For a good cause
Feb 3, 2009 Information of the Day, Social Initiatives
Today if you want to contribute to a good cause, technology has simplified your search. While some websites like Kiva (focussing on microlending to communities in developing countries) and Volunteermarch (claimed to be the largest volunteering initiatives website in US and now it comes with a nifty Google Maps integration to make your search easier) have seen plenty of limelight, I recently came across two more interesting ones: UniversalGiving and WeCanBuildAnOrphanage.
WeCanBuildanOrphanage.com is a non-profit start-up building a home, clinic and school for 100 AIDS orphans in Haiti.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CSR, Haiti, Universalgiving
Walmart promises smarter packaging and greener detergents
Jan 28, 2009 Natural Resource Conservation, Social Initiatives
Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, has committed to reduce phosphates in laundry and dish detergents sold in North American region by 70 percent by 2011. It has also announced plans to accelerate its drive toward more sustainable packaging, by reducing packaging by 5 percent by the end of 2013.
Phosphate compounds are a common water pollutant and can damage aquatic ecosystems by stimulating the growth of algae and thus, cutting off oxygen supply in the water for fish and plants (they are the P in the NPK fertilizers you studied in school). Phosphates from detergents are a significant contributor to phosphate-based water pollution
The announcements were made during the Walmart’s quarterly sustainability milestone meeting. Link to the webcast follows. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amazon, CSR, Packaging, Phosphates, Walmart
Apple cold shoulders CSR report demands
Jan 20, 2009 Stars, Policy and Finance
Greenpeace Green My Apple
While Apple has been going to town, telling one and all that it makes the greenest notebooks, it has stonewalled efforts by shareholder groups to divulge more about its CSR activities. This comes a week after Greenpeace released its scorecard of green gadgets, which mentioned that Apple had refused permission for its gadgets to be tested. Apple has former US president and green evangelist, Al Gore on its board.
Apple issued a proxy filing last Wednesday in which it urged shareholders to vote against a shareholder resolution proposed by As You Sow, an environmental group co-sponsored by the New York City Office of the Comptroller and the Green Century Equity Fund.
The resolution would mandate the company to publish a CSR report detailing its approach to greenhouse gas emissions, toxics and recycling by July this year. The report would also require Apple to define “sustainability”, and would include a company-wide review of policies contributing to sustainable operations. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Apple, CSR, Greenpeace
Pepsico releases annual sustainibility report
Jan 7, 2009 Philanthropy and Corporate Initiatives, Stars, Policy and Finance
Indra Nooyi - CEO, Pepsico
PepsiCo today published its fourth annual sustainable development report, a comprehensive overview of the company’s progress in addressing economic, environmental and social challenges. The report titled “Our Sustainability Journey” outlines PepsiCo’s core operating principal of Performance with Purpose — achieving continued financial success while bringing purpose to the company’s performance through sustainable business practices and social investments.
The report highlights PepsiCo’s commitment to three key areas of influence: Human Sustainability refers to PepsiCo’s efforts to nourish consumers with a range of products, from treats to healthy eats; Environmental Sustainability reinforces PepsiCo’s commitment to work to protect natural resources and operate in a way that minimizes the company’s environmental footprint; and Talent Sustainability focuses on developing the company’s employees by creating a diverse and inclusive culture and making certain PepsiCo is an attractive destination for the world’s best people. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Annual reports, CSR, Indra Nooyi, Pepsico
IBM releases Corporate Responsibility Report
Nov 13, 2008 Social Initiatives, Stars, Policy and Finance
IBM CSR
IBM has issued its 2007-2008 Corporate Responsibility Report, detailing the company’s performance results and strategies in the areas of governance, supply chain, environmental performance, employment policies and practices, client solutions and community engagements.
The 94-page report features IBMers on the front and back covers while on location in Ghana as part of the Corporate Service Corps, a new program to develop a next wave of IBM leaders while addressing societal challenges in emerging markets. The report also outlines how to identify the most pressing social and environmental threats in communities worldwide including improving energy consumption while also reducing emissions.
The report is available online here.
Tata Tea reaches out to UP villages through NGOs
Nov 6, 2008 Social Initiatives
Tata Tea
To challenge the unroganised players in the rural market, Tata Tea, one of the biggest tea producers and sellers in India (and owners of the UK brand Tetley) has chalked out a unique strategy that helps the rural populace with income generation as well.
The rural initiative was launched in December 2005. Named Gaon Chalo, meaning “let’s go to the villages”, the intiative saw Tata Tea joining with 12 NGOs to spread its reach across rural Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous, yet one of the most backward and poor state. By the end of 2006 Tata Tea added more than 20,000 retailers, including 500 new rural distributors, in 10,000 villages across UP to its distribution network. “The whole problem with any rural initiative is that people think it’s unviable since a lot depends on retailers’ sincerity and integrity,” says Vyas. “You need large investments and the creation of a feasible infrastructure.”
Agreements were signed with NGOs (Rural Dealer-1) to act as main distributors at a district level, collecting various products from Tata Tea on credit before giving them to mobile rural distributors (RD-2), also on credit, who would then visit a fixed number of villages periodically to supply tea to small rural retailers (RD-3), who in turn sold to rural consumers. RD-3s made payments to the RD-2s on subsequent visits to replenish stock, and so on up the chain. An average RD3 now earns an additional monthly income of Rs 300-1,000, while an RD2 earns Rs 5,000-7,000. Eventually, NGOs made payments and took supplies from the company. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CSR, Gaon Chalo, NGO, Tata Hut, Tata Tea
CSR title: Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand
Oct 31, 2008 Information of the Day
In her new book Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand, author Kellie McElhaney, the founder of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, shows business leaders how to develop the right CSR initiatives - ones that accentuate a company’s overall brand—while also offering practical business tools to ensure that those activities are effectively communicated and branded internally and externally.
McElhaney draws on over ten years of consulting experience inside companies grappling with developing strategically aligned CSR initiatives. The book’s case studies, examples, best practices, and strategic recommendations span a host of industries and sectors and draw upon her work with leading corporations, such as McDonald’s, Nokia, Levi Strauss, Digicel, Birkenstock, Gap Inc, HP, and Pepperidge Farm.
Just Good Business offers a detailed blueprint that any company can use to ensure its CSR strategy delivers significant, quantifiable, bottom-line benefits. Watch a video of the author discussing the finer points after the Read link. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Book, CSR, Haas School of Business
Will CSR and Green Technologies stay relevant?
Oct 12, 2008 Social Initiatives
Stock Market Crash
This Friday, crude oil prices slipped below $80 per barrel. The bloodbath in the stock markets around the world has continued. In such an environment, many companies may question devoting resources towards social initiatives and environment friendly measures. With recession looming, how relevant are CSR initiatives and green technologies? Or will they become unintended victims of the global crisis?
Tags: CSR, Financial crisis, Green Technology, Oil Prices
Welcome to DoNoBad
Sep 27, 2008 Uncategorized
Mahatma Gandhi
DoNoBad is a blog following the latest news and analysis on CSR, Greentech and Sustainable Living!
And before you think that the name sound moralistic and preaching, I thought of it as an ironical statement / name. Because we can not change human habits and make companies and individuals behave only through moral preaching. We cannot ask people to live in caves to conserve energy. What is need are financial carrots and sticks to make them behave in the desired way - so that they use more fuel efficient technologies or waste less water and so on.
Today, as the ongoing financial crisis makes the world leaders debate executive compensation, the Chinese contamination of milk products warrants a relook at many products both from quality as well as human cost factor perspectives and the energy prices and increasing of frequency of hurricanes makes us question our lifestyle, sustainable resource consumption and conservation are not options, but the only alternatives.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
- Mahatma Gandhi.
So we need to have taxes and other financial disincentives to stem the greed.
As an individual or as part of an organisation, it is up to us to use our natural resources - air, water, energy, etc - judiciously and in sustainable manner. We should also try to make the lives of our less fortunate population from around the world better, perhaps using the forces of “Creative Capitalism”, in the words of Bill Gates.
Creative Capitalism :Bill Gates, Bono and Michael Dell.
DoNoBad will strive to be a place where you can get the latest news, analysis and more on all these.
Moreover, the DoNoBad forums is where anyone can discuss related topics, share new and exciting developments, ask for help to implement CSR or Green Initiatives and post as well as search for “Greencollar” jobs.
Enough of introductory talk. Now back to the work of bringing the real stuff for all of you!
Good luck! And see you soon!
Tags: Creative Capitalism, CSR, DoNoBad Forums, Green Collar Jobs, GreenTechnologies, Mahatma Gandhi