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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Supply Chain Energy Efficiency
With the “Scope 3” standard for reporting supply chain GHG emissions due in early October, many companies are thinking about supply chain energy efficiency. This week, BSR’s Climate and Energy Manager Ryan Schuchard makes the business case for these opportunities in a video feature:
- Working with suppliers on energy management can help them succeed financially in the future.
- Today, more investors and customers are demanding supply chain transparency about climate impacts.
- Companies and suppliers can save money and resources by working together on waste-reduction projects.
We also feature a new report from the World Wildlife Fund on managing water in a world that is increasingly urban. And BSR’s Managing Director of Advisory Services Dunstan Allison Hope outlines different approaches to ethics and integrity disclosure.
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In Depth
The Business Case for Supply Chain Energy Efficiency
By Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy, BSR
In this video feature, we outline the new game-changing standard, dubbed “Scope 3,” for accounting and reporting of GHG emissions in the supply chain, and show why supply chain energy and GHG management is especially relevant today.
Read more →
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Toolbox
Water in an Urbanizing World
The World Wildlife Fund’s new report explores the implications of rapid urbanization on water supply and availability. The report analyzes issues such as water scarcity, decreasing quality and pollution, overuse, and salt-water intrusion, as well as infrastructural, institutional, and social challenges in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Nairobi, Karachi, Kolkata, and Shanghai.
The report also offers several recommendations to help cities reduce their water footprint:
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Conduct water risk assessments and examine potential climate change impacts.
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Raise awareness about water efficiency.
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Treat and reuse water from storm drainage, sewage, and other effluents to supplement local supplies.
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Provide economic incentives to help reduce demand and industrial pollution.
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Incorporate infrastructure maintenance, provision, and administrative costs into the water price to support infrastructure improvements.
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Use market-based tools to create financial incentives for managing natural resources, addressing livelihood issues of the urban poor, and providing sustainable financing for protected areas.
To learn more about how business can succeed in an era of rapid urbanization, attend the BSR Conference 2011 session “Scaling for the New Local.”
Spotlight
Best Practices in Reporting on Ethics
By Dunstan Allison Hope, Managing Director, Advisory Services, BSR
Ethics and integrity disclosure—reporting on the implementation of codes of ethics—is an important part of corporate transparency. Leading companies typically take one of the following approaches:
Data centric: A company will disclose the number of integrity concerns raised during the year—often segmented by issue—and the actions taken to address them (exemplified by GE). The number reported indicates the scale of a company’s ethical challenges and the importance the company places on them.
Case study centric: In a series of case studies (exemplified by Best Buy’s chief ethics officer's blog), a company will describe the ethical violations and how it responded. This approach brings ethics issues to life for employees.
At minimum, a company should describe its code of ethics as well as its management systems, training, and risk-assessment processes related to these issues. However, the gold standard is a hybrid approach that includes both the number of concerns raised as well as the narratives that highlight specific cases.
For more information on this topic, contact Dunstan Allison Hope.
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