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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Walmart and the Quest for a Great Sustainability Story
With issues like climate change and the energy crisis, sustainability headlines hit the news almost every day. And business often ends up as a central character in these stories, sometimes as a hero, sometimes as a villain.
Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose new book Force of Nature chronicles Walmart’s rise to environmental hero status, calls sustainability “the most important story of our age.” Humes, who will be speaking on this subject at the BSR Conference 2011, spoke with us about why Walmart made such a compelling subject, and what we can all learn from the company’s story.
This week, we also share a new tool BSR designed to help companies make strategic social investments in the communities where they operate, and we highlight a new International Labour Organization report outlining how freedom of association supports sustainable economic development.
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In Depth
Walmart: The Greatest Sustainability Story of Our Time?
By Eva Dienel, Associate Director, Communications, BSR
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes’ latest book, Force of Nature, chronicles Walmart’s unlikely rise to environmental hero status. Here, he shares why Walmart made such a compelling subject, and what we can all learn from the company’s story.
Read more →
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Spotlight
New BSR Tool Helps Business Identify Strategic Social Investments
By Alison Colwell, Associate Director, Advisory Services, BSR
BSR’s new tool helps companies make strategic social investments in communities where they operate, which is a critical aspect of building sustainable local economies. Strategic social investments allow companies to maximize the impact of their resource allocations, increase the long-term sustainability of their efforts, develop productive and mutually beneficial relationships with local stakeholders, and mitigate operational disruptions by strengthening their social license to operate.
Applying BSR’s materiality analysis approach, this tool:
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Provides companies with a consistent framework to identify social investment opportunities that are important to both stakeholders and business success.
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Defines criteria to assess different opportunities such as levels of risk, anticipated impact, and number of people affected.
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Prioritizes possible investments based on the defined criteria.
To learn more about this tool, which is a paid-for service provided by BSR, contact Alison Colwell.
Toolbox
How Freedom of Association Supports Economic Development
The International Labour Organization’s new report outlines how freedom of association—the right to create and join organizations without fear of reprisal—supports sustainable economic development. The report explores the challenges to freedom of association; provides case studies on the positive effects it can have when governments, employers’ organizations, and trade unions work together; and shares how these actors can promote respect for freedom of association.
According to the authors, freedom of association contributes to economic development through four focus areas:
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Inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction: Open dialogue between trade unions and employer organizations can ensure that government policies and programs support economic development.
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Positive business environment: Cooperation between trade unions and employers supports competitiveness and business performance.
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Crisis response: Dialogue among governments, employers, and trade unions strengthens and consolidates responses to crisis.
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Governance and accountability: Freedom of association allows strong democracies to balance competing interests.
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