2Sustain

The Coca-Cola Company has released its eighth annual system-wide Sustainability Report, Reasons to Believe, and in an effort to improve transparency across the company’s broad sustainability platform, this new report includes several different “firsts” for the beverage giant.

For example, this year’s report was created using stakeholder feedback and, for the first time, The Coca-Cola Company followed the disclosure and reporting requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), earning the company a self-declared grade level “B+.”

In addition, company decided to publish its report exclusively online, using a unique digital format that offers easier access from smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices.

With regard to environmental stewardship, Reasons to Believe reveals that The Coca-Cola Company has: (more…)

For a decade now, consumers have been calling on chocolate companies to take more responsibility for transparency in the cocoa bean supply chain.  Late last month, the Hershey Company announced that it is doing just that, as it assumes a leadership role in this area and extends its commitment to drive the long-term change that’s needed.

As previously pledged, Hershey has begun to reinforce its cocoa sustainability efforts by accelerating farmer and family development in West Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is grown.

In a press release, the company outlined its plans to: (more…)

Most corporate sustainability reports are full of environmental goals. But, do companies actually reach these ambitions? How many end up meeting the targets they set for themselves?

Among British retailers, the track record so far appears to be quite good. In fact, a new report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) report concluded that retailers in the UK are living up to the environmental ambitions they committed themselves to in 2008 –plus,  they’re demonstrating increasing recognition that reducing waste, energy and water usage not only benefits the environment, but makes good business sense, as well.

The BRC-led project, A Better Retailing Climate, was launched in 2008, and it committed businesses representing the majority of the UK retail market to sector-wide environmental ambitions. The report released last month, A Better Retailing Climate: Towards Sustainable Retail, is the BRC’s third review of progress against these original commitments.

Here’s a breakdown of the report’s key findings: (more…)

Today’s B-school graduates have grown up with issues like environmental protection and social responsibility as constant features in their lives. But, I often wonder how this will affect their career goals. Are these MBA students ready to lead what some now are calling the first “sustainable generation?”

New research from the UK’s Sky provides some intriguing insights and suggests that future leaders are ready to embrace the challenge of integrating sustainability into business best practices.

In its recently released report The Sustainable Generation: The Sky Future Leaders Study, Sky, a television service from the UK and Ireland, examines the attitudes and ambitions of more than 750 corporate graduate trainees, high-potential middle-managers and MBA students.

Among the highlights:

• 34 percent of the survey respondents see creating social and environmental value as an overall career goal, and a whopping 96 percent said they plan on being involved with sustainability in their careers.
• 79 percent said the vision and values of a company are an important factor when looking at potential employers.
• 70 percent agreed that sustainability can create new opportunities for businesses, and just 21 percent said sustainability has to come at the expense of profit.

However, the study also revealed that these future leaders sense a disconnect between corporate words and actions with regard to sustainability: (more…)

The IT industry is performing very poorly with regard to sustainability, according to the latest analysis by oekom Research AG, one of the world’s leading rating agencies in the field of sustainable investment.

Despite relatively good grades by leaders like Ricoh (B+), Intel (B+) and Motorola Mobility (B), the average score for all companies analyzed was a dismal D+.

Why? To satisfy the constant demand for ever cheaper electronic consumer goods, the entire IT industry has engaged in a large-scale outsourcing process behind the scenes –and the fierce competition and price pressures are taking their toll. Now, many IT suppliers in China, South-East Asia and Mexico subject their workers to abysmal conditions, such as: (more…)