components of a socially responsible company

Basic Components of a Socially Responsible Company

by Conrad MacKerron

Our Mission

Use the power of financial markets to promote positive change in

corporate social and environmental policies

Shareholder Advocacy –Mobilizing Financial Markets for Social Change

Corporate Engagement

Shareholder Proposals

Proxy Voting

Blue Chip EngagementMore than 50 corporate engagements moving

companies towards greater environmental sustainability and social equity.

Traditional Measures of Corporate Responsibility

Quality of management Compliance with laws Honest accounting Financial soundness Product quality

Two Critical Omissions

Environmental Stewardship

Human Capital

Key Components of Environmental Stewardship

Policies and practices to promote:

• Materials Efficiency

• Reduced Toxics

• Reduced Waste

• Extended Producer Responsibility

Key Components of Human Capital

Policies and practices to deter

• Labor Rights

• Forced Labor

• Child Labor

• Slave Labor

Apple’s Commitment to As You Sow

Best Buy’s Commitment to As You Sow

The largest U.S. electronics retailer began to offer electronic waste recycling at all of its 1000+ stores in February

They expect to collect 50 million pounds of electronics in 2009

Bottle and Can Recycling• Coca-Cola agreed to recycle 50% of bottles

and cans sold by 2015

• Nestle Waters agreed to recycle 60% of plastic bottles sold by 2018

CFLs and Mercury

In dialogue with GE, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart to encourage:

-No worker exposure to mercury at factory level

-Labeling on mercury content

-Labeling on safe cleanup procedures if bulbs break

• text to come

• text to come

Uzbek cotton

• Every fall, over 1 million Uzbek children are taken out of the classroom and into the fields—by government mandate— to pick cotton.

• Wal-Mart called for a boycott on Uzbek cotton; Target, Gap Inc., Levi’s & Co., Marks & Spencer, and Tesco have all made public statements and taken steps internally to eliminate Uzbek cotton from their supply chains.

Extractives

• ditto

Pros / Cons of Action

• Build brand value• Cost of changing systems

Key Take Aways

Account for environmental impact of all phases of product life cycle

Key Take Aways

Develop and implement Code of Conduct to ensure worker’s labor rights

ResourcesLeadership/Company Actions

Social and Environmental Policy Consulting

Code of Conduct for Uzbekistan

For all C&A suppliers the C&A Code of Conduct is binding. It strictly states that child labour is unacceptable for C&A.Already in December 2007 C&A obliged all of its global suppliers in written form not to use cotton fibre from Uzbekistan in the manufacturing of C&A products.Furthermore, C&A has requested all suppliers worldwide to clearly state the origin for cotton fibre which is used within any C&A merchandise.