Moves from BASF, Apple, Nike and all the latest from other brands in corporate responsibility this month
In the pipeline
Global wish list
The United Nations Rio+20 conference in June – the follow-up to the historic 1992 Rio Earth Summit – will prioritise discussion of 15 broad-ranging issues, according to the conference organisers. The list amounts to a summary of the mega-issues that humanity must deal with if the world is to be put on a sustainable path, and may give an indication of the areas in which conventions and commitments might be signed at the conference. The priority issues are chemicals and waste, cities, climate change, education, energy, food security, forests and biodiversity, gender equality, green jobs/social inclusion, land degradation and desertification, mountains, natural disasters, oceans and seas, sustainable development and production, and water. The topic list was decided on following a consultation process that included input from business groups.
Soy source
The Netherlands is backing its pledge to import only responsibly produced soy by 2015 with a €7m scheme that will help farmers in South America gain Round Table on Responsible Soy certification. The money is provided by business groups and the Sustainable Trade Initiative. If the Netherlands is to keep its promise, the amount of certified soy it sources annually will have to rise from about 500,000 tonnes in 2012 to 1.8m tonnes. Holland is Europe’s biggest soy importer. The crop is used in foods and household products, and in cattle feed, but soy production has been associated with deforestation, expropriation of lands, and exploitation of workers.
Catalogue of catastrophe
Natural catastrophes cost humanity a record sum in 2011, according to data published by insurer Munich Re. At $380bn, the economic havoc wreaked by disasters smashed the previous record of $220bn in 2005. The most expensive events were earthquakes in New Zealand in February and Japan in March, and extreme flooding in Thailand during the rainy season, which caused extensive and prolonged disruption, including to about a quarter of the world’s computer hard drive component supply. The overall number of events classified as natural disasters was down on 2010, but the overall trend is steadily upwards, driven by more frequent weather-related disasters.
Bitter harvest
German chemicals giant BASF has said it will close down its plant biotechnology business in Europe – because Europeans don’t want genetically modified crops. The company said that BASF Plant Science would relocate to Raleigh, North Carolina, where it would “concentrate on the attractive markets for plant biotechnology in North and South America and the growth markets in Asia”. In Europe, “the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians” continued to resist GMOs, according to the company. The move to the US will cost 140 European jobs. Greenpeace said BASF would also find problems outside of Europe, with “China, India, the Philippines, Thailand and elsewhere” also placing limitations on GM cultivation.
Green groups attacked
Green groups are killers of good energy projects and threaten to undermine Canadian energy exports, the Canadian minister of natural resources, Joe Oliver, has said in a scathing open letter. According to Oliver, Canada’s system for approving projects such as pipelines that would allow energy exports to Asia needs an overhaul because it is full of loopholes that can be exploited by organisations with a “radical ideological agenda”. Environmental campaigners “attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources”, Oliver says. If that fails, they will “take a quintessential American approach: sue everyone”. Canadian opposition MPs and groups such as Greenpeace have criticised the remarks, saying that they served the interests of oil companies.
Open access
Apple has come out fighting in the face of criticism of working conditions in its supplier factories, which are mainly located in Asia. In mid-January the company published a list of 156 facilities that provide most of the components that go into its products. The list was published alongside Apple’s supplier responsibility report, which details the 229 supplier audits the firm carried out in 2011, the violations it found of its code of conduct, covering workers’ rights, and environmental and ethical standards, and the steps Apple took to rectify problems. Apple also said it would let US group the Fair Labour Association independently assess the standards of its suppliers. Apple’s move showed its “commitment to greater transparency”, the Fair Labour Association said.
Shoe shop floor
An Indonesian factory producing sports shoes for Nike has agreed to settle up with workers for 600,000 hours of unpaid overtime run up over two years. The settlement, worth $1m to the workers at the PT Nikomas plant, was finalised after extensive negotiations between the factory and the Serikat Pekerja National trade union. The victory is partial because workers have probably been doing unpaid overtime for much longer, but Indonesian law only allowed the union to claim for the past two years. Nike said it “commends the factory on their action plan and efforts to correct inadequacies”.
Greener skies
Flights into, out of and within the European Union are likely to be marginally more expensive in 2012 because of a requirement that airlines participate in the EU emissions trading system (ETS). Participation means airlines will be given emission quotas, and must have enough carbon credits to cover them. Most credits are given to airlines for free but some have to be bought on the carbon market, and ticket prices will rise as airlines pass the costs on. Lufthansa, for example, has said it expects the scheme to cost it €130m in 2012, translating into a surcharge of €3-€10 for long-haul flights.