Tag Archives: ESG

Corporate Social Responsibility at Target: Behind the Red Bullseye

07 Monday Jul 2014

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Target released four new corporate responsibility goals in 2011:

  • Increase sustainable seafood selection
  • Improve owned-brand packaging sustainability
  • Increase diabetes HbA1c testing compliance
  • Increase reading proficiency

Now, Target’s 2011 CSR Report offers pages of graphs measuring the Minneapolis-based retailer’s progress against these goals. While the graphs look promising and underscore the challenges of operating in a competitive market with multiple layers of stakeholders, I wanted to understand the context behind these goals and what the execution would look like.

I sat down with Tim Baer, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary with Target, for a conversation about the goals and how his team plans to demystify complicated supply chains and motivate its employees and customers toward healthy and sustainable choices.

Aman Singh: While the PDF of goals and progress gave me a sense of exactly that, i.e., progress, it didn’t give me a sense of Target’s mission/values. Can you elaborate?

Tim Baer: At Target, we’re committed to positively impacting the lives of our guests and team members. Since 1946, our legacy of giving and service has been reflected in a commitment that today totals more than $3 million a week to our communities.

Tim_Baer_TargetAnd at the end of the day, by continuing to  serve our team members and communities, we ensure our future success. As a result of our giving model, we benefit from being a workplace and shopping destination of choice for our team members and guests. Not only do our guests value our commitment to communities and giving, but our team members do as well.

To bring our vision of strong, healthy and safe communities to life — which we can’t do alone — we work with community, business and civic partners who inform and share in our approach. We know we can make a meaningful impact, so we set goals to guide our work in three focus areas — helping to put more U.S. children on the path to graduation, reducing our impact on the environment and helping Target team members live healthy, balanced lives.

Why is education such a big goal for Target?

Education, specifically K-3 literacy, is important to Target for three primary reasons. First, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. And, we’re compelled to do our part to address the education challenge in America, putting more kids on the path to high school graduation.

Second, based on guest surveys, we know that our guests care about education more than any other social issue, and we’re committed to giving to communities in a way that positively impacts our guests and their families.

Third, we know that reading proficiently by the end of third grade is a significant milestone on the path to graduation. This is the time when a child transitions from learning to read, to reading to learn. A child who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade is four times more likely to drop out of high school when compared with a child who can.

Ultimately, education is critically important to the success of our children and our economy. By supporting education, we are investing in developing an educated workforce that is prepared for today’s and tomorrow’s challenging work environment. At Target, our team is our competitive advantage, and preparing future team members with a quality education today makes good business sense.

CSR_Education_Target

Your data shows that you were not able to achieve your water reduction goals? Can you give us a sense of the challenges and where improvements need to be made?

To recap the report, Target used 3.45 billion gallons of water, representing a 0.3 percent reduction in water use per square foot from our 2009 baseline. Although our absolute water use exceeded our initial baseline, we also increased our total real estate square footage, which led to a decrease in water use per square foot.

The most significant challenges we faced in 2011 were drought-like conditions in some of our mature markets like Texas, Minnesota and Iowa, where we have a relatively high concentration of stores requiring increased irrigation. This negative impact was modestly softened by our rollout of several water-saving initiatives, which we estimate will contribute a reduction of 1.4 percent annually starting this year.

A few examples of our water-saving initiatives include:

  • Expanded installation of smart irrigation controllers that irrigate based on real-time local weather data in lieu of set times,
  • Use of ultra-low flow urinals and water closets, and
  • Elimination of continuously running dipper wells for ice cream and coffee stations at Target Café and Starbucks locations in our stores.

We’re also in the process of installing real-time water submeters in a number of stores to pinpoint the quantity of water a typical store uses for various operations. This will help improve our evaluation of water-saving opportunities moving forward.

Environment_CSR_Target

You have a goal of reducing owned-brand product packaging for at least 50 product designs by 2016. Is that aggressive enough?

While we’ve targeted 50 packaging designs, these changes will be implemented for a much larger number of items that use the same packaging.

We know environmental stewardship is important to Target guests, and our sustainable packaging designs will let them know that Target’s commitment to reducing our environmental impact begins before our products hit shelves.

Over the next five years, Target will be developing sustainable packaging designs that yield at least a 10 percent improvement in one of several attributes of our existing owned-brand packaging. We’ll do this in several ways, including reducing overall packaging, using more recycled or renewable content, and reducing product waste. We’ll also look to use more recyclable materials in our packaging, Sustainable Packaging at Targetcounting these improvements toward our goal only if the updated packaging is 100 percent recyclable.

The goals indicated regarding packaging are limited to your owned-brand products. Are there any plans to push your suppliers and CPG partners into more responsible, transparent and environmentally friendly actions?

We believe in leading by example and hope that by creating more sustainable packaging for our owned brands, we can inspire our suppliers, CPG partners and peers to implement more sustainable packages in their own products.

The report indicates strong progress toward empowering employees to be more health-conscious. Can you discuss some of the challenges behind the numbers?

For us, 2011 was a year of learning in regards to team member wellbeing.

We recognized goals specific to preventive service utilization rates were difficult to measure consistently and accurately, so we adopted HEDIS [National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Health Effectiveness Data and Information Set] measures. By doing so, we can support our wellbeing efforts by comparing our utilization rates to those of other employers or healthcare entities like medical groups or health plans.

The size and geographic distribution of the Target team member population reaches across 49 states, 1,700 stores, 37 distribution centers and nine domestic headquarters locations. We employ more than 365,000 team members and know they have varying degrees of health engagement, variable disease prevalence and differing perspectives on healthcare services. This is an opportunity for us to develop tailored programs that address these differences, more effectively reaching every team member, regardless of where and how they live and work.

Can you summarize the key highlights of the report?

All of Target’s corporate responsibility objectives ladder up to our larger goal of creating a brighter future for our team members, our communities and the world we live in. Target is here for good. Through all of these initiatives, we’re committed to positively impacting the lives of our guests and team members.

Additionally, Target’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report is the most transparent corporate responsibility report we’ve ever released. It represents the first time Target declared a GRI Application Level and obtained a GRI Application Level Check. [For more information, Target’s GRI Application Level/Check Statement from GRI were posted on www.Target.com/hereforgood on July 13, 2012.]

Why bother reporting on this set of internal goals? How do you measure the “success” of your CSR report?

Our commitment to our guest extends far beyond our stores, and we believe truly great service includes supporting the communities where we live and work. In business, Target collaborates and innovates to drive results. Key to that collaboration is transparency when it comes to measuring and reporting progress toward goals, allowing us to grow as a company.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary section Talkback on August  6, 2012.

Examining Humana’s 2011 CSR Report: Targeting Well-being, Increasing Focus on Supply Chain

07 Monday Jul 2014

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Humana_2010-2011_CSR_ReportHumana recently released its 2010 and 2011 CSR report. What’s news about that?

For one, with this report, the health insurer became the first in its sector to follow GRI guidelines. Second, it lays down the foundation for upcoming efforts in building a sustainable supply chain and consciously partnering with NGOs and nonprofits in furthering well-being for all.

I sat down with Jim Turner, Humana’s Director for Media and Public Relations and Catherine McGlown, Humana’s CSR Lead to discuss the report — and what’s ahead for their teams.

How does Humana define CSR?

Turner: “Humana defines CSR as our dedication to making business decisions that reflect our commitment to improving the health and well-being of our members, our associates, the communities we serve, and our planet. Our CSR platform – Healthy People, Healthy Planet, Healthy Performance – represents that.”

What’s the significance of being the first company to issue a GRI report in the health insurance industry?

McGlown: “We’re excited about it, as you might expect. We won’t be surprised to see other insurers at least seriously consider following suit. As stakeholders demand increasing transparency and accountability, reporting with a recognized framework is one way our industry can continue to build trust with our members, associates, shareholders, regulators and the community at large.

“The publication of Humana’s 2010 & 2011 CSR Report using GRI guidelines (self-declared at a level C) shows that Humana is leading the health insurance industry in the larger trend of reporting out on environmental, social and governance data. CSR reporting is growing, both internationally and nationally. GRI estimates the number of North American reports with a GRI index increased by 35 percent between 2010 and 2011; we are proud to be a part of that growth.”

What metrics are discussed within the report?

  • Humana’s pledge to reduce building energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and annual energy expenses by 10 percent each, over the course of 2012, from a 2009 baseline.
  • Formation of Humana’s Network Resource Groups for African-American associates; Hispanic associates; caregivers; and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender associates. Since the report publication, Humana has launched another group for military veterans.
  • Humana’s report also discusses the company’s plan to hire 1,000 or more veterans and/or their spouses for a variety of roles across the company, as part of the Humana Veterans Initiative. Humana has hired more than 400 military veterans and military spouses since the initiative began in August 2011. Military Times EDGE named Humana Military Healthcare Services as one of its 2012 “Best for Vets” employers. On this year’s list, Humana achieved the highest ranking of any health care company.

What have been some of the challenges of CSR reporting in a highly regulated industry?

Turner: “We’re used to being very careful about how we handle people’s health and well-being information. We have to be. This was no different as we compiled information and data for this year’s CSR Report. We wanted to be extra sensitive to how our associates and external stakeholders would view the report and how we frame sometimes-sensitive issues.”

Does Humana have community engagement initiatives only in the markets you do business?

McGlown: “Through our Medicare operations, Humana does business in all 50 U.S. states, so the answer is yes. That said, we certainly consider markets where we do business and where our associates live and work when evaluating community engagement initiatives, but those are not the only qualifying criteria. Humana’s dream is to help people achieve lifelong well-being – regardless of where they live. As Humana is now a national company, we’re working hard to become good corporate citizens in all of the communities where we do business.”

A few examples:

  • Humana has partnered with the nonprofit KaBOOM! to build multigenerational playgrounds across the country – with the most recent build in Marion, Iowa – they have built a total of 11.
  • The Humana Well-Being Tour is travelling the country for eight months, stopping in different communities and meeting people where they live to give them a fresh perspective on healthy living. This national mobile health initiative includes pedometer distribution, biometrics stations and virtual games focused on health.
  • If enrolled in a Humana health plan, Humana associates and their families can participate in an incentive-based program called HumanaVitalitySM. Rooted in science, this program encourages individuals to create a goals-based health plan and rewards individuals for healthy choices—such as losing weight, staying active and eating better—by awarding points redeemable for purchases. In addition to benefiting Humana associates, this program enables Humana to build the business case for workplace wellbeing and encourage other companies to invest in employee health.
  • Humana’s Signature Program Team Up 4 Health, located in Eastern Kentucky, uses the power of personal relationships to influence people’s behaviors towards better health and lifelong well-being. Its mission is to curb chronic diseases—such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity—which are among the most common, preventable and costly health problems in the United States. This two-year pilot is a partnership with Microclinic International, Citizen Effect and community partners.

How do you see the company’s commitment to community engagement helping Humana’s long-term sustenance?

McGlown: “Well-being is much like CSR in that it is a journey, not a destination. We prioritize walking alongside people in their journey, and one of the ways through which we can continue to drive wellbeing is through community engagement. Meeting people where they are and encouraging them to make changes in their lives that yield lifelong well-being (purpose, belonging, health and security) is a win-win.”

What CSR initiatives will Humana focus on in the next two to three years?

McGlown: “Humana will spend the next two to three years building upon the foundation we have set. One area of focus for Humana is its supply chain. Humana is identifying ways to deepen its sustainable procurement efforts, as follow-up to a supplier assessment conducted in 2011, as well as ways to increase its spend with diverse suppliers.”

Turner: “In terms of environmental work, in addition to our energy-savings targets, Humana is working on a green real estate project. For our owned facilities, we’re developing a scorecard to determine the highest-impact locations for green retrofits. For potential new properties, we’re integrating consideration of LEED potential into our RFPs and site searches.

“We have also made a multi-year commitment to continue our work with KaBOOM! Over the next three years, we will build more than 40 multi-generational playgrounds in high-need communities to encourage well-being through play.”

What do you hope to get out of your CSR report?

Turner: “The establishment of our formal CSR efforts began with both senior-leader support and organic associate activities – our CSR platform of Healthy People, Healthy Planet, Healthy Performance reflects who we are. Humana’s stakeholders – including our members, employees, and the communities in which we do business – expect a certain level of transparency from us¸ and we aimed to provide them with that through our CSR Report.”

McGlown: “This first GRI report was a tremendous learning experience. Going forward, we’re looking for ways to deepen our reporting, including possibly striving to report at the B- level in our next report.”

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary section Talkback on June 28, 2012.

The True Value of CSR Reporting: In Conversation with Campbell Soup’s VP for CSR

07 Monday Jul 2014

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The soon-to-be-released report will mark Campbell Soup’s fourth CSR Report. This report comes amidst a CEO change – Denise Morrison took on the chief job at Campbell Soup last year joining a small group of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 – and a period of what Director of Diversity & Inclusion Kevin Carter calls a time of “deep introspection” for the company.

Carter’s note is well taken. With the economy sputtering and flailing, reports continue to suggest that consumer confidence and trust remain low. For a food manufacturer then, this means not only staying ahead of the curve of quickly changing taste preferences but also understanding its unique role in encouraging nutrition across an increasingly complex and fragmented consumer base.

And amid a tepid economy, where does the true value of CSR and sustainability reporting lie? Can these reports and the effort required to produce them extend beyond an exercise in sharing key metrics, the year’s highlights – and a few, incredibly sparse media mentions – to true learning experiences for companies to better their processes and make gains that help them and their communities become more sustainable?

The True Value of CSR Reporting

Dave_Stangis_CSFor VP of Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility, Dave Stangis – his third report since taking the job at Campbell Soup – the true value of Campbell Soup’s reporting goes far beyond setting the right goals and reporting on the progress.

“The true potential of CSR reporting* is that while companies go through this chronological reporting effort once a year, the organization and business units are executing their strategies and working on metrics year-round. The process of reporting creates an opportunity to build a Campbell Soup Britannica or World Book to work off of and use as a record of the company’s progress,” he said in a recent interview.

“All year-long, we are collecting examples, building the narrative, monitoring our progress and continually evolving materiality assessments,” he continued. Often, great examples of progress emerge that would otherwise never rise to the spotlight in a multinational company.

“As you dig in, you find cross-functional teams working together on strategy, benchmarking, indicators, etc. There are, of course, always things to improve on but the stories and ideas that emerge from this heels dug in reporting exercise are incredibly useful in moving our company forward,” he said.

Connecting the Dots: Recognizing the True CSR Heroes

In recent weeks, CSRwire readers read from a number of top executives at Campbell Soup on their stories and contribution to the 2012 CSR report. Trish Zecca discussed the fine balance between nutrition and taste while Amanda Bauman discussed how the company is tackling hunger and obesity in its communities and Dr. Daniel Sonke gave us an in-depth account of the relationship between agriculture practices and corporate sustainability. Finally, D&I Director Kevin Carter offered his insights on how the company is prioritizing intercultural teams, moving diversity beyond compliance, and tentatively dipping its toes in social media.

For Stangis, these are the true heroes.

“These are the people who are behind the images and stories in the report. They are invested in the business Campbell_Soup_Volunteersand their work and there is a discernible amount of pride and work ethic that goes along with that,” he said.

“For our CSR Communications Manager Niki Kelley – creating this report is her life for six months and I’ve told her, she’s the one who knows more about the entire company than anyone else in the company.”

5 Questions for Campbell Soup’s VP for CSR

What is Stangis most proud of in the latest CSR report?  “It’s the nuances that a lay reader won’t realize but that are critical to the progress we are making,” he said. To explain further, we decided to play five questions:

1. Whose Interested:

“We continue to evolve our understanding of our various audiences [for the CSR report]. We want to connect with our employees on the frontline as well as in the C-suite. We need to impact our neighbors and make the content relevant to our customers and consumers. Most readers are looking for quick snapshots and I want to validate, reinforce and build trust and credibility in that short timeframe.”

2. What’s New:

“We’ve really worked hard on strengthening the wellness and nutrition metrics from a product perspective…we’re not driving a health ultimatum, but we are offering more healthy choices for consumers. Readers that pay closer attention will notice a growing sophistication in our strategies and metrics across the board. This report also includes the first full description of our Healthy Communities Initiative that we’ve launched in Camden, NJ.”

3. What’s Often Hidden:

“We work hard to make sure nothing gets lost in the details, but there is a ton of content that most readers will miss on a casual glance. The CEO Letter can give the readers a sense of how Denise Morrison thinks and interacts with the CSR and sustainability strategy.”

“We’re bridging from an employee engagement (only) mindset to a performance culture that leverages engagement to drive better business results. This isn’t something that is immediately obvious to external readers but it’s a priority for us.”

4. What’s Measured Gets Managed:

“Last year we discussed our community programs but this year the report really talks about these in a strategic and measurable manner. We continue to advance our metric set from product conception to societal impact. We’ve mapped our production sites with the WBCSD Global Water Tool and as we’ve brought our Community and Foundation functions into tighter alignment with our CSR and Sustainability strategies, we are shifting from measuring activity to measuring outcomes.”

5. Uncharted Territory: 

“The big news this year from a sustainability perspective is our traction on renewables. We’ve had smaller efforts in the past but in 2011 we went from dipping our toes in the water to flipping the switch on one of the largest solar installations in the country. This represents a cultural shift for the company. Large scale renewable projects just weren’t in our solution set and now we are evaluating new renewable opportunities across our plant network that reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and save money.”

Solar_Panels_at_Campbell_SoupFor Campbell Soup, a global footprint means a holistic vision of sustainability that encompasses its products, employees, communities and supply chain.

And for Stangis, publishing an annual report is not only a testament to his team’s efforts but also a way to measure what’s not working. Having led CSR at Intel before joining Campbell Soup, Stangis is a veteran in the world of CSR reporting, and has seen firsthand the evolution of the sector.

“What comprehensive reporting does today is set up a process that continues to position the company in the long-term. This wasn’t the case when we started reporting. Now we’re anticipating issues and breaking down communication silos that are inherent in the company,” he explained.

Challenges Ahead: More Data, Clarity of Purpose

Any regrets? “We need to keep pushing ourselves for better data every year, especially for our international footprint. It’s only when you dig in that you realize how much better a fully integrated measurement and reporting system would be,” Stangis confessed.

The journey – as for most companies taking on the responsibility and challenge of reporting on their corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts – is far from over.

And as a seasoned sustainability executive, Stangis understands the daunting task that lies ahead for Campbell Soup in a crowded market, evolving taste preferences and the continuous challenge of consumer education.

“We still have to plug people into what we are doing, the reason why we are doing it [and make it make sense],” he said, noting that it isn’t just the external stakeholders that need the dots to be continually connected for them.

“We have to do a better job at communicating the strategic intent and shareowner value delivered by a comprehensive CSR program.  Our internal teams, our C-suite – it’s our job to help them understand  the story across the board.”

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary section Talkback on May 24, 2012

Missing Voices: Green Business Leaders Discuss Representation at Rio+20

07 Monday Jul 2014

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Co-written with Martha Shaw 

Nearly 100 sustainable business leaders crowded onto the 10th floor of the UN Church Center in New York City on
May 1st to join a conversation with Chantal Line Carpentier, Sustainable Development Officer and Major Groups Program Coordinator of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and other UN representatives.

The topic: To hear from the “missing voices” of over 200,000 entrepreneurs from organizations including the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), Social Venture Network, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), B Lab, CSRwire, Green America and ‘buy local’ green business networks.

The meeting was hosted by The Temple of Understanding, and organized by Martha Shaw, to explore ways that founders of socially and environmentally responsible ‘triple bottom line” businesses might bring their voices to Rio+20, and beyond.

“We Must Raise Our Voice Now”

David_Lavine_Missing_VoicesASBC’s David Levine started the conversation by stressing that the gathered entrepreneurs are conscious of their global counterparts who are also running businesses that presuppose green practices and help serve social needs while making money.

“Whether they are social enterprises, micro enterprises, women’s groups or development groups, they all carry the same sensibilities of a triple bottom line. They are finding a balance between profits, social and environmental goals,” he said. “This voice is missing in our country today because a monolithic voice led by multinationals dominates all dialogues.”

Levine ended by emphasizing that this is the opportunity for the entrepreneurs to market their leadership and present their pioneering work on a global stage as a way of creating shared value. “This voice is new and we must raise it,” he ended.

“Define Sustainable and Green Business”

Green Maps SystemGreen Map System‘s Wendy Brawer picked up where Levine left by adding that until we define what “sustainable business” means, creating this coherent voice will be hard.

Jumping into the dialogue, CSRwire CEO Joe Sibilia made it clear that “any business that integrates the human condition into its operations, whether you call it humanity or spirituality, is sustainable. These entrepreneurs are using business to create a values-driven and sustainable world,” he said. “Financial gains cannot be the only objective. It’s that simple.”

Eco-preneurs at Rio+20

Temple of Understanding’s Grove Harris interjected by adding that it is “practices like the ones Joe is highlighting that need to be voiced at Rio+20. It is important to bring these issues to the table by showing business practices that manifest in social value.” She also added that traditionally, non-governmental organizations have not proven sophisticated enough to support our future and voices. “We need business to be there.”

Joe_Sibilia_Missing_VoicesMore examples of mission-driven business enterprises solving many social and environmental problems, including the eradication of poverty, were offered, as was a comparison to the restraints of multinational corporations who are bound by law to act in the best interest of stockholder profits.

Though Sibilia, Harris, Brawer and B Lab’s Peter Strugatz offered several examples of supply chain relationships among green businesses and corporations going green, they also pointed out that many other models exist for ways the world can do business outside the restrictions of a corporation.

United Nations: Collaborate & Lead The Conversation

After hearing everyone out, Chantal Line Carpentier, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Officer and Major Groups Program Coordinator, took the floor to urge the attendees to work with the UN in representing their issues at Rio+20.

She also emphasized clarifying ambiguous language about sustainability and suggested that the sector come to an agreement on what “private public partnerships mean” and “how you can help influence policy and regulatory frameworks.”

“Consider this as a strong call for leadership. There is a lot of talk about business doing more but how? Show us, offer best practices, define CSR, and align practices with the United Nations Global Compact guidelines,” she said.

Carpentier also recommended that the entrepreneurs make an effort to demystify the language around lifecycles, supply chain analysis and sustainability.

Finally, Tess Mateo, an advisor to the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), pointed out that the Women, and Indigenous People Major Groups would be good allies and recommended that we remain cognizant of working together with the other enterprises in promoting our voice on the global stage.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on May 2, 2012.

Social Responsibility, Beer & Aliens: Journey to Becoming the Best Beer Company in a Better World

07 Monday Jul 2014

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I caught up with Carol Clark, Global VP for Beer and Better World, to drill deeper into Anheuser-Busch InBev’s latest CSR report. Key highlights:

The report is titled Connecting for a Better World. AB InBev makes beer. What’s the connection?

At AB InBev, our dream is to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World. We believe that taking consistent, active measures in our core areas of social responsibility means constantly connecting our business with our stakeholders, especially in the communities where we live and work.

It takes a team effort to address these issues. Through our work to promote responsible drinking, reduce our impact on the environment and support our communities, we work with others who share our collective goal of making a difference.

There’s a quote in the report from Carlos Brito saying “We’re not aliens.” Can you offer some context?

Carol_Clark_AB_InBevWhen Carlos Brito said, “We are not aliens …” he was responding to a question at the Business for Social Responsibility Conference last fall about why AB InBev actively promotes responsible drinking.

AB InBev today has over 116,000 employees operating globally. We live on this planet and share the same concerns as our friends and neighbors. Many of us are parents and understand how important it is to talk with our children to help prevent underage drinking.

Similarly, we don’t want to be on the road with drunk drivers, and we’re committed to supporting prevention efforts such as encouraging the use of designated drivers. We’re committed to addressing these issues not only from a business perspective, but also from a personal perspective.

What is the ROI in producing a comprehensive CSR report such as this one? Media mentions? Retention? Rankings? Anheuser-Busch_CSR_Report

Publishing our CSR report keeps us focused and accountable to our stakeholders and ourselves. The scrutiny that this annual process brings gives us an updated perspective to help us further drive our performance, engage our employees and very importantly, thank them for their great work over the past year.

From an external perspective, we’re satisfying the requests from varied stakeholders for transparency on our social responsibility efforts.

The report is over 80 pages. Who is your primary target audience? And, who would you want to target?

We have a lot of good things to talk about! We use the report to share our progress with diverse audiences – from community stakeholders to investors, to media, to government officials – around the world.

Alex Prud’homme author of The Ripple Effect recently said that “Water is the headlining story of our century.” Are you focusing on sustaining your business by reducing water use, R&D on water replenishment or identifying alternative products altogether?

Water is our primary environmental focus and we aim to reach a water usage rate of 3.5 hectoliters of water for each hectoliter of production by the end of 2012.

We tackle the issue of responsible water use by doing more to conserve both in our operations and in the communities where our breweries are located. Progress requires operational changes and continually applying the most updated technical innovations. It means going further with supply chain and community partners to help conserve water outside our walls. But it also requires reinforcing a mindset that doesn’t take water for granted.

[Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 2011 Global Citizenship Report]

It can be argued that 8.2% reduction in water usage since 2010 is not a lot. Primary challenges in reaching double-digit reduction?

Actually, if you look at the beverage industry, this is a significant achievement. And it’s important to keep in mind that we’ve focused on water and energy efficiency for some time now, so there is very strong year-on-year progress. And we’re also making these reductions while continuing to grow our business. That means that each year, our brewing operations teams find innovative ways to do more with less when it comes to water.

To date, we’ve achieved an average water use of 3.71 hectoliters per hectoliter of production across our global business, which represents a 13.7% reduction against our 2009 baseline.

Our target, which we’ve stated publicly, is to reach 3.5 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of production by end-2012, which will put us on the leading edge of water usage for the brewing industry.

Your report mentions the billions paid in wages and income taxes. Not a lot of reports make these metrics a part of their community development results. Why the emphasis on wages? 

As the leading global brewer, we have operations in 23 countries. We have a significant economic impact on the local communities where we do business through the jobs we create, the wages we pay and the taxes we pay governments at all levels. We feel that it’s important to report on and recognize the value and impact we are bringing to communities where we live and work.

Can you talk to the “ownership culture” of the company?

One of our 10 AB InBev Principles is about ownership: “We are a company of owners. Owners take results personally.”

[Sustainable Beer: Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 2012 Environmental Goals]

We strive to create a culture that encourages responsibility and accountability, and that applies to our work on social responsibility as well. Creating this culture of ownership helps us build those connections and team approach, both internally and externally, to helping make a difference in our communities as we strive to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on April 26, 2012.

Eurosif’s 2012 Procurement Report: Investors Increasingly Auditing Supply Chain Sustainability

07 Monday Jul 2014

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An interview with François Passant, Executive Director of Eurosif, the European Sustainable Investment Forum

What are the critical points investors should know about this report?

François Passant: The Eurosif Procurement Report reveals – one of the first such reports – how investors can systematically minimize supply chain François_Passant__Executive_Director_Eurosifrisks against the backdrop of an exponential growth in outsourcing to low-cost regions such as Asia, and recent environmental disasters such as
Fukushima.

Researched by privately held swiss Bank Sarasin, the report illustrates the factors that are considered in a robust sustainable supply chain audit and offers best practices used by multinational companies in the textiles and electronics sectors in monitoring different tiers of suppliers. We focused on these two industries primarily because they have particularly long and complex supply chains, though there are variations even in these sectors.

It also helps practitioners frame the business case for responsible supply chain management.

What are the main contributing policies and standards highlighted by the report?

Responsible supply chain management requires recognition of the relationship between environmental, social, legal and reputational risks and financial performance.

There is a range of legal and quasi-legal measures, international and self-regulatory codes of conduct and standards aimed at improving the sustainability of supply chains. Examples include:

 1. The Electronics Industry Citizen Coalition [EICC] Code of Conduct

Many more large textiles brands now require compliance with minimum labor standards and therefore conduct supplier audits. According to the Eurosif report, this has led to an improvement in issues such as child labor, forced labor, occupational health and safety.

Most leading electronics companies have a Code of Conduct that is based upon the Electronics Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) code, an industry initiative which is supporting positive changes on social and environmental issues.

 2. The Dodd-Frank Act

Legal restrictions such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S. will demand that companies reveal the source of their minerals’ procurement to reduce the use of raw materials mined under primitive and hazardous conditions.

 3. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The UN Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in June 2011, which define the responsibilities of companies to protect human rights in their operations and supply chains. Although it is not legally binding, the principles offer a clear direction for the future.

4. EU Directive 2002/95/EC 

Eurosif_NALegal and quasi-legal pressures also affect environmental risks. Some substances are regulated and phased out by the EU Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS). Similarly certain substances are under observation for future regulation in the frame of the EU regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

5. European Commission’s Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe

In 2011, the European Commission published the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, as one of the flagships of the Europe 2020 Strategy. A key element of the roadmap is the promotion of sustainable production by setting appropriate price signals and defining a common methodological approach to measure environmental performance (environmental footprints) of products and services.

Consumer pressure is also a driver for positive change. The market for green, ethical and organic — organic cotton sales tripled in the last six years (Textilexchange, 2011) – products has grown rapidly in recent years and is projected to continue at this fast pace.

What are some best practices on capacity building and supply chain monitoring standards revealed by the report?

One of the biggest challenges is getting improvements along the supply chain from direct suppliers to raw material producers.

Eurosif_Cisco_Supply_Chain

Leading companies have a multi-stage process, starting with risk assessment to identify suppliers with a high exposure to labor and environmental issues, followed by self-assessments, and finally regular on-site audits at key supplier factories carried out by internal staff or external auditors. In the case of non-compliance findings, corrective action plans are defined. Some electronics companies like Hewlett-Packard or Cisco Systems publish the results of their audits.

However, in general, transparency in the apparel and textile industry is more advanced than the electronics sector.

There is an upward trend in companies reporting on audit results including non-compliance cases; some even disclose their suppliers. Leading sporting goods and retail companies have supplier performance measurement mechanisms that have been fully integrated into their supplier assessment and their order placements. Puma and Adidas Group are cited in the report as companies which are relatively transparent about their sustainable supply chain auditing.

Collaborative and capacity building efforts are included in the sustainable supply chain audit. Leading apparel brands have been working together to improve labor standards in their supply chains. Examples include the Better Work partnership between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the IFC and cooperation with the Fair Labor Association.

Environmental projects are more focused on materials. Examples include the Leather Working Group and Better Cotton Initiatives.

Other highlights that link sustainability and risk assessment?

Other sustainability-related supply chain disruptions mentioned in the report include:

  • Energy scarcity
  • Incidents related to health and safety
  • Environment
  • Product safety
  • Business ethics

A loss of productivity led by supply chain disruptions affects revenue and increases costs.

In a recent survey, 74 percent of surveyed companies agreed that outsourcing and just-in-time strategies were making their organizations more vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

How does the report expand the dialogue on ethical sourcing and supply chain management?

The report discusses supply chain management and sourcing materials from an investor’s perspective regarding environmental and labor issues in particular and their compliance with international laws, regulations and standards as mentioned above.

Investors are advised to adopt a robust supply chain audit, which includes:

  • An assessment of the extent of outsourcing
  • Assessment of the locations of suppliers
  • Corporate policies and standards (including industry and legal)
  • Effective monitoring procedures
  • Capacity building along the supply chain
  • Active collaboration within the industry and with stakeholders
  • Clear product labeling

The sustainable supply chain audit is described in more detail in Eurosif’s Procurement Report, which can be downloaded from Eurosif.com [PDF].

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on April 10, 2012.

Bob Willard’s Business Case for Sustainability: A Better Way to Make a Bigger Profit

03 Thursday Jul 2014

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The constant struggle between business’ social and environmental responsibility and investor demands is already an old tale. “The field has stretched and magnified so quickly that even though I have only been doing this work for three years, it feels like 10,” confessed a fellow attendee at a recent conference.

It’s true. Increasingly, more of us – those of us who eat, drink, sleep and dream CSR and sustainability – succumb to the comfort of believing that the sector is steadily progressing toward safer, clearer, more transparent practices.

But are we?

With Wall Street continuing to demand quarterly results, stringent returns on investments and short payback periods, are we really supporting sustainability in its truest sense? The examples, after all, are endless: Apple’s factory standards, Goldman Sachs’ unethical business practices, Chevron’s continued governance malpractices as reported by the Amazon Defense Coalition, and a new report that calls Wal-Mart’s sustainability championship as mere greenwashing.

As the CECP’s Margaret Coady remarked recently on CSRwire Talkback, how can sustainability executives tie consumer expectations and investor pressure into cohesive strings of action? Are the two sides completely incompatible?

Bob_Willard_The_Sustainability_AdvantageBob Willard, author of The Sustainability Advantage – and the updated The New Sustainability Advantage – recently held a well-attended webinar organized by the Toronto Speaker Sustainability Series [TSSS] on objections handling for sustainability executives. Some of his lessons – which you will soon be able to download as a useful reference guide, courtesy TSSS – focus on identifying mind shifts, behavioral change, graciousness and emphasizing education.

Now, Willard is traveling to New York to present at the Ethical Sourcing Forum on March 29 – 30, 2012 on connecting these lamentations with the business case for sustainability. A former IBMer, Willard’s work is renowned for its articulate arguments and concrete examples. His book is a firestorm of information and data. Here’s what the founder of Interface, the late Ray Anderson, said:

Bob Willard has performed a service of inestimable value: quantifying the business case for sustainability. By focusing at the level of the firm, Willard has bypassed the overriding but somewhat esoteric question, “How long can the rape of Earth by the modern industrial system go on before ecological collapse?”

The answer to this big question lies in the cumulative effect of millions of firms, large and small, waking up to the untapped profit potential that’s all around them. Bob Willard has shown how to capture that potential in real profits. Consequently, the answer to the big question is: Let the rape stop now; there’s a better way to make a bigger profit. Read this book to learn how.

Willard believes that until recently, there has been little evidence expressed in business language to show executives actual benefits from sustainability strategies. But that sustainability strategies can drive new bottom-line opportunities, avoid impending risks, and be a catalyst for business innovation, even in an economic recession.

While there are speakers aplenty who can talk about sustainability today in logically constructed sentences, there are few who have decades of experience to back up their arguments and can not only envision sustainable capitalism but show us how to get there. Willard falls in the latter category. So, if you are in the New York City area, join the CSRwire team at the Ethical Sourcing Forum to learn and engage with the leader himself.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on March 16, 2012.

Empowering Women Through Education: Talbots and BSR’s HERproject

03 Thursday Jul 2014

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It is often said that an empowered woman can lead to happy families, successful team projects, and a flourishing economy.

BSR_HERproject_1With women increasingly accounting for a higher proportion of our workforce — and supply chain — empowering them with healthy alternatives, training and access to medical information is critical. BSR’s HERproject has a similar objective in mind. The project, built around private-public partnerships, believes that businesses that invest in educating and empowering women in the workplace enjoy higher efficiencies, lower absenteeism and turnover rates, and higher return on investments.

In fact, “BSR’s HERproject has demonstrated the power of providing women’s reproductive health education in the workplace to transform individual lives, workplaces, and communities,” says Marcus Chung, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Talbots, a women’s apparel, shoes and accessories retailer.

Chung, in partnership with BSR’s Racheal Yeager, will lead a session at the upcoming Ethical Sourcing Forum in New York on some of the results, challenges and lessons learned from collaborating closely on implementing HERproject in Talbots’ contract factories.

Public-Private Partnerships to Drive Women Empowerment

Talbots has partnered with BSR since 2010 on creating, investing in and implementing curriculum to educate female garment workers around the world. What makes partnerships like these tougher to implement – but much more critical to push for – is that these workers are not Talbots employees – and the factories are not owned by Talbots either.

Return on Investment: BSR's HERproject“HERproject emphasizes partnering with local NGOs to deliver training to high potential workers, who in turn become internal trainers. We focus on health and nutrition issues which ultimately lead to increased confidence and competency among the workforce,” he says.

Chung admitted that besides higher rates of productivity, participation and loyalty, these exercises also help discern high potential candidates for leadership opportunities.

So far Talbots has launched the project in its factories in China, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

An Educated & Healthy Employee

There are some side benefits too, he agrees. “At one factory in Vietnam, management told me that other factories’ workers were approaching them to ask how they could join the factory to take advantage of the educational and training opportunities,” he says.

They have since seen higher rates of applications pour in.

For Talbots – a women-centric brand – this initiative has been crucial in driving social impact and demonstrating worker responsibility. But, according to Chung, it is much more than that. “HERproject also made it very easy for us to scale and take our philanthropic platform across our factories in a very real way,” he says.

“Of course it also helps with vendor dialogues: Our conversations with our suppliers and vendors used to be restricted to garment costing and quality. Now we have much more dynamic conversations.”

For retailers and manufacturers, HERproject, he says, offers a practical way of working with nonprofit partners and internal champions to bridge the complex cultural and economic divides that surround a global company’s supply chain.

Statistics have shown that a woman shunned is a dangerous woman. While an educated and empowered woman invests in the future and drives change for her family, herself, and her employer. Who wouldn’t want such a powerful employee on your side?

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on March 1, 2011.

PwC Canada Releases 3rd Annual CSR Report: Staying the Course

03 Thursday Jul 2014

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PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Canada released their third annual corporate responsibility report today. It’s nothing groundbreaking. But nor is it pages and pages of images and quotes from top leadership interspersed with hard-to-evaluate statistics.PwC_CR_Report_2011

In true PwC fashion, the report details commitments and achievements in 2011 only to quickly move on to highlighting challenges and the firm’s key plans for 2012 followed by an affirmation of the firm’s social and environmental strategy.

The pressure on firms big and small to report on their non-financial activities is significant. With the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) officially launching in North America last year, CSR and sustainability reports are set to multiply in coming years. What always challenges me are the motivations behind the reporting: Is it simply peer pressure or do firms learn something from the process? Moreover, is the act of reporting an exercise in external communication or more of an introspective activity to improve processes and strategies?

I caught up with James Temple, PwC Canada’s Director of Corporate Responsibility for some insights:

What was the most important lesson learned from the often stressful exercise of putting this report together?

Every time we work on our Corporate Responsibility Report, we’re reminded that this is an evolving journey and one that requires us to be open to adapting to changing ideas, personalities and approaches to developing the most transparent narrative possible.

When you involve such a large number of stakeholders in such a rigorous process, all of whom are passionate about their work and the cause, it can prove to be a balancing act that requires a balance of leadership, managing expectations, and the ability to communicate with empathy and effectiveness.

Most importantly, the process has helped us finesse a blended approach that respects standard reporting frameworks and our unique firm culture and structure to develop a narrative that is representative of the success (and the challenges) we face along the way.”

The report mentions plans for a new three-year strategic plan to guide the next phase of PwC Canada’s CSR program. Any insights you can provide into that?

Over the next few months, we will be completing our environmental scan and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to ensure that we are being thoughtful about our dynamic marketplace conditions along with gaining valuable input from our Global Network of Firms.

Philanthropy plays a crucial role in targeting social and environmental challenges through nonprofit partnerships but it’s often the strategy behind these donations that helps make them effective. Any insights on what works well for PwC’s B2B industry?

From the 2011 CR Report: “In 2011, PwC contributed a total of $2,533,000 in charitable donations and sponsorships to community organizations across Canada.”

At PwC Canada, we have adopted a strategy that focuses on educating employees and other stakeholders about the most effective ways to give back to their communities.

We encourage people to utilize our PwC Canada Volunteer Continuum that spells out how a person or organization can deepen their engagement with the charitable sector while developing their skills and experiences.

This could include the ways people use their skills to volunteer, how they look at sharing their community experiences, calling on their business networks for support, or how to allocate their personal or organizational resources in the most effective way possible.  Our approach is rooted in the regular feedback we receive from the not-for-profit sector and considers impact (not just dollars and cents).

What are some points of achievements from the report that you feel especially proud of?

In the fall of 2010, PwC hosted a series of roundtable discussions with representatives from the not-for-profit sector, public and private foundations and major corporations called the Capacity Building Roundtable Project.

The purpose of the project was to raise awareness about how corporate funders could better allocate their resources to help the not-for-profit sector become more sustainable and deliver lasting results within their communities.

The report concluded with a step-by-step process that addressed critical needs identified by the community that could have the most immediate and scalable impacts.

One of the critical findings was the need to encourage other corporations to provide not-for-profits support for core operational expenditures, and ensure they build time for grant recipients to reflect, take risks and test new innovations into grant proposals.

How do you define success in CSR reporting? Metrics? Media mentions? Or a set of internal goals?

We encourage our employees and other stakeholders to integrate a CR mind-set into their day-to-day business operations.  We want to inspire and empower people to look for ways to embed good CR practices into their decision-making frameworks.

A great example of how we’ve engaged our stakeholders in a CR dialogue was through the Citizen’s Reference Panel. PwC Canada brought together people from across Ontario to discuss their views on how to build a more sustainable and cost-effective healthcare system across the province.   We published a piece of thought leadership outlining the results, and it’s something that will help our business, the public and governments have better insights into the development of new healthcare strategies.

Our firm can play in helping to shape the debate on sustainability issues impacting businesses today.

Success means knowing you’ve done everything you can to help develop the CR conversation.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on February 27, 2012..

Sustainability & Your Supply Chain: Risks, Metrics & Opportunities

03 Thursday Jul 2014

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What combination of education, training and technical solutions does it take to compel change through your organization as well as your supply chain?

It is a question that continues to dog manufacturers and retailers big and small as supply chains grow complex and social and environmental challenges multiply. What role should companies play in educating – and engaging – their suppliers? What’s ethical? With Sustainability Reporting becoming a mark of competitive advantage, how can organizations best track their performance?

The upcoming Ethical Sourcing Forum will kickoff its two-day conference next month by putting Coca-Cola, Intel, Bic, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Intertek on the hot seat to try to answer some of these complex questions.

Ethical_Sourcing_Forum

The panel, led by me, will not only offer best practices but also discuss specific tools that the companies have either developed or collaborated with their nonprofit partners on, to track and examine sustainability progress with their suppliers.

For a preview of what promises to be a compelling session of benchmarking and teasing apart a sensitive topic, I turned to Mathieu Lamolle, a market analyst with the ITC for some insights.

An Ethical Supply Chain

The ITC, a United Nations agency for trade related technical assistance, has one goal: To help businesses become more competitive in global markets, speeding economic development and contributing to sustainable development.

Part of this goal, Mathieu told me, is a “Standards Map web tool for organizations to analyze, map and compare themselves according to an array of 75+ sustainability standards in supply chains.”

“We also want to enable any organization that has its own code of conduct and assessment protocol to benchmark what they are doing against others. They can benchmark their own corporate practices and see how they measure up against other companies and sustainability standards.”

Ranging from small companies, traders and suppliers to retailers, importers and others, this new tool will encourage data sharing for the purpose of internal benchmarking with the ultimate goal being an ethical and efficient supply chain.

While it remains strictly a business-to-business tool for now, Mathieu emphasized that there are plans to eventually roll it out for general consumption and public benchmarking as well.

Benchmarking Sustainability Progress

StandardsWhat’s especially promising about ITC’s new tool is its abject emphasis on sharing for the purpose of benchmarking. The organization’s role as a UN neutral intermediary between public-private partnerships further helps break through the risk-averse behavior that often delays well-meaning initiatives within organizations.

Although, so far the tool has found resonance with participants for the primary purpose of internal tracking and public sharing of information on the Standards Map web tool, Mathieu admitted that the true value of the tool “is going to unfold when we can spread the news globally” and allow people to compare the true progress being made by participating organizations on educating and training their supply chains. “The more people use it the better it is,” he said.

The impact of such a global tool can prove to be significant in an industry that is evolving and constantly juggling multifold standards and regulations. Want to learn more about the Standards Map? Wondering how you can use the tool to track your organization’s sustainability progress?

Join us at the Ethical Sourcing Forum for a lively discussion that will focus not only on available tools, but also how to best manage metrics, challenges of a global supply chain and whether any of the present panelists’ tools can be customized to work in your industry.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary sectionTalkback on February 22, 2012.