identified paper reduction as one of its top environmental priorities, setting a goal of reducing overall office paper use by 25 percent by 2010. In [...]

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Dell has stopped purchasing Renewable Energy Credits, central to its promise of becoming a “carbon-neutral” company, according to its 2011 corporate responsibility report.

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Did you know that your running shoes contains hazardous chemicals, some that get released every time you go out for a run? No matter how fancy the shoe, it probably contains three components that don’t biodegrade. The decorative upper of the shoe consists of nylon, plastic or synthetic leather. The sole is more often than not, [...]

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Neil McPhail, board member, Alliance to Save Energy and senior vice president, new business customer solutions group at Best Buy discusses how power companies and consumer technology retailers are coming together to establish working relationships and best practices that will work toward creating better, more efficient and most importantly, greener products from store shelf to in-home outlet. Best Buy, a consistent leader in sustainability, is hosting its 3rd Annual Energy Summit and Neil shares with readers some of his key insights and takeaways from the discussions leading up to summit.

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This post examines U.S. prospects for leading in green information technology, as a growing component of the broader clean tech market.

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I don’t consider myself a big Dunkin’ Donuts fan. When I lived in Delaware I used to go there only on Hanukkah, looking for donuts to remind me of Hanukkah doughnuts (I dare you to find those in Delaware!). So when I came to read their first CSR report, which was released last week, I [...]

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Disaster management is rapidly becoming a very important area of CSR. Although some natural disasters strike very suddenly and the only response that can be done is post-tragedy, others require a degree of forethought. Sometimes CSR responses may be as simple as ensuring that services go on as normal, so as not to create further [...]

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Ernst & Young released a report earlier this week that explains how sustainability can and will change the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

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This post examines the shortcomings of the organic food movement, such as making it more accessible and fun, and compares it to the challenges faced by sustainability advocates.

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As a continuation of last week’s posting, “Using GRI to Compare Apples to Apples in Sustainability Reporting”, we intend to describe the approach demonstrated during the ISOS Group GRI Certified Sustainability Reporting courses to distinguishing quality reports from those that would probably be best served as marketing pieces.

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The following is part of a series by our friends at CSRHub (a 3p sponsor) – offering free sustainability and corporate social responsibility ratings on over 5,000 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies. 3p readers get 40% off CSRHub’s professional subscriptions with promo code “TP40.” By Carol Pierson Holding Americans are both addicted to [...]

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You would think that after the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill last year, oil companies would have learned to deal with similar catastrophes better. An oil spill is something that may be unavoidable but dealing with it in a prompt manner that encourages stakeholder awareness is more than clever PR. North Sea Spill Worst in UK [...]

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By Jeff Klein In my post last week on Conscious Awareness, I defined that concept as “a process of recognizing what is going on inside and out, the effects of decisions and actions, and the interaction between a complex array of factors and forces.” I highlighted its function as a powerful tool for transcending unconscious [...]

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A forthcoming Journal of Consumer Research study claims that when brands exhibit inconsistencies, consumers find it hard to swallow proclamations of social responsibility. According to coauthor Carlos Torelli, “Marketers use messages of  CSR under the expectation that consumers reward brands with a favorable CSR image.” A McKinsey global survey stated that 76 % of executives said CSR efforts add [...]

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By Ian Edwards For companies committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is a belief that all those good deeds will be rewarded with new business, but there is scant hard evidence. Image Microsystems (IM), of Austin, Texas, stands as one of the few companies that can ascribe new business gains to its core values of sustainability and [...]

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In the past year or so, there’s been a lot of buzz about the power of storytelling for businesses. Sometimes it feels more like excitement around talking about it than actually doing it. A recent piece here had the intriguing suggestion that when it comes to telling your sustainability story, the messier the better. In a [...]

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Urban wildlife conservation is a growing branch of conservation ecology with good reason. Due to increase in human encroachment on forest lands, more and more people are encroaching on natural habitat. In addition, many lakes and rivers near cities are severely polluted and in desperate need of restoration. It is important to protect these areas [...]

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Burt’s Bees started off as a company that uses all natural, organic products and has long been identified as a company with roots in sustainability. In 2007 the company was purchased by Clorox for $925 million. They have since expanded into new markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Within America, they have been adding [...]

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By: David Jaber Many CSR professionals struggle with setting benchmarks, measuring progress toward goals and evaluating past performance. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are some tips to get you started: Good metrics should be: – relevant. If your goal is to ‘improve public understanding of environmental justice,’ the metric needs to be [...]

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Think that California SB657 doesn’t apply to your company? This post clears up misconceptions as to who is required to disclose and suggests reasons why SB657 should be the catalyst for an enhanced program to fight Human Trafficking and Slavery in your Supply Chain.

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Mining is incredibly harmful from both an environmental and social stance. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, rebel groups and government forces have been locked in a 15-year-long war and mineral sales are a key part of the conflict with diamond dollars ending up in the pockets of Congolese war lords. New US regulations are trying [...]

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