ANN ARBOR, MI — We’re heading into the final day of the 2010 Net Impact Conference. By all accounts, Stonyfield’s CEO and Founder Gary Hirshberg opened the day by receiving a standing ovation from the ginned up Net Impact crowd. This reporter did not make it to the plenary, but Hirshberg’s book Stirring It Up […]
Natural Gas Extraction: Do We Know the Environmental Costs to a Lower Carbon Future? Read More 👉
ANN ARBOR, MI — We now enter breakout session two and I am pivoting from social media’s impact on CSR to managing the social aspects of the supply chain. The roster: Bama Athreya, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Business for Social Responsibility Monique Oxender, Global Manager, Supply Chain Sustainability,
No Easy Answers in Monitoring the Social Impacts of a Global Supply Chain Read More 👉
ANN ARBOR, MI — Day two continues with a breakout session that hits rather close to home — Transparency 2.0: The Impact of Social Media on CSR. Triple Pundit Founder and Publisher Nick Aster is moderating the panel that also includes the following: Justin Higgs, Public Affairs, Chevron Courtland Smith, AngelPoints Tom Murphy, Director, Corporate
Microsoft: “Social Media Needs to be Spread Like Peanut Butter” Read More 👉
ANN ARBOR, MI — Greetings from Day Two of the Net Impact Conference. The opening keynote just finished a little over a half an hour ago and I think perhaps the most notable news to come of it was Kim Jeffery, the CEO of Nestlé Waters North America, saying industry must lead on improving US
ANN ARBOR, MI (that’s right; a dateline on a blog!) — The Inspired Economist has landed in the pastoral hills of southeastern Michigan to bring you coverage of the 2010 Net Impact Conference hosted by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Last evening in the Blau Auditorium in downtown Ann Arbor,
Ford, Verizon Offer Visions for the Future of Sustainable Business Read More 👉
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a pioneering corporate sustainability reporting standard that has emerged as the most important de facto CSR reporting framework, will open its first US office in New York City the organization announced in a press release. The Amsterdam-based organization will use its new North American shop to launch “Focal Point USA,”
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Opens US Office with an Assist from the Big Four Read More 👉
Are you dying to be in Ann Arbor, Michigan next week to meet some of the world’s most estimable sustainable business leaders, but are faced with an unconvinced boss, or worse, a managerial accounting final? Well, fear not. The Inspired Economist will be at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan October
Live From Ann Arbor: IE to Cover the 2010 Net Impact Conference Read More 👉
In a terse open letter to top executives at Woolworths, Coles, and Metcash, the Consumer’s Alliance for Global Prosperity (CAGP), is publicizing its report “The Empires of Collusion,” which apparently proves that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a tool used by the “greens” and “the NGOs” to “conspire to force their standard on consumers
Does Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification Impoverish? Read More 👉
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday announced revisions to its “Green Guides,” opening a public discussion period on the new recommendations. The revised guidelines are designed to tighten up the environmental claims consumer product firms are currently including on their products. More specifically, the FTC has proposed new clarity when marketers make claims surrounding renewable/green
The Arrival of the Federal Green Marketing Police Read More 👉
Are you tired of explaining to your friends, neighbors, the dudes next to you at the ballgame (or opera) what it is you do for a living in one sentence or less? I am. Last year I met someone at a cocktail party on the Chesapeake Bay who seemed earnestly willing to afford me elevator
Deserted Island Corporate Social Responsibility Reading Read More 👉
Dr. Aneel Karnani Dr. Aneel Karnani, whose August WSJ op/ed (“The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility”) argued that CSR has no relevance in today’s global business world, was provided with an ample opportunity yesterday to clarify his thesis along with a panel of CSR experts and business journalists. “CSR and the Role of Business Today”
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Simply Reframe Friedman, Smith? Read More 👉
It’s been a significant day of news in the sustainable business world with the announcement of the latest updates to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (hello, Morgan Stanley; better luck next year, Shell). But it’s an important day for CSR in aspirational terms for another blue chip corporation, The National Football League (NFL). That’s right:
Tonight in New Orleans — Here’s to a Sustainable Pigskin Season Read More 👉
It seems as if CSR skeptic-in-chief Dr. Aneel Karnani of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has summoned, or at least ignited, the fires of socially progressive PR firm Fenton Communications. Fenton’s New York City office has announced a webinar that will create a dialogue surrounding Karnani’s now infamous WSJ op/ed where he threw stones at
The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility — Reprise Read More 👉
The national conversation on local food systems continues to evolve in complexity, intrigue and now, rigor. On the front page of today’s Chicago Tribune is a story about a University of Chicago geophysics professor who is examining the merits — in carbon intensity terms — of local versus conventional farming. Professor Pamela Martin along with
Debunking Locavore Nation: U of C Professor Searches for the Truth — With Data! Read More 👉
The New York Times is reporting that major multinational banks are growing weary of delivering debt to industrial extraction projects, such as mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. The piece looks at a recent policy shift by Wells Fargo in providing financing for coal projects: “In the most recent example, the banking giant Wells
Banks Are Increasingly Doing Environmental Due Dilligence Read More 👉
With corporate hiring returning to a deep freeze and the Dow hanging north of 10,000 by its fingertips, CSR programs focused on eco-efficiencies — LED lighting in…um…the freezer section — remain priorities for the retail market. This is particularly the case when companies open or renovate new facilities. A Sunday Chicago Tribune Business feature by
Retail Corporate Social Responsibility: News From a Jobless Recovery Read More 👉
In a WSJ op/ed entitled “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility,” University of Michigan strategy professor (Ross School of Management) Aneel Karnani argues that CSR fails when it is not a by-product of profit maximization. Karnani goes deeper to note that there exists a grave fallacy in CSR investment when a business model is not
WSJ: The Illusion of Corporate Social Responsibility Read More 👉
Yesterday I took a little bit of a swipe at Bon Appétit Management’s cage-free SHELL egg commitment asking whether or not such move could push the $590 billion commercial food-service market to raise animal welfare standards nationally. Today Bon Appétit (BAMCO) is back in the news with a compelling initiative that preserves summer produce for
Ohio Takes on California in a Winter Produce Gambit Read More 👉
Last Sunday’s New York Times Week in Review section took a look at burgeoning cage-free regulations for egg-laying hens in California, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Maine. Currently only 2% of America’s hens are raised outside of battery cages (8 x 8 inches allotted to each bird; 6 birds to a cage). After
Do Cage-Free Eggs Matter? Read More 👉
Federal Government Asks Fletcher Allen to Teach the Nation How to Scale Local Sourcing in Healthcare (Part II: Taking Local From Trendy to Essential) “The Hospital That Heals The Earth” is a two-part series on the intersection of sustainability innovation and healthcare at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. Part 1 of the series
The Hospital That Heals The Earth (Part II) Read More 👉
Vermont Hospital Wants To Be The Greenest Health Care Facility in the US — And Makes a Convincing Case (Part I: Mainstreaming Sustainability) Sustainability, clean energy investment, green jobs and health care reform have all been resounding themes of the first 18 months of the Obama administration. But rarely do we conceive of healthcare reform
The Hospital That Heals The Earth (Part I) Read More 👉
A recent United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)/Accenture study of 766 corporate CEOs has found that 93% of executives surveyed believe that sustainability will be a key factor in the future of their businesses. So, I suppose CSR is the new Tiger Woods for the global management consulting behemoth?
Accenture Joins McKinsey in the Battle Cry for Corporate CSR Read More 👉
In a year where we’ve seen the largest oil spill in American history, the decimation of a tourist economy in the Gulf of Mexico, and oh yeah, and some of the most sweltering temperatures in cities from Chicago to Boston, the Democrats have scrapped any immediate plans to put a price on carbon emissions.
Spineless Dems Abandon Carbon Bill: What Does this Mean for CSR? Read More 👉
Apega/WENN Today’s Chicago Tribune business section has a stunning report on the Republic of South Korea’s $25 million plan to reduce energy consumption at some of downtown Chicago’s largest skyscrapers. The operation will focus on retrofitting HVAC and lighting systems in up to 14 buildings. Joining Korea in the agreement are the Building Owners and
Why is Korea Cutting Chicago’s Carbon Emissions? Read More 👉
