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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Tackling the Water Challenge
The unpredictability of water cycles and the resulting scarcity and deteriorating quality of water resources have significant impacts on business, society, and the environment. For companies, reporting on the complex water issues that affect their operations is challenging, especially when they need to present information on a variety of water-related risks for multiple locations and to several different audiences.
To help companies demonstrate that they understand and manage their water-related risks, BSR’s Research Manager Linda Hwang encourages companies to focus on three primary areas: water use and discharge at the facility and product levels, supply and quality risks in regional watersheds, and partnerships to help manage shared risks.
This week, we also highlight a new report by BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group that features practical tools to help shippers (retailers and manufacturers), ocean carriers, and logistics providers measure and reduce the environmental impacts of the transportation of global goods.
Finally, we take a close look at the GoodGuide’s recent cell phone rankings (and related mobile applications), which assess the environmental and social impacts associated with different products.
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In Depth
Understanding and Managing Water-Related Risks
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By focusing on three primary areas—facility/product water use and discharge, supply and quality risks in regional watersheds, and partnerships to help manage “shared risks”—companies can most effectively manage their water related risks.
Read more →
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Spotlight
New Cell Phone Ratings Increase Transparency for Consumers
By Marshall Chase, Associate Director, Advisory Services, BSR
GoodGuide, which provides information on the social, environmental, and health impacts of a variety of consumer products, recently launched its 2011 rankings of cell phones. The company rated 576 cell phones using criteria including environmental and social performance at the product and company levels. These rankings are also available via a mobile application, which allows consumers to browse, search, or scan barcodes to see detailed information for more than 70,000 products and companies.
This is one in a series of initiatives increasingly focused on rating the sustainability of cell phones—from potential EPEAT and forthcoming draft UL Environment standards (for which BSR participates in a review panel) to provider-specific labels or ratings from Sprint and O2.
We encourage these efforts to increase the availability of social and environmental information for consumers and to support greater communication and alignment among different rating initiatives to reduce the potential for consumer confusion.
Toolbox
Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Global Goods Transportation
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BSR's Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG)—a business-to-business initiative among leading shippers (retailers, manufacturers), ocean carriers, and logistics providers that creates practical tools for measuring and reducing the environmental impacts of global goods transportation—released a new report, which includes an overview of CCWG tools used for benchmarking performance, estimating average carbon dioxide emissions for global trade lanes, and understanding the environmental challenges and opportunities in the sector.
This report:
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Explains how CCWG tools and processes work by describing the specific metrics and the data that are shared among group members.
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Contributes to industry-leading standards for measuring and reporting environmental performance. The CCWG’s standards and methodologies were created to benchmark performance and inform shipper decisions.
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Fosters transparency and open dialogue with stakeholders who are aligned with CCWG’s mission of creating efficient, sustainable supply chains.
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Demonstrates the value of CCWG membership. Group members lead the development of standards to assess environmental performance in the ocean container freight sector.
For more information, download the event recording from our Sustainability Matters webinar "Moving Beyond the Factory Gates," or contact Raj Sapru.
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In advance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deadline for comments on proposed conflict minerals reporting rules, a multi-stakeholder group facilitated by the Responsible Sourcing Network has developed a set of comments on the SEC's draft regulations.