A mobile app which calculates how construction noise affects birds in protected areas has been created by University of Hull scientists.

As part of a major European-funded project, academics from the University’s Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (IECS) have created the app for those working in areas covered by wildlife protection regulations, helping planners to assess the disturbance effects of work long before a project starts, or it can be used when work is underway.

The app is part of a toolkit devised as part of the European-wide TIDE project, which has brought together expertise and research on estuaries to improve ecosystem management understanding.

Using data from research in the Humber Estuary, a Natura 2000 protected area, as well as other UK wetland areas, researchers watched how different levels of noise and other activities generated during construction projects affected birds’ behaviour. The data analysed by Nick Cutts and Krystal Hemingway was then translated into an app by colleague Chris Baulcomb.

“Bird populations and their continued protection are potentially a major planning issue for those working on construction projects in protected areas such as estuaries, we hope this app will give them a clear and quick indication of how they can work without disturbing local wildlife,” said Nick Cutts, IECS deputy director and senior ornithologist.

As well as the mapping function, the app also includes a guide to the main bird species likely to be affected, and extra detail such as the months of higher sensitivity when disturbance impacts can be greatest, as well as measures that can be employed to reduce impacts. It can be downloaded to android smart phones or PCs for free via the TIDE website.
 

© Joseph Cortes | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Three out of five managers have felt pressured to behave unethically at work, according to new research from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) and Business in the Community (BiTC).

The report, Added values: The importance of ethical leadership, found that 9% of managers have been asked to break the law at work at some point in their career, while one in 10 have left their jobs as a result of being asked to do something that made them feel uncomfortable. This is in spite of 77% of managers believing that, since 2008, the general public’s expectations of UK organisations’ ethical behaviour have risen.

In the survey of over 1,000 managers across the public and private sectors, 93% said their organisation had a values statement but over two fifths (43%) had been pressured to behave in direct violation of it, with 12% of managers saying that the correlation between employee behaviour and company values was not close ‘at all’ in their workplace.

In addition over a quarter (27%) of respondents were concerned their career would suffer if they were to report an ethical breach, with whistleblowing fears higher amongst more junior managers (17% of whom were certain of experiencing negative consequences) than directors (9%).

As a result of the research, the ILM and BiTC have made a number of recommendations for successfully embedding organisational values and ethics. These include businesses having a clear policy to encourage and enable staff to report any concerns over breaches of ethical conduct and the need for leadership to come from the top.

You can read the report and its recommendations in full here: http://www.bitc.org.uk/blog/post/beyond-buzzwords-how-make-values-matter

Picture credit: © Andres Rodriguez | Dreamstime Stock Photos
 

Global IT company Dell is stepping up its environmental efforts by setting itself a 100% waste-free packaging stream by 2020.

“Packaging is often the first part of our products that customers see and touch. From that first interaction, we want to ensure our customers know we’re dedicated to operating in an environmentally responsible manner, and we want to make it easier for them to be sustainable as well,” said Oliver Campbell, director of packaging procurement, Dell.

To achieve its new goals Dell says that it will ensure that 100% of its packaging is sourced from sustainable materials and that materials used are also either recyclable or compostable. Currently, more than half of Dell’s packaging meets both these criteria.

A new way the company is tackling the issue is through the use of a new sustainable material - wheat straw - in many of its cardboard boxes for notebooks originating in China. Many Chinese farmers currently treat this byproduct of wheat harvesting as waste and burn it for disposal, contributing to air pollution and associated health issues. Beginning this August, Dell will incorporate the straw in its boxes, starting with 15% by weight and ramping up as operations scale. The remainder of the box will primarily come from recycled content fibre.

Dell estimates initially it will use 200 tons of wheat straw per year, sourced from farmers in the Jiangsu Province. This move could alleviate 180 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Last year, Dell achieved the goals set out in its 3Cs (cube, content, curb) packaging strategy by: reducing the size of packaging more than 12%, increasing the amount of recycled and renewable content in packaging up to 40%, and ensuring that up to 75% of packaging is recyclable at curbside. This work eliminated more than 20m pounds of packaging material and saved $18m since 2008.
 

Stella Artois and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is ramping up its environmental commitment with seven new global goals that aim to reduce water risks and improve its water management.

In addition, the Belgium beer giant, for the first time, has set global goals on packaging materials reduction and eco-friendly cooler purchases.

“Our approach recognises that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to improve sustainability,” said Carlos Brito, ceo. “The key will be to leverage the experience and expertise of our colleagues globally, foster a collective approach through partnerships with local stakeholders, and continue to scale best practices across our company.”

The goals are:

• Reduce water risks and improve water management in 100% of its key barley growing regions;
• Engage in watershed protection measures at 100% of its facilities located in key areas in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Mexico, Peru and the US;
• reduce global water usage to a leading-edge 3.2 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of production;
• Reduce global greenhouse gas emissions per hectoliter of production by 10%, including a 15% reduction per hectoliter in China;
• Reduce global energy usage per hectoliter of production by 10%;
• Reduce packaging materials by 100,000 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of about a quarter of a billion full cans of beer;
• Reach a 70% global average of eco-friendly cooler purchases annually..

The goals apply across 24 countries and have an achievement target date of 2017. The new commitments build on the company’s three-year global environmental achievements reached at the end of 2012 from a 2009 baseline.
 

It’s a well-known fact that we are depleting the Earth’s natural resources at a faster rate than we are replacing them. Now a report published by an international business coalition has quantified the damage that each primary industry is inflicting on the world’s ecosystem.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business Coalition’s estimates the unpriced costs of land use, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, land and water pollution and waste from primary production and primary processing amounts to $7.3 trillion a year. That’s 13% of 2009 global economic output.

Conducted for the TEEB coalition by Trucost, the report finds coal power generation, rice and wheat farming, cattle ranching and water supply are the biggest culprits in the great drawdown on the Earth’s natural resource bank.

In 2009, these sectors appear most frequently in the top 20 ranking of sectors on total costs from natural resource use, pollution and waste in different regions. At the top of the league, coal generation costs in Eastern Asia ($452.8bn) are slightly higher than those for the sector’s impacts in North America ($316.8bn).

The next highest impacts are driven by agricultural sectors in areas of high water scarcity, and where the level of production, and therefore land use, is high. The high value of ecosystems in South America and Southern Asia contributes to the potential materiality of impacts from cattle ranching and wheat farming in these regions ($358.8bn and $163bn respectively). All this boils down to an astonishing conclusion. Of the top 20 region-sectors (a particular industry in a particular region) ranked by environmental impacts, none would be profitable if externalities were fully integrated.

For investors the risks are huge. They must understand the extent to which companies they invest in are addressing risks from natural capital depletion, which are already the most significant driver of some raw material price fluctuations.

King Coal’s reign on wane
The statement “Coal is King” is perhaps no more true than in Australia, where the world’s second largest coal exporter is also one of the biggest users of coal for power generation. But the tide is turning against coal miners.

Australia’s Uniting Church in May added fossil fuels to its black list of industries it will no longer invest in, joining those in the armaments, tobacco and alcohol sectors.

Now the big four retail banks are coming under pressure to drop financing of coal projects, with campaign group Market Forces – an offshoot of Friends of the Earth – the latest to join urge a boycott.

The move against coal has now caught the attention of Australian based analysts at Citigroup, who say coal reserves face a dramatic devaluation because of potentially stronger action against global warming.

The Citi report finds that half the value ascribed to specialist coal miners could potentially be lost if the world took decisive action on climate change by 2020. 

Image credit: Unsplash/Lukasz Szmigiel

Paul McGreevy is international values & r&d director at The Body Shop. He tells Ethical Performance about the role of CR within the ethical British beauty retailer that boasts over 2,500 stores in 60 markets.

CSR impacts broadly on a business - how wide is your remit?

A Founded on being ‘a force for good’, this continues to be at the heart of everything we do. Our Community Fair Trade program celebrated its 25th birthday in 2012 and today the programme gives us some of our finest ingredients and accessories in the world, and brings real benefits to over 300,000 people.

Activism is in our blood, and The Body Shop has always campaigned on issues close to our heart, we are enormously proud of the Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People campaign and the EU Ban on Animal Testing for cosmetics.

Where is your current CSR focus?

A We are very focused on Against Animal Testing (one of our core values) due to the EU Ban that came into effect on the 11th March 2013 and by working closely with Cruelty Free International we hope for it to one day go global. Our major focus remains Community Fair Trade. Helping these communities out of poverty, enabling them to have better housing, sanitation, medical aid, education and empowering women by helping them to provide for their families all give us a proud sense of worth not to mention the long-term sustainable business it brings to our community partners.

What are the hottest issues for you currently?

A After over 20 years of campaigning, The Body Shop and non-profit organisation Cruelty Free International are finally celebrating the end to animal testing for cosmetics in Europe. This ground- breaking victory means that from now on, anyone who wishes to sell new cosmetic products and ingredients in the EU must not test them on animals anywhere in the world.

The ban affects all cosmetics including toiletries and beauty products from soap to toothpaste. The Body Shop is one of the few beauty brands who will not be affected by the ban, having always been Against Animal Testing.
This great achievement in Europe is only the closure of one chapter. The future of beauty must be cruelty free.

As part of L’Oréal, whose ethics are ‘respect, integrity & excellence’ and therefore a great fit, how do you work together?

A L’Oréal now buy from some of our Community Fair Trade suppliers and have set up their own solidarity sourcing program with over 140 projects to help marginalized communities. The group has also invested over €900 million in alternatives to animal testing.

Where do you think The Body Shop is leading the way?

A Community Fair Trade; we have achieved so much over the last 25 years, and the programme continues to increase its impact and gain strength.

The Body Shop Foundation is also exceptional, having benefited over 2600 organisations all over the world, working with grass roots organisations, helping create “acorns into oak trees”.

The Body Shop also has a volunteering programme giving employees the opportunity to take part in local volunteering in their community, as well organised treks across the Sahara for the charity Water Aid.

I myself have just completed the Sumatra Jungle Trek in Indonesia to help raise funds to protect the lives, habitats and existence of the orangutan with funds raised benefiting The Orangutan Foundation - it was a truly amazing experience! 

What have been your most recent CSR initiatives?

A The Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People campaign; In September 2011, we presented over 7 million campaign petitions to the United Nations Human Rights Council making it one of the largest petitions in the history of the United Nations in tern influencing governments in 20 countries to commit to long-term legislative change that will help protect children and young people for many years to come. The Body Shop Wood Positive initiative is a more recent project whereby we aim to plant and protect more trees in the Ecuadorian Andes and the Atlantic Rainforest with the World Land Trust and Nature & Culture International. We match the amount of card and paper we use in our international supply chain of which are already sourced as responsibly as possible thereby increasing the world’s natural resources rather than depleting them.

And your most successful initiatives?

A Our new Boutique store concept – Incorporating cutting edge design, top quality materials and natural imagery, the boutique-style store creates a warm, welcoming space to excite and enthuse people about The Body Shop products and Values and reducing our CO2 emissions on average by 40%.

What other companies (or individuals) inspire you in the CSR field?

A Our customers and staff inspire us the most; they quite rightly have high expectations, and always want to raise the bar higher. We believe the bar can never be too high.

Some say that a lot of CSR debate has plateaued - do you agree?

A No, the debate around positive economy is emerging. We believe that our Community Fair Trade programme still leads the way in creating sustainable business around the world and that business can be a force for good.

Social media gives us the opportunity to engage directly with our supporters and can help enhance people’s understanding on these subjects and to provide richer content through these kinds of channel.
CSR is moving from ‘governance’ to a point of difference.

People today expect the minimum but want to engage more with companies that go above and beyond. 

Phil Bloomer is leaving Oxfam for the position of Executive Director at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Bloomer, currently director of the Campaigns and Policy Division at Oxfam UK, will take up the position in September.

His appointment follows a comprehensive and highly competitive search and selection process led by six members of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre board. Chair of the Resource Centre board Chris Marsden commented: “Phil is clearly an outstanding leader, strategic thinker and committed advocate for human rights. His track record demonstrates a strong ability to engage with victims of abuses and with corporate decision-makers to bring about progress on human rights – an approach that has been crucial to the Resource Centre’s success from the outset.”

Bloomer joins Business & Human Rights Resource Centre at an important phase of its development. Founded in 2002, it is the leading international human rights organization focused on providing information about private sector activities worldwide. Currently with researchers based in 13 countries, it has plans to further increase its outreach and impact in all regions. Bloomer will succeed the centre’s founder and current director Christopher Avery.

The Carbon Trust has appointed a new international advisory panel. The panel brings together a number of top experts from around the world to provide advice on the global low carbon economy to help guide the company in its future development.

Because of the broad variety of work undertaken by the Trust, the panel includes senior representation from the worlds of government, international institutions, business, finance, science, and NGOs.

The panel will be chaired by the former Deputy Chair of the Carbon Trust board, Ian Stephenson, and additional members will be added over the coming months.

The membership of the panel also reflects the increased levels of international work currently being undertaken by the Carbon Trust, particularly in Latin America and Asia. One of the members, Wang Xiaokang, is Chairman of the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), a state-sponsored corporation with over 330 subsidiaries and affiliates with over 40,000 employees in China and abroad. CECEP has responsibility for energy efficiency, emissions reduction, clean technology and renewable energy in China. Another member, Dr Francisco Barnés is the Director General of the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), responsible for scientific advice on sustainability development and environmental policy in Mexico. 

The panel in full: Salman Amin, coo, S.C. Johnson North America; Dr Francisco Barnés, dg, National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, Mexico; Neil Bentley – deputy dg and coo, CBI; Pelham Hawker, former executive director, Johnson Matthey; Peter Hobson, senior banker, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development; Emma Howard Boyd, director of Sustainable Investment and Governance, Jupiter Asset Management; David Nussbaum, chief executive, WWF-UK; Nina Shapiro, formerly vp Finance and Treasurer, International Finance Corporation and Professor Jim Skea OBE FRSA, Research Councils UK Energy Strategy Fellow and Professor of Sustainable Energy, Imperial College; Ian Stephenson OBE, former deputy chair, Carbon Trust Board and Wang Xiaokang, chairman, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group(CECEP).

Tax avoidance allegations have now been made against the huge Apple corporation in the US.

A government report has estimated that Apple, considered the world’s second largest company after Exxon, avoided at least $3.5bn (£2.3bn, €2.7bn) in federal taxes in 21011 and $9bn last year.

The Senate investigations sub-committee said the group funnelled most of its profits into subsidiaries in the Irish Republic, where it had struck a deal allowing it to pay only 2% on profits.

The report said: “A number of studies show that multinational corporations are moving ‘mobile’ income out of the US into low- or no-tax jurisdictions, including tax havens such as Ireland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.”
Democrat Senator Carl Levin told a hearing of the sub-committee that Apple’s exploitation of loopholes in the US tax code was unique among multinationals. The group used five companies located in the Irish Republic to conduct its complex tax strategy, the report had said.

Philip Bullock, Apple’s head of tax operations, told the hearing that AOI, an Irish subsidiary, had received $30bn during the past five years but was not required to pay taxes on it in the US. Chief executive Tim Cook admitted that Apple kept $102bn of its total $145bn in cash overseas but this money was not subject to US tax.
However, Cook declared: “We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar. We don’t depend on tax gimmicks.”

British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has extended its Dual-Fuel fleet to 51 vehicles saving up to 25 per cent in carbon emissions.

The environmentally friendly fleet is now one of the largest in the UK and operates on a combination of diesel and bio-methane, produced from rotting organic material in landfill.

Each Dual-Fuel vehicle saves around 41 tonnes of CO2 from being dispersed into the atmosphere each year. Its Dual-Fuel fleet will deliver carbon reductions equivalent to taking over 900 cars off the road each year (over 2,090 tonnes of CO2).

The fleet, based at the retailer’s Emerald Park Distribution Centre in Bristol, is serving stores and depots in Wales and the South West. A dedicated on site refuelling station has also been put in place to enhance fuelling efficiency and allow a larger number of Dual-Fuel vehicles to enter Sainsbury’s fleet over time.

Nick Davies, Sainsbury’s head of transport operations, said: “We have already achieved a number of efficiencies across our transport operations, including cutting almost 8m kilometres in three years, and our Dual-Fuel fleet will also play a key role in delivering our no waste to landfill policy. As well as delivering to our stores the fleet also back hauls any food waste and recyclable materials to facilities to be sorted and put to positive use.”

In 2008 Sainsbury’s was the first supermarket to make daily food deliveries using a lorry powered by bio-methane. Underpinned by its 20x20 Sustainability Plan, Sainsbury’s aims to reduce its depot to store transport CO2 emissions by 35 per cent by 2020 and achieve an absolute reduction of 50 per cent by 2030, against a 2005 baseline, despite the growth of its business.