Bettercoal is a global, not-for-profit initiative to promote the continuous improvement of corporate responsibility in the international coal supply chain.

The initiative has been set up by founding members DONG Energy, EDF, Enel, E.ON, GDF Suez, RWE, and Vattenfall, and aims initially to support on-the-ground changes around coal mines to the benefit of workers, communities, businesses, and the environment. The initiative is open to regular membership for major users of coal from anywhere in the world.

Bettercoal was set up in response to companies’ need for greater assurance that their coal comes from mines that take a responsible approach to protecting workers, communities, and their local environment.

The initiative formally was launched in April 2012, and as a first key step, it has started an effort to develop a Code of Practice for coal mines’ ethical, social, and environmental performance. This will take place through a global, public consultation process starting later in 2012, and will be developed with support from an independent Stakeholder Advisory Group comprised of experts from civil society, trade unions, and the mining community.

BSR has supported Bettercoal since the start of 2011, and continues to support the initiative as it enters a new phase as a Private Company Limited by Guarantee under the UK Companies Act 2006.

Although more sustainability data has become available in recent years, companies don't always know how to apply this information to the products they purchase. Procurement managers require methods and guidance that will help them integrate product sustainability data into everyday purchasing decisions.

A three-year initiative, the Center for Sustainable Procurement (CSP) aims to help procurement professionals make informed purchasing decisions based on the best available sustainability data and information. To do this, we will conduct research and work with companies to develop resources, guidance, and processes to integrate sustainability data into the procurement process at the product category level. 

The Center for Sustainable Procurement will publish research and work with companies to develop:  

• Internal education for company sourcing teams and other key influencers
• Integration of sustainability factors into existing resources, such as internal purchasing platforms
• Category-specific case studies and pilots that build on existing company purchasing models
• Webinars and publications to be shared with the wider BSR network 

Work Streams

Sustainability strategies of leading companies include targets to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from their global logistics networks and increasingly, prioritize working with like-minded supply chain partners. Can you measure, report, and improve your ocean transport and logistics environmental foot print?

The Clean Cargo Working Group is a global business-to-business initiative made up of leading cargo carriers and their customers, dedicated to environmental performance improvement in marine container transport through measurement, evaluation, and reporting.

Why Join?

Join CCWG members in creating and using the practical tools for measuring, evaluating, and reporting the environmental impacts of global goods transportation. These tools and the dialogue between members and key stakeholders help:

• Ocean freight carriers track and benchmark their performance and easily report to customers in a standard format.
• Cargo owners (shippers) review and compare carriers' environmental performance when reporting and making informed buying decisions. 

Resources

• Clean Cargo Working Group Global Trade Lane Emissions Factors
• How Brands Can Improve Supply Chain Sustainability Through the Clean Cargo Working Group
• Clean Cargo Working Group Overview
• Environmental Performance Survey (Updated: 2011)

A potentially significant shift is underway in terms of corporate performance expectations. Though few corporate decision-makers have heard of ecosystem services, the decades-old concept is now entering “prime time.” It is drawing global attention to natural capital, which is the “infrastructure” from which all natural resource-based goods and services flow and upon which business and society relies.

For example, as of January 2012, companies seeking financing from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, as well as the 76 global banks that signed on to the Equator Principles, became subject to more rigorous due diligence processes that examine their impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services. At the same time, more than 16 national and regional governments are currently considering ways to integrate ecosystem services into public policy. With small-scale exploratory work underway for several years, corporate applications today cover the spectrum—from integrating ecosystem services into accounting, to including ecosystem services as an element of risk management and impact assessment protocols.

What is next in terms of new corporate performance requirements related to ecosystem services? And what are the implications for companies?

BSR’s Ecosystem Services Working Group focuses on emerging risks and opportunities associated with corporate reliance on, and impacts to, ecosystem services. We track the development of new environmental performance expectations associated with ecosystem services, as well as new decision-making aids and policy uptake. Companies can join the working group on an annual basis to gain intelligence on the issues, get access to thought leaders, and garner insights from peers, among other benefits.

"BSR’s Ecosystem Services Working Group has been an essential source of intelligence on ecosystem services—from business relevance through policy uptake around the world and analytical challenges. BSR has consistently identified new trends and emerging stakeholder concerns. In addition, BSR has given us access to external thought leaders and their own subject matter experts. The insights gained from this Working Group have enabled us to hone our own work on valuing nature at Dow."

— Mark Weick, Director, Sustainability Programs and Enterprise Risk Management, The Dow Chemical Company

“BSR’s Ecosystem Services Working Group is my ‘go-to’ place for news and information on developments regarding ecosystem services tools, policies and markets. BSR’s understanding of business needs, objective analysis and thorough coverage are a great help in making sense of what has become an increasingly complex issue area. In addition, the engagement with other companies and stakeholders has been very helpful in formulating our approach to integrating these concepts into existing systems.”

— Sarah Connick, Manager, Environment, Chevron

“Among sustainable development issues, ecosystem services is one of the most difficult for businesses to understand and evaluate. It is even harder to find a place to discuss the issue. BSR’s Ecosystem Services Working Group is undoubtedly the best multi-sectoral roundtable on ecosystem services. It provides a space in which to learn about the issue, share experiences with peers, and assess tools as well as pathways forward.”

— Roberto Bossi, Manager, Sustainability, Eni

Working Group Overview

• Ecosystem Services Overview
• 2013 Work Plan

Overall State of Play Reviews

• Private Sector Uptake of Ecosystem Services Concepts and Frameworks (2013)
• The Quiet (R)Evolution in in Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance (2012)
• BSR Insight article: Part 2. Corporate Environmental Performance in Practice (2012)
• BSR Insight article: Part 1. The Quiet Revolution: The Changing Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance (2012)

Scenarios for the Future

• Seeing the Future Business Context: Scenarios of How Ecosystem Services Issues May Play Out and Affect the Private Sector (2013)
• Environmental Performance 2.0: How Will Ecosystem Services Affect Corporate Decision-Making Next? (2012)

Policy Tracking

• Global Public Sector Trends in Ecosystem Services, 2009-2012 (2013)

Tools Assessments

• Measuring and Managing Corporate Performance in an Era of Expanded Disclosure: A Review of the Emerging Domain of Ecosystem Services Tools (2013)
• New Business Decision-Making Aids in an Era of Complexity, Scrutiny, and Uncertainty (2011)
• Relevant Database-Oriented Tools for Potential Use With Multi-Ecosystem Services Tools (2011)
• BSR Insight article: Measuring Environmental Performance: The Business Case for New Tools (2010)
• Future Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance (2010)
• Supplementary Materials for Future Expectations of Corporate Environmental Performance (2010)
• Measuring Corporate Impact on Ecosystems: A Comprehensive Review of New Tools (2008)

introductory articles on ecosystem services

• A Corporate Manager's Resource Guide to Trading in Air, Climate, Water, and Biodiversity Assets (2007)
• Dipping their Toes In (2007)
• Environmental Markets: Executive Briefing (2007)
• Environmental Markets: Opportunities & Risks for Business (2006)
• Voluntary Carbon Markets (2008)

With world energy consumption set to rise by around 40 percent between 2012 and 2030, our energy system is changing fundamentally, making companies’ decisions about fuel more complex and important than ever before.

While clean and renewable transportation technologies are gaining ground, petroleum will remain the backbone of our useful fuel resources for decades to come. In light of this, companies must make smarter decisions about their current choices among fuels, which often will be choices within fossil fuels.

Increasingly, energy resources are being tapped from unconventional sources—from the Arctic’s icy frontier to the abundant U.S. shale once thought too difficult to extract—creating more pressing climate, human rights, and other sustainability challenges. Yet, until now, companies have not had an authoritative resource to weigh the sustainability trade-offs of their current fuel decisions.

BSR’s Future of Fuels is filling that gap. This ambitious initiative—with leading experts from the private, nonprofit, public, and academic sectors—will help global companies understand the greatest sustainability impacts of their transportation fuel system, and what they can do about them.

Resources

• BSR blog: Weigh In on the Future of Fuels: Oil, Gas, Biofuels, and Electric Vehicles (May 23, 2013)
• BSR blog: How Can We Improve Fuel Sustainability? BSR Future of Fuels Stakeholder Forum Highlights (May 15, 2013)
• BSR report: The Sustainability Impacts of Fuel: A Paper from the Future of Fuels Working Group (October 9, 2012)
• BSR Insight article: The Future of Fuels Forecast (October 9, 2012)
• BSR Insight article: When Policy Fails on Climate, What Can Business Do? BSR’s 2012 Climate Initiatives (December 20, 2011)
• BSR Insight article: The Future of Fuels (November 29, 2011)

Media and Events

• New BSR Report Analyzes Total Sustainability Impacts, Market Outlook for Commercial Transportation Fuels
• BSR Launches Future of Fuels Initiative to Help Business Make Smarter Decisions on Energy
• BSR at Rio: The Future of Fuels
• Event at Rio: Sustainable Futures
• BSR Conference session summary: The Future of Energy in Transportation

Through a series of research papers and facilitated discussions, we are identifying and addressing key trade-offs throughout the value chain, covering the spectrum of sustainability challenges that are linked to this great energy transition.

It is our aim to guide business in reducing the impacts of the decisions they are making today, and help them collaborate with government and civil society to ensure a low-carbon future.

BSR Team

• Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services
• Michael Oxman, Director, Advisory Services
• Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy

The UN Guiding Principles have emerged as the global standard for managing human rights impacts in global operations. BSR’s Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) brings companies from several industries together to share best practices and develop solutions to overcome the biggest challenges in implementing the UN Guiding Principles.

For two decades, BSR has been advising companies in all sectors on managing human rights impacts, from working conditions in supply chains to free expression and privacy on the internet.

Through in-person meetings, webinars, teleconferences, and an online platform for dialogue, the HRWG focuses on practical implementation challenges that are shared across sectors.

Why Join?

• Learn from and collaborate with practitioners across sectors on implementing the UN Guiding Principles.
• Use research and benchmarking on current practices to enhance your own human rights policies, management, and reporting.
• Build buy-in and internal alignment around your company’s human rights efforts.
• Advance the global human rights agenda through your business relationships.
• Establish effective grievance and remedy mechanisms to ensure your company maintains its license to operate.

Dig Deeper

• Human Rights Working Group Overview
• Human Rights Training and Engagement Guide

Companies in the licensing industry share the responsibility to uphold labor and human rights standards and to comply with environmental requirements. However, the complexity and scale of licensing activities makes it difficult to ensure compliance and improve overall social and environmental performance.

The Licensing Working Group brought together licensors and licensees to develop tools and resources to help the industry uphold social and environmental standards, address the root causes behind non-compliance, and ensure that compliance is managed systematically across the entire licensing supply chain. This Working Group is no longer active.

Bribery and corruption regulation is ever-tightening. Additionally, stakeholders expect companies to play a significant role in addressing the root causes of corruption. Are you confident that your business risks are well-managed and that you are participating in real efforts to confront systemic issues throughout your global supply chain?

The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) is a global business network working towards its vision of a maritime industry free of corruption that enables fair trade to the benefit of society at large.

MACN Members promote good corporate practice in the maritime industry for tackling bribes, facilitation payments, and other forms of corruption by adopting the MACN Anti-Corruption Principles, communicating progress on implementation, sharing best practices, and creating awareness of industry challenges.

MACN also collaborates with key stakeholders, including governments, authorities, and international organizations, in markets where corruption is prevalent to its membership, to identify and mitigate the root causes of corruption in the maritime industry.

Why Join?

As a member of MACN you make an active contribution to the elimination of corruption in the maritime industry.

Resources

• Pilot Program Introduction
• BSR Maritime Anti-Corruption Network Membership Overview
• BSR Maritime Anti-Corruption Network Associate Membership Overview
• UK Bribery Act (2010)
• TI Adequate Procedures Guidance

The Mills and Sundries Working Group empowers leading apparel and retail companies and their strategic suppliers with tools for proactive management of labor, health, safety, and environmental performance in order to boost competitiveness, while also benefiting workers and the environment.

This working group helps apparel and retail companies and their suppliers move away from a top-down, pass-fail audit approach, and instead work in partnership to reinforce mutual transparency and continuously improve factory conditions.

• Understand your upstream risks by gaining greater visibility into social and environmental performance beyond the first tier.
• Reduce audits, standardize reporting, and save costs by embracing a single set of social and environmental guidelines.
• Foster supplier ownership to improve labor, health and safety, and environmental conditions.
• Share best practices with suppliers and other stakeholders to address key issues.
• Anticipate and meet growing consumer demands for and NGO pressure on quality and ethical production.

What You Get

• Common Principles
  Benefit from a single set of sustainability principles that set consistent expectations for performance.
• Assessments
  Joint assessments conducted by third-party assessors help suppliers and their customers identify opportunities for improvement.
• Collaboration on Remediation and Capacity Building
  Learn how to efficiently use company resources to support supplier performance-improvement initiatives.
• Semi-Annual Working Sessions Attend three in-person forums for companies and suppliers to inform the group’s approach to pressing issues and network with member companies.

Learn More

Check out the informational video (WMV format) recorded on December 2012.

Members Only

• Member Collaboration Platform
• Member Discussion Platform

Dig Deeper

• Common Set of Principles for Laundries
• Common Set of Principles for Mills
• Common Set of Principles for Sundries
• Common Set of Principles - Chinese
• Common Set of Principles - Simplified Chinese

Many companies have started to manage carbon in their supply chains, typically as part of a broader value chain (Scope 3) climate strategy. However, most are finding that going beyond asking suppliers for information to leading them to actually reduce emissions is challenging.

Through our Supplier Carbon Performance (SCP) initiative, BSR brings companies and suppliers in China together to drive real, visible emissions reductions by identifying energy-saving opportunities on the ground, coaching suppliers to develop energy management programs, resolving barriers that stand in the way of taking further action, and driving senior support within suppliers.

BSR has worked with leading multinational manufacturers, retailers, and consumer products companies to coach over 3000+ suppliers on energy management in China since 2005, applying a “beyond monitoring” approach that moves beyond supplier disclosure to making real advances in carbon performance.

Why Join?

• Help suppliers independently manage their energy and save 20 percent or more on energy costs.
• Collaborate with industry leaders to build cost-effective tools for measuring and verifying energy conservation.
• Learn how to credibly communicate progress to investors and other stakeholders.
• Understand emerging supplier energy- and climate-management practices, and play a role in shaping them.
• Connect with local Chinese energy-service companies and technical service providers to maximize energy savings.

Learn more on the business case for supplier carbon performance:

The Sustainable Luxury Working Group (SLWG) is comprised of companies in the luxury industry that are committed to advancing good social, environmental, and animal-welfare practices in their business operations, including sustainable sourcing practices.

The objectives of the SLWG are to discuss common environmental, social, and governance challenges facing the luxury sector, and to promote transparency, knowledge sharing, and collaboration across common global supply chains.

Resources

• To date, the SLWG has developed a set of Animal Sourcing Principles for sourcing of fur, leather, and exotic skins, which can be accessed here.

Dedicated to responsible practices around water use and wastewater discharge in global supply chains, this group shares best practices in developing and managing effective water programs in the apparel industry.

The Sustainable Water Group drives more responsible water use in the apparel supply chain through its Water Quality Guidelines and by demonstrating the business case for water conservation and reuse in supplier facilities.

Why Join?

• Develop or bolster your water program with the wastewater management toolkit.
• Drive more effective implementation by learning from peer experiences.
• Reduce the risk of supply chain disruptions due to poor water practices.
• Demonstrate public commitment to environmental protection.
• Improve the positive environmental and reputational impcats of your brand.

News and Current Projects

One of this year's key objectives is to reduce the total volume of water consumed during the manufacturing processes by developing guidance for conservation and reuse of wastewater. We will also continue to support members in effective implementation and integration of the Sustainable Water Group wastewater quality guidelines. Contact us if you are interested in learning more.