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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Communicating About Climate Policy Engagement
With reporting season upon us, BSR has launched a new report on a topic that will appear front and center in most companies' coverage: climate.
This year, on the heels of the failed negotiations in Copenhagen, stakeholders will be particularly interested in actions companies are taking to advance public policy on climate change. BSR's report—and this week's feature article by climate expert Ryan Schuchard—offers some of the first guidelines on what companies should cover and how they can transparently and clearly communicate about their policy-related activities.
Next, Schuchard discusses Walmart's latest climate-related commitments, and provides recommendations on what other companies can do to follow the retailer's lead.
Finally, we were interested to learn from the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer which stakeholders the public thinks should be most important to CEOs making business decisions. As Edelman reports, it's "a stakeholder, not a shareholder world."
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In Depth
Corporate Climate Reporting: How to Communicate About Policy Engagement
By Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy, BSR
BSR's new report on corporate climate reporting outlines what companies are communicating on today, and what they should cover going forward when it comes to policy engagement.
Read more →
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Spotlight
Following Walmart’s Lead: Driving Emissions Reductions
By Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy, BSR
In late February, Walmart announced that it would eliminate 20 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its supply chain—a commitment that will address climate change, cut costs, and make the company’s suppliers leaner and more competitive. The initiative will likely influence thousands of other companies, as Walmart suppliers teach their suppliers, and other companies follow Walmart's lead.
The following recommendations will help your company drive its own energy-led GHG reductions:
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Conduct a “heat map” of energy inefficiency and GHG emissions in your supply chain by reviewing literature to identify hot spots.
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Ask your strategic suppliers to share success stories about how they are addressing emissions.
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Set an energy-efficiency improvement goal and report it to the Carbon Disclosure Project's 2010 questionnaire (due in May).
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Weigh in on the development of common approaches like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's supply chain standard and the China Climate and Energy Registry.
For more information, contact Ryan Schuchard at rschuchard@bsr.org.
Quick Hit
Public Thinks CEOs Should Consider All Stakeholders in Business Decisions
According to a survey conducted for the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, most people worldwide believe that when CEOs make business decisions, they should equally weigh the perspectives of all stakeholders—including customers, employees, investors, and society at large. Survey results also suggest that for the first year, trust and transparency are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services. In addition, surveyors reported that they are more likely to trust a company that partners with an NGO to solve global challenges.
The report also highlights a modest global rise in trust in business since last year, when trust in business hit historic lows; however, the report notes that the overall rise is tenuous, since nearly 70 percent of respondents expect companies will revert to "business as usual" after the recession.
To learn more about the issue of trust in business, read BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer's feature article and listen to our webinar.
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At the end of the day, a transition to a sustainable economy will happen only if consumers and policymakers change their behaviors. That's not likely to happen without some campaigning, and I'd rather see companies dive into these debates than stand on the sidelines.