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Chris Milton

Chris Milton

Bringing transparency to CSR reports

In those far off, misty days of University, one of the terrible misconceptions I used to labour under was that I could play the drums.

My few remaining friends from those days are still trying to convince me of my lack of talent on the piano and guitar as well.

No one mentions singing.

ANYWAY…

One of the drums I keep on banging today is to do with transparency as a foundation of a company’s sustainability, and it’s not just me this time either.  The reason for this is because as regulation has become looser accountability has to be strengthened, and the only way accountability can really be implemented is through transparency.

But how do you do it?  After all, publishing every minute of every meeting ever held will just be a data overload, and while businesses need to move away from secrecy as a default no one’s suggesting the end of commercially sensitive material.

An interesting solution comes from the Netherlands, where the mandatory examination of CSR reports for transparency has been going on for several years now. [Read more…] about Bringing transparency to CSR reports

CSR lessons from the fashion supply chain

Here’s a hypothetical thought.  Suppose I was walking along the street one day and a Chinese man walked up to me and kicked me.

I’m absolutely certain I would say “Ow” and I might also enquire (politely, of course) what had led him to such a course of action.

Now imagine you were walking down a different street in a different country, and a Mexican walked up to you and kicked you.

Do you think your pain or response would be dramatically different because of the different people and circumstances involved?

I doubt it.

One of the very interesting effects (but not intentions) of the CSR and sustainability agenda is the way it breaks down stovepiping between different industries and companies.  Take the recent report from Labour Behind the Label and War On Want (PDF download) for example.

[Read more…] about CSR lessons from the fashion supply chain

Indicators for Oil & Gas CSR Websites

The GRI is in the process of finalising a supplement for the Oil & Gas industry.

Many of the participants in this (including serial website award winners Eni and BP) have also taken part in the IPIECA’s guidance for voluntary sustainability reporting, the last update to which came out in December 2010.

What follows is a summary of some of the indicators the guidance recommends and my comments upon them.

However, although these are aimed at the Oil and Gas industry they’re pertinent to many other industries.

Furthermore, as so much of the present economy is founded upon and driven by O&G products, it would do companies outside the industry no harm to have an awareness of these indicators and even discuss how they may be used when making product and supplier decisions.

[Read more…] about Indicators for Oil & Gas CSR Websites

Life After The Financial Crisis Inquiry

The US’ Financial Crisis Inquiry has concluded with a set of damning conclusions (PDF). These are:

  • it was totally avoidable and caused wholly by people’s catastrophic mistakes
  • failures in regulation and supervision had a devastating effect
  • failures in boardrooms were a key cause
  • excessive borrowing, risk and a lack of transparency were all exacerbating factors
  • the US government’s ill prepared response added to the turmoil
  • there was a systematic breakdown in accountability and ethics
  • mortgage standards were the trigger (but not the cause)
  • the removal of the regulation of over-the-counter derivatives was a significant contributing factor
  • failures in the credit rating agencies drove the crisis forwards.

This is nothing short of a manifesto for regulatory reform along CSR lines.  The question is, will it happen?  After all, with a lack of regulation being the second item on the list, can business trust the government to give it the medicine it needs?

Unfortunately, it also raises huge questions about the ability of businesses to self-regulate and take steps where government doesn’t direct them.  So can we trust corporations to do this now?  That seems almost as unlikely as getting strong CSR based legislation.

Now it may seem unfair to tar all politicians and all businessmen with the same brush, especially when the crisis is focused very firmly on the financial sector and treasuries alone.  The trouble is that in a capitalist based society this is the heart of all other activity.  These are the leaders others follow and attempt to emulate: so even if you’re a follower at least some of the tar from the brush has probably spattered you. Us. Us all.

So here are some key things (in no particular order) I believe should come out of this as lessons learned:

  • it’s not all about money; non-financial reporting now has to be seen as just as important as financial reporting; attempting to squash everything into the pounds and pennies bottom line quite simply doesn’t work
  • regulation should no longer be seen as the lowest common standard; compliance must cease being a box ticking exercise; the legal framework should be seen as a foundation to build upon, not an exercise in pseudo-morality
  • transparency has to become the new watchword of politics and business alike; commercial confidentiality can no longer mean keeping everything secret except mandatory disclosures; instead, everything has to be disclosed unless there is a clear case that it will compromise patents etc; competitiveness must now be about the delivery of quality services and products, not backroom deals
  • no company must ever be too large to fail; a resilient and sustainable economy can only be built around smaller organisations which are independent from one another and yet networked closely together; as soon as a single point of failure presents itself it must be removed forthwith; this may mean a decrease in overall efficiency but if it builds in long term stability and reliable growth what’s the problem?

I’m perfectly aware this is me firing off a few rounds from a 12-bore shotgun and that there’s plenty of contentious issues in what I’m saying.

So please, rather than just taking issue with what I think, let’s talk about what you think.  Where should the business and financial world go from here?

Picture Credit: Phoenix by David Armano under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Eight Standards for CSR and Fashion Websites

One of the biggest running sores in the landscape of CSR is the fashion industry.

Clothing manufacture in the UK (outside of Jermyn Street and Saville Row) appears to have all but died out and those garment factories which do still exist struggle to compete with cheap imports from the Indian subcontinent and China.

Trouble is the cheapness of those imports have generally come from grave human rights abuses which, for many a decade, passed along unnoticed and uncommented upon.

Now that consumers are more knowledgeable, shocking health and labour conditions have been uncovered.  Fashion companies throw up their hands and say “we didn’t know”. Right you are then, so do something about it.

One of the ways fashion companies (labels in other words, not retailers) can “do something” is through participation in the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF). [Read more…] about Eight Standards for CSR and Fashion Websites

Passion and Creativity in Spain | CSR Around The World

Passion: the one word which sums up the Spanish completely.  No matter where they are or what they’re doing, the Spanish are likely to be giving it their all.

Because of this Spaniards tend to also be creative, imaginative and fiercely independent.

Think of the haughty Señora, or the fiery Señorita and the picture starts to unfold: this isn’t plain stubbornness, this is a high functioning desire to work it out for yourself and stick to what you believe in.

Passion, in retrospect, hardly seems to do it justice!

Spain’s political and business organisation reflects these values well.

The country is divided into seventeen autonomous regions, each of which has its own legislative, executive and judicial arms of government.

Although not formally regarded as a federal government, these regions exercise more independence than other more widely know federal countries, including the USA and Germany.

The same sense of autonomy runs through Spain’s business organisation.  According to the EU (PDF), Spain has 58 SMEs per 1000 people, “substantially higher” than the EU average of 40 / 1000 people.  What’s more, these SMEs contribute a much higher amount to Spain’s economy as a whole than the EU average: nearly 15% more Spanish employees are in the SME sector, adding over 15% extra to the overall value of the economy.

With such a strong sense of direction and belief in what they’re doing how, I wondered, do the Spanish approach the subject of CSR?  To help me understand this I turned to Juan Villamayor, a CSR expert living in Barcelona and author of the blog A Touch of Green.
[Read more…] about Passion and Creativity in Spain | CSR Around The World