Sustainability & CSR News | FabianPattberg.com

Category Archives - Sustainability & CSR News

Greenpeace campaign “Clean Apple’s Cloud” is a success and now includes Microsoft and Amazon

July 9, 20122:29 pm

I am sure Apple and Greenpeace did not have a good relationship over the past months. Part of the reason has been that Greenpeace started a petition campaign to protest against Apple powering its iCloud service with very unsustainable coal energy. This is the link to the Greenpeace website outlining the reason for the petition campaign: Clean Apple’s Cloud | Greenpeace and Clean Our Cloud.

The campaign was a success and is expanding

The campaign rapidly gathered 250.000 petitions using the latest social media channels and was such a success that it has now been expanded to include Microsoft and Amazon. The goal is to increase the pressure on these three companies to use clean and unlimited energy sources to power their respective cloud services and to help build a cleaner energy future together.

My view as a single stakeholder

I am a big Apple technology fan as well. I have an Apple laptop, iPhone and my wife has an iMac at home. But I must also admit that the ignorance of Apple towards opening up to stakeholder demands has been very frustrating for me. If Apple is not changing its ways pretty soon, I am sure that my next product choice will be a different one despite loving Apple products. This is the choice I have and at the same time the only way for me to influence Apple’s decision-making in any way. Once we as stakeholders are willing to make our voice heard I am sure companies such as Apple will have a to listen.

Top 3 CSR / Sustainability tweets of mine receiving the most clicks this week

July 7, 20124:15 pm

0 Comments

When you tweet so much as I am every day, measuring the success of your Twitter update is important. It helps me to refine the information I share with my audience. That is why I have measured the number of clicks and retweets my tweets receive with a tool called Buffer over the past months.

I thought is would be a good idea for a post to highlight some of the top tweets that received the most clicks and retweets over the course of a week. I only included these tweets that are not about my own blog posts. One interesting learning from this measurement over the past months has been, that usually tweets about my own blog posts are getting more clicks than tweets about other websites. But I believe that this is normal since most my Twitter followers are following me because of my daily blogging.

These are the three most popular tweets of the past week according to my measurement tool:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/status/220225718339125249"]

1) 14 clicks and 0 retweets

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/status/221258244335730688"]

2) 12 clicks and 1 retweet

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/status/219432819716399106"]

3) 12 clicks and 1 retweet

Obviously is this kind of measurement limited to my Twitter audience but I thought I shared these three top tweets with you today and ask whether you as my readers find this kind of measurement useful or not. I find it very useful.

Good best practice: Unilever uses social networking to provide clean drinking water

July 6, 20123:53 pm

1 Comment

I felt that it was time for a good best practice example again. Today I wanted to point you to some of the latest Unilever engagement: This time about how Unilever Teams Up With Facebook To Switch On Safe Water.

These are some interesting parts of the press release about the scheme:

“Unilever has launched a scheme to provide safe clean drinking water to communities around the world by harnessing the power of social networking. Unilever will provide water purification devices and sachets at cost to the Waterworks programme and will also cover overhead running costs – including developing and running the J2ME Facebook fundraising app. Users of the app choose a small daily donation from €0.10 to €1 and a Waterworker to partner with. The workers will be trained by PSI so they understand water purification, sanitation and hygiene issues.

The Waterworkers then go out into their communities to pass on this information and distribute the water purification devices and sachets. Each Waterworker will be given a mobile phone preloaded with the app allowing them to take photos and record stories to connect back to their Facebook partners.”

My view

I really like this scheme and would appreciate if Unilever could report on the progress and adoption. Water management and access to clean drinking water in developing countries is to important to just be left to the local government. If companies are selling products in the particular country on such a scale as Unilever does, responsibilities increase as well. I am glad Unilever has realised that as one of too few companies across the globe.

I also really like the combination of spreading the word via social networking. This looks like a proper best-practice example.

My take on the Barclays Libor scandal, corporate governance and CSR

July 5, 20121:55 pm

0 Comments

The Barclays Libor scandal has started another big wave of discussions about the real responsibility of businesses and how the CSR / Sustainability practices of every single business across the globe needs to be scrutinised continuously by us as their stakeholders. Jo Confino wrote an excellent article two days ago addressing the issue. This is the link: Has Barclays brought corporate responsibility reporting into disrepute? Today I wanted to take this blog post as an opportunity to voice my view on this.

My view on the Barclays Libor scandal

Yes, Barclays screwed up big time and everyone looking at the latest Barclays CSR report will think twice whether to believe their reporting over the past years and the in future. This is the link to the Corporate Citizenship activities if you want to have a closer look. Corporate Citizenship at Barclays.

But I also wanted to say that we need to make sure that we are not starting to play the “blame game” generally now and condemn the CSR / Sustainability team and everyone involved at Barclays. It will obviously be determined who has been involved but I am sure the CSR team at Barclays is not.

What is to blame is the system in view. The system of constant secrecy in business and screwing over the person next to you if get a chance to earn some quick money or promotion. Again, I am sure working at Barclays is not a bad place to work, quite the opposite I believe from friends that work there. What this scandal makes very clear is that the system of how Barclays is doing business is just not the right system and that there is a big disconnect between what the CSR team at Barclays believe responsible business is and what the former senior leadership believes and practiced.

Good corporate governance does not really exist so far

In my view corporate governance on board level does not really exist. Senior leadership teams are able to do what they want in most businesses as long as they make money. It is not all bad and there are companies that show promising signs. But 98% of global boards are only interested in making money. They do not have any other goal. And we as stakeholders are partly to blame for this as well. We have not given them a clear direction that this is not what we want as stakeholders. We need to change the aspects of success under which senior leadership teams in businesses are being judged in my view. And this needs to happen fast. If not, Barclays will only have been the start.

Stop thinking negative and start to change the world

I want to end on a positive note. Despite these horrific corporate practices I strongly believe that negative thinking doesn’t get us anywhere now. Even John Elkington says that about the minimal Rio+20 outcome. And Rio+20 was a disaster in my view as well. We need to be more optimistic to change the world we live in. Nothing else works. Being negative actually leads us in the opposite direction. So what are you waiting for? Make your stakeholder voice heard and contribute to our future together!

Jo Confino on the UK banking scandal and CSR

July 3, 20127:37 pm

0 Comments

The UK banking industry has been hit with a huge scandal over the past days. The latest development has been that Barclays CEO has now resigned.

What about the believably of CSR at Barclays now?

The article I want to highlight today has been written about this exact scandal, its possible meaning for the CSR activities of Barclays and its auditors. Jo Confino from The Guardian raises some very important questions. This is the link to the article. Has Barclays brought corporate responsibility reporting into disrepute? | Guardian Sustainable Business

I will post what I think about the latest developments of this story over the next few days but wanted to give everyone a heads up on this important CSR / Sustainability development today already.

Provide feedback for the next GRI Reporting Standard G4

June 30, 20125:04 pm

0 Comments

We all usually have more time during the weekend. That is why I wanted to invite you today to visit the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) website to provide feedback for the GRI G4 Exposure Draft.

This is what the email I got send yesterday about the call for feedback:

GRI invites you to help shape the future of corporate sustainability reporting, by providing feedback on the Exposure Draft of G4 before 25 September 2012.

Your feedback on the Exposure Draft will guide the GRI Secretariat, Working Groups, and governance bodies to finalize the development of G4, ahead of its planned launch at GRI’s Conference in May 2013.

Based on feedback from the first Public Comment Period, G4 development is focused on the following five main areas – Boundary, Application Levels, Governance and Remuneration, Supply Chain, and Disclosures on Management Approach. Five Working Groups have developed new and updated existing content on each of these five issues, and it will be available online for comment from 25 June to 25 September 2012.

You can provide feedback in English on the G4 Exposure Draft following a simple process:

1. Download and read the G4 Exposure Draft
2. Register on the GRI Consultation Platform
3. Provide your feedback

For more information, to download the Exposure Draft, and to submit feedback, visit the GRI website.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Transformation to a social enterprise – my pro and con list

June 29, 201210:35 am

1 Comment

I am an entrepreneur and need to earn money to make a living. When I read this article today on Fast Company called: “You’re Nuts!” Why–And How–Impact Makers Gives Away All Its Profits | Fast Company, I decided to write a “What if I did this” post on the possibility to transform my current limited liability business into a social enterprise business.

What if I would change my company business model to something similar to ImpactMakers here in Germany? Instead of writing a lengthy post I decided to do a list of pros and cons for this possible change. Please feel free to add your comments and views on this. Could you imagine changing your business to this kind of business model? Could this possibly be part of how CSR / Sustainability companies would define themselves in the future? Many questions indeed!

My current Pro and Con list on changing to into a social enterprise

Pro’s:

The business purpose would be redefined to be less centred around one single individual or a group of leaders. This would completely transform the current business as a whole to truly be meaningful.
Employees would be more than just employees. They would be empowered to serve the community and be part of something much bigger.
An independent council would help make the important decisions. These would be better informed decisions and the know-how within the business would increase immensely.
The local community would profit from the excess revenue generated from the business. Isn’t life about giving back rather than taking? I think so.

Con’s:

The entrepreneur has less control over the future of the business. This is hard to swallow for any die-hard entrepreneur.
The owner of the business is earning less money when the business is very profitable. This for most people is the sole purpose of the business they run. Not necessarily for me.
So far this kind of a business form does not exist here in Germany. As far as I know. This is a big uncertainty.
Most of us have loans that we needed to take to by a flat/house for our families to live in. What about the acceptance of this new business form to any lenders /banks? Will they accept this social enterprise form as sufficient security?

I will expand this list as I get new comments and own thoughts as I dive deeper into this topic. All comments appreciated.

A must read: Novo Nordisk and 20 Years in the business of Sustainability

June 26, 20121:01 pm

1 Comment

When I started to get interested CSR / Sustainability back at the Copenhagen Business School one of the first useful best-practice examples everyone was raving about was Novo Nordisk. This was back in 2002.

But the history in Sustainability best-practice at Novo Nordisk goes a lot further back. Novo Nordisk actually started in 1992. Today I wanted to point you to a document published by Novo Nordisk that summarises exactly this Sustainability best-practice history: The PDF document is called: 20 Years in the Business of Sustainability (PDF).

This is how Novo Nordisk describes this document: “How did Novo Nordisk become a front-runner in the pursuit of sustainability? What spurred us to begin this journey, and what has kept us going? This book tells that story. It marks Novo Nordisk’s 20 years in the business of Sustainability, coinciding with the 20 year anniversary of the Rio Declaration – an important turning point for the world and for our company.”

My View

This is a magnificent summary of the most important moments within the Sustainability history of Novo Nordisk and a must-read for anyone interested in CSR / Sustainability in my view. Novo Nordisk can be proud of this best-practice and we as practitioners should recognise the efforts Novo Nordisk is putting into communicating this 20 years of best-practice. I am not someone that gives praise where no praise is justified but I am more than happy to recognise the good work Novo Nordisk has been doing.

Give credit where credit is due.

My CSR / Sustainability reading list for the weekend

June 22, 20125:09 pm

2 Comments

I just came back from a very busy day and started to reading latest CSR / Sustainability items and stories in my RSS reader when I realised that I actually did not have the time today to read each article as in-depth as I should do. It is Germany vs Greece in the UEFA European Football (soccer) championship tonight and there is still so much to prepare….. Anyway, that is why I decided to use todays blog post as a reading list for the upcoming weekend.

These are the articles I will read over the next 3 days:

Did I miss any other interesting reading material? Feel free to suggest anything else and have a good start to the weekend everyone!