NEWS SUMMARIES (belated)

Happy New Year! And apologies for my long lapse. No, it is not a sign that the blog is dying – just that I had a busy holiday travel schedule. I’ll be blogging onward into 2007, but first let me provide some belated news tidbits:

Swiss Re Offers Employee Rebate to Reduce Carbon Footprint
(GreenBiz.com, 5 January 2006)
The company is offering to reimburse workers for half the money they spend on carbon offsets for their mobility, heating, and energy use.

An Ousted Chief’s Going-Away Pay Is Seen by Many as Typically Excessive
(New York Times, 4 January 2006)
Gadflies Get Respect, and Not Just at Home Depot
(New York Times, 5 January 2007)
The biggest corporate scandal right now is the “resignation” (a.k.a. firing) of Bob Nardelli, formerly the overpaid and under-performing CEO of Home Depot, who received a $210 million severance package for his trouble. This story is rapidly becoming an example of both successful shareholder activism (which forced the resignation) and of rampantly excessive executive compensation.

Top Corporate Social Responsibility News of 2006
(CSRwire, 4 January 2007)
Top Five Socially Responsible Investing News Stories of 2006
(SocialFunds.com, 5 January 2007)
No point in summarizing the summaries – just follow the links for a lighting-fast review of the top issues in CSR and SRI from the past year.

Independence from the Corporate Global Economy
(Yes! Magazine, Winter 2007 Issue)
A veritable manifesto on how to live without big corporations, through buying local, recognizing non-financial “economies” such as gifts and cooperation, and mobilizing for greater awareness of these types of alternatives.

Big Dig: Mongolia Is Roiled By Miner's Huge Plans
(The Wall Street Journal, 4 January 2007)
A businessman plans to operate one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines in the poor and land-locked country of Mongolia, and expected local residents to welcome the boost to GDP – in fact, the project might double the national income. However, as developing nations worldwide have struggled with foreign mining companies that deplete their ecosystems and engage in human rights abuses, Mongolian activists are protesting the mine and Parliament is considering withholding permission for it to operate.

Fighting Over Gold In the Land of Dracula
(The New York Times, 3 January 2007)
A poor small-time farmer in the Transylvania province of Romania is fighting a multinational mining corporation that wants his land – and attracting support from a host of celebrities and activist organizations worldwide.

Be It Ever So Homespun, There's Nothing Like Spin
(The New York Times, 3 January 2007)
Companies are waking up to the fact that a growing segment of food-shoppers are leaning toward natural, environmentally-friendly and socially-conscious purchases. However, rather than simply spurring an increase in responsible sourcing, much of this shift is fueling a change in packaging design to evoke the feeling of healthy and earth-friendly foods. The greenwashing can sometimes be difficult to discern from the real thing.

Wal-Mart Puts Some Muscle Behind Power-Sipping Bulbs
(The New York Times, 2 January 2007)
The big-box retailer is throwing its impressive weight behind efforts to switch consumers from traditional incandescent bulbs to the more energy-efficient florescent bulbs. As part of the effort, it is also leaning on suppliers to find ways to accomplish the shift. If it succeeds in its goals, Americans stand to save $3 billion in energy costs by 2008.

When 'Refurbished' Takes On an Earth-Friendly Vibe
(The New York Times, 31 December 2006)
If you’re reading this, chances are you both, 1) care about the environment, and 2) use a computer. So how about applying your environmental values next time you buy a computer? This article discusses the eco-benefits of buying a “refurbished” computer, and also a new EPA-funded rating standard called Epeat, short for “Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool,” which considers factors such as energy efficiency and the levels of various hazardous chemicals. Finally, it may be worth waiting a bit to purchase, as more eco-friendly models are expected to be out in 2008, as manufacturers find ways to meet Europe’s new and stricter standards.

Gentlemen, Start Your Plug-Ins
(The Wall Street Journal, 30 December 2006)
A former head of Central Intelligence wants to convince you to strive for replacements to Middle-East oil, and his favorite substitute seems to be electricity, since there would be very little new infrastructure needed. In the long run, he sets great store by new genetically modified biocatalysts that enable ethanol to be produced from a wide variety of plants – a much more efficient strategy than corn-based ethanol production.

Launch of Three New Clean Tech Indexes Culminates Banner Year for Green Investing
(SocialFunds.com, 29 December 2006)
In what some are calling the "year of green investing," 2006 ended with New York City-based investment bank Jefferies Global Clean Technology Indexes introducing three new green indexes. Altogether, the number of these indexes more than doubled last year, from five at the start of 2006 five to eleven at the close of the year.

UN Global Compact to Delist Additional 203 "Inactive" Companies
(Press Release from United Nations Global Compact, 28 December 2006)
An early criticism of the Global Compact was that it required very little of its members, but recently the UN-run organization has shown an increasing willingness to boot those companies who don’t abide by its guidelines. Those who have failed to report their efforts via the Communication on Progress framework have been dismissed – 335 of them last October, and an additional 203 as of January 1, 2007.

Illegal Power Plants, Coal Mines In China Pose Challenge for Beijing
(The Wall Street Journal, 27 December 2006)
As the Chinese economy grows by leaps and bounds, higher energy demands have spawned illegal coal-fired power plants, which it turn have spawned illegal coal mines. These add to the country’s environmental woes, and tend to lack safety standards. A power plant in the province of Inner Mongolia was discovered recently when part of it collapsed, killing six workers. Last year, most of China’s nearly 6,000 coal-mining deaths occurred in illegal mines. Sometimes the central government is unaware that these operations exist, but in some cases officials are turning a blind eye; a recent investigation found that over 4,000 Chinese officials held financial stakes in illegal mines.

As Green as the Grass Outside
(Barron's, 25 December 2006)
It looks like “green buildings” are going mainstream. The U.S. Green Building Council, which offers the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, has a backlog of nearly 5,000 buildings to certify, and an estimated 5% of all new 2006 commercial construction will be LEED-certified once the agency can squeeze it all in. Why? Not only is it trendy and cool, but there are financial benefits too. Genzyme’s new Boston headquarters, for example, uses 42% less energy and 34% less water than other buildings its size. Plus, studies show that ecologically-designed workplaces make employees healthier, happier, and more productive. So, why only 5%?!

New Certification Standard Proposed for Climate Offset Products
(GreenBiz.com, 21 December 2006)
The Center for Resource Solutions, along with Green-e GHG Advisory Group, is proposing a new standard for carbon offsets, to ensure that providers are really offsetting the amounts they claim. The groups hope the new standard will ensure credibility and increase transparency, thereby encouraging more individuals and businesses to engage in carbon-offset practices. The draft standard, available online, will be out for comment until the end of January 2007, and a stakeholder conference call will be held in late January. For more information, contact Alex Pennock at alex@resource-solutions.org.

U.S. Companies Show Progress in Role of 'Good Corporate Citizens'
(The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 20 December 2006)
A report by the PR firm GolinHarris explores the latest trends in public perception of corporate responsibility. Dozens of companies are ranked, with high marks going to Ben & Jerry’s, Target, and Patagonia, and low marks going to Exxon, Philip-Morris, and Shell. Survey participants also ranked the factors that are most important to them in assessing a company’s goodwill: top priorities were treatment of employees and ethical business practices, and less-important was corporate philanthropy. Two-thirds said that companies should focus more on social responsibility, and nearly half believe that business today is moving in the wrong direction.

A corroded culture? How accidents in Alaska forced BP on to the defensive
(Financial Times, 18 December 2006)
British Petroleum may have re-branded itself as “Beyond Petroleum” is now struggling to maintain its reputation for enlightenment and responsibility (at least relative to its peers). After several industrial accidents and pipeline leaks over the past few years, observers are starting to claim that BP isn’t just unlucky – it has systematic problems creating a safe workplace and maintaining its operations. This investigative report pieces together the personal stories of injured workers and questions the general safety culture – or lack thereof.

How Suite It Isn’t: A Dearth of Female Bosses
(New York Times, 17 December 2006)
Since the feminist movement of the 1970s, women have been graduating from top colleges and MBA programs in ever-larger numbers – so why aren’t they taking boardrooms equally by storm? In the Fortune 500, only 16% of corporate officers and less than 2% of CEOs are women. This article explores possible reasons that women aren’t reaching the top, and what might be done to change that.
Note: for similar coverage of the same issue in the UK, see the Financial Times article of 5 January 2007: “Size of gender gap in top jobs 'woeful'” which is based on a report by the Equal Opportunities Commission.