Moves from Wal-Mart, Marks & Spencer, Colruyt and all the latest from other brands in corporate responsibility and sustainability this month

Keep on truckin’

Belgian cut-price supermarket group Colruyt has claimed a first, developing an electric 44-tonne truck designed for supermarket delivery runs. The truck is a hybrid but its diesel engine can be switched off, so that it runs only on electricity with a 10 kilometre range. People living alongside the group’s 400 Belgian stores can sleep more soundly, Colruyt says, because early-morning deliveries can be made almost silently. Deliveries using a test truck will start in September.

Wage warfare

Serious rioting broke out in June in a Bangladeshi manufacturing zone where clothing is made for western retailers including Carrefour, H&M, Tesco and Wal-Mart. Violence erupted as a wage dispute spiralled out of control, forcing about 250 garment factories to bolt the doors and put up shutters while police tried to restore order.

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said damage running to millions of dollars had been done to 50 production facilities. Workers in the area, at Ashulia near Dhaka, are paid a government-mandated minimum wage of about £17 a month, which has not risen since 2006.

M&S on target

Marks & Spencer is leaping ahead on sustainability, according to a recent progress report. The firm has been implementing its Plan A corporate responsibility programme since 2007. Results so far: a 20% reduction in food packaging, 19% greater energy efficiency in stores, a third less waste sent to landfill and 417m fewer carrier bags used by customers.

Not everything is going perfectly. Goals for reducing business travel, and for selling organic food and Fairtrade clothing are “behind plan”. But on most indicators, M&S is setting a good example: 62 of the original 100 Plan A commitments have already been achieved.

Digging deeper

Afghanistan could be transformed by the exploitation of its mineral resources, including potentially vast reserves of iron ore, copper, cobalt and gold. According to figures assembled by the US government in an internal memo, a mining bonanza could yield as much as $1tn, which could be very useful when compared with Afghanistan’s $12bn GDP.

Mineral deposits, which also include lithium – essential for computer and mobile phone batteries – could help shift the Afghan economy away from opium production. General David Petraeus, newly promoted commander of the Nato forces in Afghanistan, says the country has “stunning potential”. Some geologists and mining experts are not so sure, saying the estimates of resources are based on old data.

Raising the standard

Companies making carbon-neutrality claims can now test themselves against PAS 2060 – a standard developed by the venerable British Standards Institution. Companies including Marks & Spencer and Eurostar have helped design the standard. PAS 2060 sets out a methodology for measuring, reducing and even offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. It can be applied not only by corporations, but also by government departments, organisational units, and even families and individuals. Applying the standard will lend credibility to companies’ statements about their carbon footprints, BSI says.

Where there’s muck

The UK’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is set to make its mark on waste policy, with a review announced in June. In particular, Britain needs to go “faster and further” with recycling, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says, highlighting how commercial waste could be reduced through the promotion of “responsibility deals” with manufacturers and retailers.

Perhaps with an eye on the British budget deficit, Defra also says there is brass in muck, and the money to be made from waste and recycling should be maximised. Details of the review are awaited.

Snap, crackle and drop

The US Federal Trade Commission has censured breakfast cereal maker Kellogg for misleading advertising claims about the benefits of its famous Rice Krispies. The company falsely said that children’s immunity to illness could be boosted by antioxidants and nutrients contained in the cereal.

It is the second time in a year that Kellogg has come under fire from the FTC. In April 2009 the firm was forced to retract statements that Rice Krispies made kids more attentive at school. FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz says Kellogg is a “great American company”, but that it needs to “stop and think twice about the claims it’s making”.

Good for wood

Responsibility for ensuring that illegally logged timber does not enter the European Union will fall not only to timber merchants, but also to importers of wood products such as furniture and pulp for paper-making, under legislation approved by the European parliament and EU governments.

Similar to legislation already in place in the US, timber and timber products coming into the 27-nation bloc must be certified as coming from legitimate sources. Failure to do so could result in penalties for importers, though governments will decide these individually, meaning some may opt for criminal penalties while others will opt for less severe sanctions. The UK says it is committed to the legislation, which is expected to come into force in 2012. About 7% of wood and wood products coming into the UK is thought to have been illegally logged.

Ethical high

Ethical investment in the UK has hit an all-time high with £9.5bn now placed in saving plans and funds judged green or ethical, according to Eiris, an investment research organisation. In a decade, ethical investment has grown from a base of just 200,000 investors with £2.4bn under management, to about 750,000 people trusting their money to almost 100 funds.

Issues tackled by ethical investors include global warming, human rights, poverty elimination, water scarcity and ageing populations. Mark Robertson of Eiris says tackling these issues is “creating attractive business opportunities, which in turn are creating great investment opportunities”.

Occupational hazard

Cancer related to working environments may be more prevalent than previously thought, a research paper published by the British Journal of Cancer has found. Up to 5% of cancer deaths in the UK might be “attributable to occupation”, the researchers suggest, equivalent to about 8,000 deaths a year.

According to the study, the incidence of cancer was higher for construction workers, and those doing night shifts. Although links between exposure to asbestos and cancer are well-known, the dangers of other substances such as silica and particles in diesel and paint fumes should not be overlooked, the study notes. However, cancer charities have questioned the conclusions, saying they are based on out-of-date statistics, and may be overstating the risk.



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