2Sustain

The nonprofit advocacy group Mercy for Animals launched an undercover investigation into McDonald’s egg supplier Sparboe Egg Farms and found cruel conditions. Hidden-camera video from the investigation showed a number of abuses, including:

• the use of battery cages, which are banned in California, Michigan and throughout the entire European Union,
• workers burning off the beaks of young chicks and callously throwing them into cages, some missing the cage doors and hitting the floor and
• rotted hens, decomposed beyond recognition as birds, left in cages with hens still laying eggs for human consumption.

In a statement, McDonald’s described the behavior on the video as “disturbing and completely unacceptable.” (more…)

Most Americans have high expectations for the nation’s businesses, but the vast majority also thinks Corporate America failed to meet those expectations in 2010. In fact, when StrategyOne asked 1,081 Americans how well Corporate America did last year, 82 percent assigned a grade of ‘C’ or lower and 40 percent assigned a grade of ‘D’ or ‘F.’ Just 17 percent gave Corporate America an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ for their 2010 performance.

Other survey highlights included: (more…)

Cargill’s newly released 2010 corporate responsibility report, titled “Growing Together,” highlights the company’s efforts across a variety of different operational elements, including food safety, responsible supply chains, environmental innovation, rural development, workplace safety and community engagement.

With regard to environmental stewardship, Cargill reports that it is:

• Using biogas to displace 20 to 25 percent of natural gas demand at its North American beef processing plants, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.3 million metric tons in the last four years.

• Becoming more energy efficient. For each unit of production, the company improved energy efficiency by 11 percent from its fiscal 2001 baseline. Cargill admits that falls short of its goal of 20 percent, yet says it has identified the skills and management systems needed to improve in the future. Cargill also measures energy use per $1,000 in sales, and by that measure the company is 24 percent more efficient from its baseline.

• Transforming the company’s knowledge about improving energy efficiency at its own locations into a business called Cargill Process Optimizers, which helps customers significantly improve their yields, energy efficiency and water efficiency.

I was pleased to see that Cargill also devotes a significant portion of its CSR report to a discussion of the company’s work in responsible supply chains and sourcing. For instance, in this section Cargill describes how it: (more…)

In what some are calling a watershed moment in supply chain ethics, Nike, Inc. has agreed to provide financial, medical and vocational support to workers affected by closures at contract supplier factories in Honduras.

Nike announced late last month that it had reached an agreement with the Central General de Trabajadores de Honduras (CGT), representing the former employees of Hugger and Vision Tex factories, and as a result the company has agreed to: (more…)

Ethisphere has released its 2010 list of the World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies, and again this year, I was struck with the U.S. Ethisphere Institute’s findings which  show, quite clearly,  that it does pay to be ethical.

As the graph below illustrates, even during a recession, the “WME Index” (which includes all publicly traded 2010 WME Companies) beat the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500.

The World’s Most Ethical Company designation is awarded to those companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs, particularly as compared to their industry peers, and this year Ethisphere found 100 companies that made the cut. 26 companies are new to the 2010 list; 24 companies dropped off from the 2009 list. (more…)