Happy New Year to all our readers

Conference: "Perspectives and Issues for Social Responsible Investment"

The Council for Socially Responsible Investment is holding this conference on 1 March at the Waipuna Conference Centre in Auckland.  Click here for further information.

Motu Public Policy Seminar Series - "Technology Policy for Energy and the Environment"

Time: Thursday, February 26th, 12:30 – 2pm (tentative date)
Location: Lecture Theatre 2, Annexe, Ground Floor, Victoria University of Wellington Law School, Government Buildings, 15 Lambton Quay.

Presenter: Richard G. Newell, Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, Washington D.C, Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellow in Public Policy and Motu Affiliate.

The series is a free event and open to all those interested. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.  Due to the lunchtime timeslot please feel free to bring your lunch with you.

Click here for further information

Christchurch City Council 2003 Annual Report

Christchurch City Council's annual report for the financial year to end-June 2003 is now available on the council website and in hard copy at its service centres around the city.

The document features a triple bottom line (TBL) reporting format, which measures the social and environmental impacts of the Council's work during the year alongside the traditional monetary measurements.

The TBL approach is new and because there is as yet no accepted general practice for this form of reporting, the City Council would welcome any comments about its utility or suggestions about how it might be adapted and improved.

Local body annual reports compare actual results against targets and objectives set out in earlier plans for the year under review and aim to give people the information needed to gauge a council's performance.

• Hard copies of Christchurch City Council's 103-page Annual Report for 2002/03 are available from the service centres (ph 941 8999 for more information) and from the Civic Offices on Tuam Street, or it is available electronically on the website

Council for International Development say NZ must to more to fight Global Poverty

When it comes to providing long-term aid to help countries overseas to lift themselves out of poverty, New Zealand is lagging behind most other developed countries. In 2003-04, the New Zealand government will give around $300 million in aid to poorer countries overseas. While this may sound like a lot of money, it is only 0.23% of our national wealth or Gross National Income (GNI).

In fact, of the 22 donor countries whose aid is monitored by the OECD, only Greece, Italy and the United States give less than New Zealand in percentage terms.

Since 1970, there has been an internationally-agreed target that all developed countries should give 0.7% of their GNI in aid to developing countries. This target has been consistently endorsed by the United Nations and in international forums such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in South Africa in 2002. The New Zealand government is committed in theory to reaching this goal, but has taken no concrete steps to achieve it. On the contrary, our level of overseas aid has fallen from a high of 0.52% of GNI in 1975, and has remained at a consistently low level since the 1980s.

New Year's resolution – save money and lifestyle

Environment Minister Marian Hobbs is urging households to become Energy-Wise to reduce their contribution to climate change, thereby preserving the New Zealand environment.  Click here for the full media release

Cutting climate change through cutting waste

Making simple changes around the home and garden can make a real contribution to helping to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said today.  Click here for the full media release.

New Zealand Kyoto credit conflict

The newly formed Kyoto Forest Owners Association (KFOA) in New Zealand claimed that the NZ Government’s decision to trade carbon credits from their forests is a case of theft.

Credits from the forests are estimated to be worth approximately NZ$2.6 billion (US$1.69 billion). Forest owners associations like the epyonymous Forest Owners Association (FOA) are on record as claiming that the decision to nationalise the income from carbon credits is an infringement of property rights, but KFOA said the decision "is possibly the largest private property theft in New Zealand’s history," wrote National Business Review.

KFOA spokesman Roger Dickie said that much of the 200,000 hectares planted as forest in New Zealand since 1989 were grown in anticipation of receiving carbon credits, estimated to be worth NZ$5,000 per hectare in the first Kyoto period.

As a result of the decision, some of the forest owners are not planning to plant any new forests next year.

Australia: Animal trade companies told to improve

The Australian livestock industry has been told that it faces new legislation to require better animal welfare practice and to prevent a repetition of the scandal around the Cormo Express incident, where 57,000 sheep were stranded at sea for nearly three months in poor conditions.

A government inquiry into the industry has said that in this case, self-regulation has failed, and said that there now needed to be a more comprehensive set of rules to improve performance.

It also said that the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service should be given extensive powers to grant, or revoke, export licenses.  Vets should be compulsory on journeys longer than 10 days.

The inquiry was led by John Keniry, former Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry president.

Companies responded cautiously to the proposals, but responded negatively to a suggestion that exports should be banned from Portland and Adelaide for part of the year.

CEOs believe mainstream investors will focus on CSR

The World Economic Forum has released a survey showing that over 70 percent of CEOs believe that mainstream investors - who have previously viewed issues around social responsibility as a minority interest only - will increasingly come around.

The WEF report looks at how CEOs, along with Chief Financial Officers and Investor Relations Officers currently communicate the strategic importance of the social and environmental aspects of their performance to investors.

According to the report, there is already an increased interest from pension funds, insurance companies and other shareholders, although there is still some way to go.

A number of problems were identified that need to be overcome. These include problems of definition of corporate citizenship or corporate social responsibility, problems of making the business case and with the quality and quantity of information, and problems of skills and competence in managing and measuring CSR.

Australia: Corporate political donations halved

Contributions in Australia to the political parties by companies have halved over the last year - a change that is being widely credited to the growing importance of corporate governance good practice.

Donations have slumped to just over $100,000 - having previously been nearly $220,000. Some of the effect is likely to reflect the vagaries of the electoral cycle, with the peak in donations coming around the time of the last State election. However, many have pointed to a trend in decline.

Australian Shareholders Association chairman John Curry said that he supported the trend, and expected it to continue, adding that it was the responsibility of taxpayers to make the decision to donate to political parties, not company executives.

Japan: Companies inundated by calls for social responsibility information

The increasing demand from western-based companies for information from their suppliers is leading to a huge growth in requests for information from Japanese companies, according to the news server Asahi.

Companies are being inundated by questionnaires seeking details on environmental and social policies. Increasingly the response to such questions is determining success in achieving a business relationship.

According to Asahi, electronic parts manufacturer TDK Corp has said that it receives 800 enquiries every month from corporate customers - compared to only 10 a month two years ago. Other companies have confirmed the trend.

In addition to customers, the top 500 companies also get up to 30 detailed questionnaires from socially responsible investment firms.

CSR run amok

8 Jan 2004 FROM National Post (Canada)

Corporate Social Responsibility, known as CSR, gets nothing but good press. The idea that corporations have a higher moral duty other than making profits, that they must spend some significant amount of money and effort performing social good works and mounting community programs, is assumed to be beyond question. Even when some of CSR's leading corporate practitioners spectacularly and ingloriously flame out, any possible connection back to CSR is ignored. But what if CSR itself may be one of the causes of corporate disaster?

The possibility that CSR might be at the root of corporate collapse can be found in two recent high-profile corporate meltdowns - Parmalat and AOL Time Warner.

US: Smuckers tops Fortune's list of Best Companies To Work For

J.M.Smucker, the century old family-owned food company, has topped the poll for the best company to work for - the first manufacturer to do so. The company is run by the two brothers, Tim and Richard Smucker, who remain committed to keeping the family tradition alive in a firm that now employs nearly 3,000 employees.

The company's workplace formula has clearly paid some dividends - the company's stock has given a total return of 100 percent over the last five years. They say that their father Paul Smucker had set the corporate values that have endured ever since: Listen with your full attention, look for the good in others, have a sense of humor, and say thank you for a job well done.

Fortune reports some of the practice that has followed. For instance, plant supervisors have been known to serve celebratory barbecues after hitting new records; managers routinely thank teams with lunches and gift certificates.

Global Warming Insurance Claims Grew to $60 Billion in 2003

MUNICH, Germany, Dec. 30, 2003 - Munich Re, the world's biggest re-insurance company, has attributed a sharp increase in weather-related disasters around the world to global warming.

In its latest annual report, the company -- which insures insurance companies - puts the combined cost of this year's global natural disasters at more than $60 billion, about $5 billion more than the year before. Insured losses increased to about $15 billion, a jump of $3.5 billion from the previous year. The number of natural catastrophes recorded was around 700, roughly same level as 2002.

The report also found that more than 50,000 people were killed in natural catastrophes worldwide, almost five times as many as in the previous year. The company attributed the jump to the heat wave in Europe and the earthquake in Iran, each of which claimed more than 20,000 lives.

The year 2003 was marked not only by natural catastrophes but also by other remarkable events, says Munich Re: the power outages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Italy, for example; total losses involving two satellites; again numerous terrorist attacks; a major leak of poison gas in China shortly before the end of the year. “However, the extent of the losses caused by these events was much smaller than that caused by the natural catastrophes and they claimed fewer lives,” the company concluded.

Compendium of Sustainable-Development Indicator Initiatives

Can you name a produce conglomerate that's working to improve quality of life in French Guyana? Wonder which oil company aims to define international environmental guidelines for corporate-sponsored research expeditions? The Compendium is a good place to look it up. The online directory catalogues a truly impressive array of sustainable-development initiatives from companies and governments across the globe. Every entry includes detailed project descriptions and contact information. Search by location, scope, initiative type, initiative goal, and organization type, among other options.  Click here to visit the online directory.