Moves from Sainsbury, Sinar Mas, Chevron, and all the latest from other brands in corporate responsibility and sustainability this month

Farmers’ friend

Suppliers selling to Sainsbury’s and other big supermarkets are to gain a new ally in the quest for fair treatment. The UK government says it will press ahead with plans for a Groceries Code Adjudicator, an enforcer for the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. The code came into force in February 2010 and must be written into supermarkets’ contracts with suppliers in a bid to ensure fair dealing, for example by banning retrospective changes to terms and conditions.

UK consumer affairs minister Edward Davey says the adjudicator will step in where needed to “make sure that large retailers can’t abuse their power”. The body will be able to investigate anonymous tip-offs from farmers or others up and down the supply chain. The adjudicator is expected to start work in 2012 and it won’t be just another quango – it will be part of the Office of Fair Trading, and the supermarkets will fund it.

Palm qualms

The debate continues about the activities of Sinar Mas, Indonesia’s biggest palm oil producer and Ethical Corporation’s Greenwasher of the Year. Adverse publicity about its role in rainforest destruction led the firm to commission an independent audit, carried out in part by the BSI Group, formerly the British Standards Institution. The review was published in early August, and only partially cleared Sinar Mas of the charges against it.

The company had not cut down primary forest to make way for palm oil plantations, but had damaged carbon-rich peat land through planting, the review found. Greenpeace, however, says it has new evidence of rainforest clearance by Sinar Mas.

Kraft and Unilever no longer buy palm oil from Sinar Mas, but Unilever says it might restart if Sinar Mas can obtain Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil certification.

Dammed if you do...

A surge in hydropower projects caused by green energy demand is having a “profound” effect on tribal people, the Survival campaign group says in a report published mid-August. Tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, in Malaysia, and in Ethiopia are facing loss of land and water and food sources, and even forced relocation to make way for dams, yet tribespeople rarely see any benefits from the new power sources. Dam building peaked in the 1970s but is back with a vengeance, with the World Bank presently providing $11bn to 211 projects worldwide.

Legal impasse

The latest twist in the long-running legal case between oil giant Chevron and indigenous people in Ecuador – which has been going on for 17 years and counting – came in early August, with Chevron filing a motion that the case should be dismissed.

The Ecuadorian groups are seeking compensation for pollution caused between 1964 and 1990 by Texaco, which was subsequently taken over by Chevron. A court-appointed expert assessed the damage at $27bn but Chevron says it can prove the expert’s report was “nothing more than a fraud” and was the result of collusion with the plaintiffs. Even if the case does continue, a verdict is unlikely before 2011. Watch this space ...

Buzz off?

The 21st century phenomenon of bee population decline might be caused by certain types of pesticide, researchers have said. A study published in the journal Toxicology drew a connection between the long term use of “neonicotinoid” pesticides and bee deaths.

Campaigners say the pesticides should be banned. Certain formulations already have been prohibited in Germany, Italy and Slovenia. In the UK, the government says there will be no ban but the authorities will “keep this area under review”. Scientists have so far failed to come up with a definitive explanation for the dying bees, but the phenomena has led to widespread concern about future crop yields, given the crucial role of bees as pollinators.

Give us a date

The UK government should waste no time in announcing a date by which big corporations will be obliged to report their carbon emissions, the Aldersgate Group says. The group, which describes itself as a “high level coalition of progressive businesses, environmental groups and individuals”, wrote to the business secretary Vince Cable, demanding a decision by the end of 2010 on the introduction of mandatory reporting. The 2008 Climate Change Act includes a deadline of 2012 for the government to decide on the introduction of mandatory reporting. Aldersgate Group members calling for a date to be set sooner include Aviva, BT, Microsoft and PepsiCo.

Report more, report better

Meanwhile, another business-led initiative is calling for a general overhaul of company reporting, saying that the credibility of reporting standards has been severely damaged by the financial crisis. The International Integrated Reporting Committee wants a review of the way financial results are delivered, more harmonised international standards, and more consistent presentation of other company information, including environmental and social performance.

The committee is backed by big hitters: top corporations such as EDF and Tata, the main audit firms, the International Accounting Standards Board, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board, and even the Prince of Wales. It plans to devise a new reporting framework for discussion by the G20 in 2011.

Best behaviour

The UK Stewardship Code, a good practice guide for institutional investors on their relationships with the companies they invest in, is attracting widespread interest. Published in July, the code is the first of its type in the world and is non-binding, providing guidance to investors on questions such as public disclosure of voting policies, monitoring of investee companies, and resolving conflicts of interest between different groups of investors. The Netherlands, France and the United States are considering similar initiatives, and the idea is being pondered by the European commission, which could seek to put in place a harmonised European Union code.

Chinese whispers

Well-to-do Chinese consumers are not just interested in the status afforded by owning luxury brands. A study of wealthy consumers has found that they are also increasingly concerned about companies’ social responsibility performances. The social role of companies was highlighted in the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, when firms that contributed to the relief effort were lauded, while those that did not were criticised. The study, carried out by Albatross Global Solutions and Ruder Finn Asia, found that companies slow to help out were labelled “iron roosters”, or cheapskates.



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