NEWS SUMMARY -- 2/5 - 2/12

• CSR is in fashion, quite literally, as the trend hits the catwalk at the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair. Meanwhile, an Ethical Corporation columnist argues that making CSR a “fad” is both more difficult and more valuable than many practitioners might think (see “Reaching Beyond the Usual Suspects,” 2/6/07).

• Climate change continues to dominate the CSR news, and in particular this week Virgin’s Richard Branson offered a $25 Million prize (New York Times, 2/9/07) to whoever comes up with the best technology to absorb carbon from our atmosphere. The socially-responsible index FTSE4Good also put its foot down on climate change, telling companies to clean up carbon or face de-listing (see “Firms Told to Cut CO2,” The Guardian, 2/6/07). Despite these powerful calls for action, BP is halting plans to build one of the world’s first “zero emissions” power plants due to doubts over the government’s willingness to subsidize it (see “BP Defers Decision,” The Guardian, 2/7/07).

• Entering the 2007 Proxy Season, CEO pay is on investors’ minds. SocialFunds.com (1/30/07) says that “Say on Pay” will be the big issue this year, and even overseas investors have “Lectures for America Inc” (Financial Times, 2/8/07). Already, however, companies are hoping to preempt shareholder action through initiatives such “UK-style executive pay votes,” Financial Times, 2/8/07).
  

• Private equity has been catapulted into the public consciousness over the past year, and the only thing that seems certain is that it's influence is growing rapidly. This week, then New Statesman (2/12/07) calls it “Capitalism's Dirty Business,” claiming that private equity "sacks staff, cuts wages, sells off assets, outsources, screws suppliers, and, more often than not, reduced services to customers."

• The International Business Leaders Forum simultaneously calls for companies to act on Malnutrition in the developing world and Obesity in more developed markets.
  

• In Russia, a new development in the Yukos story, as its former leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky has new charges brought against him - just in time to prevent his possible parole. This is a new chapter in a much longer story: Khodorkovsky made billions through the privatization of Russian oil assets, and was both despised as part of the "oligarchs" (who symbolized the country's rapidly-growing inequality), and also hailed as a leader in corporate social responsibility (for his company's community programs). When he seemed to have political aspirations, however, charges of tax evasion were bought against Yukos Oil - charges that many felt were flimsy and politically motivated. For more, see the Wall Street Journal, 2/9/07.
  

• Other companies in the news include:
• Wal-Mart is fighting a pay discrimination case (BBC, 2/6/07)
• Exxon-Mobil “just wants to be loved” (New York Times, 2/10/07)
• Syngenta is accused by the Brazilian government of illegally planting genetically-modified seeds near a nature reserve (Wall Street Journal, 2/7/07)
• McDonald’s is bringing Fair Trade coffee to the mainstream (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2007)
• Citigroup once led the financial industry in environmental awareness, but is now seen as a laggard (Wall Street Journal, 2/9/07)