In This Issue
Editor's Note
On the Ground in China: Supplier Energy Management
Almost a year after launching our Energy Efficiency Partnership—a collaboration of 10 companies and 75 suppliers in China’s primary manufacturing regions—BSR Climate and Energy Manager Ryan Schuchard has gained significant insight on how company leaders can work directly with individual suppliers to address their unique challenges and opportunities and meet GHG-reduction goals.
“For companies that rely on manufacturing suppliers in China, the stakes are high,” Schuchard writes in this week’s feature article. Managers that don’t take action may miss the chance to create an efficient network of clean and productive partners who are capitalizing on new incentives.
We also hear from BSR Senior Vice President Eric Olson, who recently spoke at a San Francisco event on how companies’ sustainability investments can help them gain new customers and increase market competitiveness.
Lastly, we highlight GlobeScan’s 2011 “State of Global Public Opinion on CSR” survey, which found that corporate responsibility strongly influences how people form impressions of companies, particularly in the developing world.
 |
In Depth
Managing Energy by Working Directly With Suppliers
By Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy, BSR
Companies that rely on manufacturing in China can manage supply chain energy effectively by building a Scope 3 strategy and a program that helps individual suppliers address their unique challenges and opportunities. BSR’s Energy Efficiency Partnership provides lessons on working directly with suppliers.
Read more →
|
Quick Hit
CSR Dominant Factor in How People Form Impressions of Companies
By Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services, BSR
According to GlobeScan’s 2011 “State of Global Public Opinion on CSR” survey, corporate responsibility is a major factor in how people form impressions of companies, particularly in the developing world. In a survey of 25,000 people from 28 countries, GlobeScan asked people to identify what matters most when they form a favorable or unfavorable impression of a company.
In response to this open-ended question, 59 percent of people gave answers categorized as “social responsibilities”—including labor practices, business ethics, and environmental impacts. Fifty-five percent of people gave answers categorized as “brand quality/reputation,” and 25 percent mentioned topics categorized as “business fundamentals.” (The percentages depict the proportion of respondents who gave a particular response; respondents were asked to provide up to two answers, which us why the percentages add up to more than 100 percent.)
As illustrated in the map below, respondents in the developing world provided more “social responsibilities” responses, while people from developing countries gave more “brand quality/reputation” responses.
Click on the graphic to view a larger image.
On the Record
BSR’s Olson Calls for Sustainability Investments, Incentives
During the recent Commonwealth Club event “Measure What?” BSR Senior Vice President Eric Olson discussed how companies’ sustainability investments can help them gain new customers and increase market competitiveness.
The panelists agreed that tools such as carbon accounting software could help win consumers’ trust in green claims. But Olson added that companies should not wait for customers to ask for the solution:
“There is a school of thought that says what we are talking about is so complex that what consumers want is for us to solve the problem for them. They’re not going to sit down and ask for Fair Trade coffee—they don’t even know what that is. But they do know that they want a product that doesn’t have practices behind it that they wouldn’t believe in.”
In speaking about how companies are vying for a “green edge,” Olson added:
“We need a level playing field. We need incentives. We need long-term, predictable signals around the cost of energy sources in order to be as competitive as we should be.”
—Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, BSR (April 18, 2011)
|
