Interesting views on Carbon Offsetting from some big corporate players at yesterday's Low Carbon Innovation Exchange. At a panel discussion with the UK CSR/environmental managers of HBOS, Harper Collins, McDonalds and IBM, the first two found carbon offsetting a useful tool as it added a stronger economic driver to cut carbon (opponents of offsetting accuse the concept of allowing organisations to 'buy forgiveness' for their 'carbon sins').

On the other hand, McDonalds thought that people would deride them for offsetting as a gimmick and IBM decided the money would be better invested in internal low carbon projects.

Quote of the day was from Ashley Lodge of Harper Collins. One of his colleagues advised him to make the low carbon agenda "more stilettos than sandals." Damn right.

Labels: carbon offsetting, csr, low carbon innovation network

My friends at the Environmental Academy have just launched their new "Enviro Excellence" award to provide businesses with a framework for improving their environmental management.

Participants must provide evidence that they have complied with a set of compulsory and optional criteria to progress through the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards - a bit like the Duke of Edinburgh award if you did that at school. A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) version is in the pipeline.

I write this with a small amount of pride as Terra Infirma Ltd acted as a 'critical friend' in the development of the award to look at it from an outsider's point of view and help fine tune the criteria.

Labels: corporate social responsibility, csr, enviro excellence, environmental management, terra infirma

We're pleased to announce our new one-day Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) course. Aimed at businesses who want to understand the most pressing driver in the world today, the course explores the CSR and its underlying concept, sustainable development.

We deliver our courses at our clients' sites or at a mutually agreed venue. Roughly speaking, the morning is spent on theory and the afternoon on application.

This course is based on our "An Introduction to Sustainable Development" course, but the theory, case studies and exercises are applied to the business world.

Previous Delegates’ Comments:

“Great day! Touched on the right issues in the right way. Thought provoking exercises – would recommend.”
Government Office attendee

“Facilitator very knowledgeable and confident.”
Local Authority attendee

Contact us to book a course or for more details.

Labels: corporate social responsibility, csr, training

A couple of weeks ago I went along to an event on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Before the presentations started the chap next to me asked what I did. I explained I was an environmental and sustainability consultant and described what I did. His eyes narrowed a bit and he asked me "so why are you here?". I was a little confused by this until he explained that he thought CSR began and ended with donating sums to community groups in the localities around his company's development projects.

This is a perennial problem in the sustainability industry - everybody has a different idea of what each term means, leading to misunderstandings and confusion. So here are a few definitions of CSR.

The UK Government:

[CSR] is about how business takes account of its economic, social and environmental impacts in the way it operates – maximising the benefits and minimising the downsides.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development:

"Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large."

Wikipedia:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that organizations, especially (but not only) corporations, have an obligation to consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond their statutory obligation to comply with legislation.

All of these are roughly the same but with differing emphasis on the environmental side of the equation. Some companies and organisations now talk about "Corporate Responsibility" instead, believing that the word "Social" is leading to confusion. But all of them are much wider than the donation-based scope that my new acquaintance had in his mind.

Of course, there is quite a bit of evidence that links good CSR performance to good financial performance, for example this rather heavy academic paper.

Labels: corporate social responsibility, csr

We are delighted to announce that we are now sponsoring the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Forum on SustainabilityForum.com.

The sponsorship forms part of our own CSR commitment: to get sustainability issues discussed and disseminated as much as possible. Despite having only been established recently, the Sustainability Forum is proving an excellent resource for exchanging information on this wide ranging topic. We are very proud to be able to play our part in its future.

Labels: csr, sustainability, terra infirma