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Sustainability, Technology & Business > Corporate & Social Sustainability > Flashcards

Corporate & Social Sustainability Flashcards

1
Q

Name the five corporate sustainability strategies.

A
  1. Keeping your house in order.
  2. Reducing the impact of your products.
  3. Stakeholder engagement.
  4. Research & innovation.
  5. Philanthropy.
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2
Q

‘Keeping your house in order’ is one of the corporate sustainability strategies; describe.

A
  • Energy reduction and company-wide low-carbon policies.
  • Waste reduction and low emissions of hazardous substances.
  • ISO14001 - Management & Auditing Processes
  • Public reporting of performance.
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3
Q

‘Reducing the impact of your products’ is one of the corporate sustainability strategies; describe.

A
  • Design for environmental policies.
  • Life-cycle thinking for driving policy-making.
  • Engagement with manufacturing supply chain to reduce impact.
  • Engagement with supply chain for fair working practices.
  • Consider use-phase impacts and end-of-life management.
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4
Q

‘Stakeholder engagement’ is one of the corporate sustainability strategies; describe.

A

Engagement with:

  • Employees
  • Investors & analysts
  • NGOs and environmental organisations
  • Governments
  • Public
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5
Q

‘Research and innovation’ is one of the corporate sustainability strategies; describe.

A
  • Investment into research aiming to improve the long-term performance of products and services.
  • Research into how a company’s products and services can support a move to a more sustainable future.
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6
Q

‘Philanthropy’ is one of the corporate sustainability strategies; describe.

A
  • Gates Foundation.

- Philanthropic initiative.

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7
Q

Give three examples of companies demonstrating sustainable initiative at a corporate level.

A

IBM

  • VP for Corporate Citizenship.
  • Directors and coporate governance committee.

Apple

  • VPs for: Environmental Environment; Policy; Social Initiatives.
  • Supplier responsibilty.

Samsung
- Governance Committee of Board.

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8
Q

Give three examples of companies demonstrating explicit policy and strategy statements.

A

IBM

  • Alignment to IBMs values.
  • Cross-sector collaboration.

Philips

  • Mission and Vision
  • ‘Improve the lives of 3bn by 2025’

Tesla

  • Expand EV product line to all major segments.
  • Development of self-driving capability, approx. 10x safer than manual.
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9
Q

Name three statutory and three voluntary reporting schemes.

A

Statutory

  • UK non-financial reporting.
  • UK energy savings opportunities scheme (ESOS)
  • EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

Voluntary

  • Corporate Social Responsibility Report (CSR).
  • Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
  • Responsible Business Alliance.
  • Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
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10
Q

Give a brief overview of the Global Reporting Initiative.

A
  • Provides the world’s most widely used standard on sustainability reporting and disclosure.
  • 93% of the top 200 companies use this standard.
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11
Q

Give a brief overview of the Carbon Disclosure Project.

A
  • Supports companies and cities to disclose the environmental impact of major corporations.
  • Aims to make environmental reporting and risk management a business norm, and drive disclosure, insight and action towards a sustainable economy.
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12
Q

What are the scopes of GHG emissions reporting? Briefly describe each.

A

Scope One
- Burning the fuel at the company (heating/transport).

Scope Two

  • What the company buys in.
  • e.g. emissions from powerhouse.

Scope Three

  • Everything else up & down the supply chain.
  • Whole life impact.
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13
Q

What is Internal Carbon Pricing? Give an example of use within a corporation.

A
  • Internal Carbon Pricing is a financial value assigned to both emitted and avoided carbon emission.
  • It provides an incentive or added reason to reallocate resources towards low-carbon activities.
  • Can be used in determining the business case for R&D investments.

Microsoft

  • 14 internal efficiency initiatives.
  • 2.7e6 MWh of green power across US, earning the EPA’s Green Power Partnership.
  • 18 carbon offset project in 16 countries.
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14
Q

List datacentre decisions as a result of Internal Carbon Pricing.

A
  • Siting (for low build cost and free climate cooling).
  • Electricity Sourcing (lowest electricity price/CO2e).
  • IT Equipment (Piecemeal servers/ push to virtualisation).
  • Non-IT Load (Industry standard aircon).
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15
Q

Why was the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) formed?

A
  • Stakeholder concern, including reputational risk from medial and high-profile NGO campaigns.
  • Workers rights.
  • Working conditions.
  • Child labour.
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16
Q

Give a brief overview of the ‘Fairtrade’ initiative and some of its issues.

A
  • Began with tea and coffee in 1990s.
  • Predominant focus on living wage and smaller producers.
  • Caused the ‘label dilemna’.
  • Accusation of pursuing a western corporate agenda.
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17
Q

Name three key playes in the supply chain who must be engaged for ETI to work.

A
  • Buyers.
  • QA/Technologist.
  • Auditors.
18
Q

Name two key dangers of western companies imposing initiatives on developing/producer countries.

A
  • Encouraging the Potemkin Village Effect: fake impressions based on when auditors visit.
  • Being accused of neo-colonialism.
19
Q

What is the ETI Base Code? (10 items)

A
  1. Employment is freely chosen.
  2. Freedom of association and bargaining.
  3. Working conditions are safe and hygenic.
  4. Child labour shall not be used.
  5. Living wages are paid.
  6. Working hours are not excessive.
  7. No discrimination.
  8. Regular employment is provided.
  9. No harsh/inhumane treatment.
  10. Provisions of the above constitute minimum and not maximum standards.
20
Q

What are the principles for ETI membership? (4 items)

A
  1. Demonstrate a clear committment to the ethical trade.
  2. Integrate ethical trade into core business practice.
  3. Drive year-on-year improvements to working conditions.
  4. Report openly and accurately about their activities.
21
Q

Name two pilots for the ETI initiative. Who was involved to ‘smooth relationship hiccups’? What were three learning points?

A

Costa Rican bananas and Kenyan cut flowers.
- Department for International Development (DfID).

Learning Points

  • Learn as much as you can about the history of the relationship.
  • Be flexible with who you work with.
  • Things are not always as they seem.
22
Q

Why is child labour a complicated issue?

A
  • Worldwide 1 in 10 children work.
  • Usually working for family, doing agricultural work.
  • Many work and attend school.
  • Only 5% of the value of a chocolate bar goes to the grower.
23
Q

List the benefits of being an ETI member for a business. (4 items)

A
  1. Increased working with supplies.
    - More productive relationships.
    - Opportunities for innovation.
  2. Address issues at the supplier level.
    - Provide evidence in future in case of claims.
  3. Campaigners tend to focus on non-engaged companies.
    - ETI is a very public indicator of best practices.
  4. Better reputation makes it easier to recruit graduates.
    - Good corporate messages.
24
Q

Give an example of an accident/disaster that demonstrates the slow implementation of ETI code.

A
  • Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh.

- Despite pressure from stakeholders, factory were too slow to implement changes.

25
Q

What is the purpose of the ‘Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 2010’?

A
  • To require consumers to audit their supply chains and report use of conflict materials in their products.
26
Q

Name four key conflict materials and give an example location.

A
  • Tungsten, tin, tantalum and gold.

- Congo

27
Q

What is the purpose of the ‘Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative’? What is the location of the highest impact in the supply chain?

A
  • To relieve pressures and concern on the use of conflict materials.
  • Conflict-Free Smelters: point closest to material exploitation where the material origin can be influenced.
28
Q

Give an example of a corporation implementing measures against the use of conflict materials.

A
  • Intel.
  • Work with supply chain to develop a method through which manufacturers can trace the origin of their source materials.
  • Goal of all products being conflict-free from 2016.
  • ‘Bag and Tag’ protocol to create retraceable paper trail.
29
Q

What is the ‘Statutory Disclosure Requirements Act’?

A

Any company with turnover >$36m must issue a statement with the following:

  • Anti-slavery policies.
  • Due diligence within supply chain.
  • Identifies high risk areas and applies appropriate mitigations.
  • Became law in 2015.
30
Q

What are the ramifications of not conducting a report in line with the Statutory Disclosure Requirements Act?

A
  • Authorities can seek an injunction to force a statement.
  • Customers may cease trade.
  • Increasing customers requesting a copy of the report before providing their tender.
31
Q

What is the ‘Public Services Act 2012’?

A
  • Requires bodies to choose social providers based on their social value created in the area, not cost alone.
  • 10-20% of the tender is social value.
  • e.g. How the social provider will improve the lives of those in the local neighbourhood.
  • Private sector bodies fulfilling public sector contracts require suppliers to have a social value strategy.
32
Q

Which SDG does ‘social issues in the electronics industry supply chain’ most closely link to?

A

SDG 8:

- Decent work and economic growth.

33
Q

What was typical of 1980s electronics manufacturing companies?

A
  • Concentrate on core competencies.
  • Encourage competitors to operate at reduced rates (benefit of economies of scale).
  • Manufacture in Asia, where overheads and labour are cheap.
34
Q

Give an overview of the ‘Responsible Business Alliance’. Name the five key codes.

A
  • Formerly the ‘Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition’.
  • Places pressure on suppliers.
  • Members must adopt a code of conduct.
  • At a minimum, must require their next tier suppliers to acknowledeg and implement the code.

The five key codes are (LHEEM):

  1. Labour
  2. Health and Safety
  3. Environment
  4. Ethics
  5. Management System
35
Q

List some of the criticisms of the Responsible Business Alliance.

A
  • Need to only demonstrate ‘working towards’ the compliance.
  • Vague with respect to unions & collective bargaining.
  • Independant verification not required.
  • Public release of findings not necessary.
36
Q

How does the Responsible Business Alliance fall under disagreement with the International Labour Organisations wage laws? What is the implication?

A
  • RBA states suppliers must comply with all applicatble wage laws (incl. overtime, benefits, minimum wage etc) of that country.
  • ILO suggests that a minimum ‘living wage’ should instead be paid, based on the cost of living in the local economy.
  • Implication is that NGOs suggest the RBA sets the barrier low, aksking for baseline compliance with existing laws.
37
Q

What are the difficulties in creating a code of conduct? How do NGOs encourage companies to create a code?

A
  • Requires enforcement, which requires people. People are expensive.
  • Enforcement can increase the cost of the supplier.
  • NGOs increase the cost of non-enforcement by placing consumer pressure.
38
Q

Expand on the Apple-Foxconn relationship.

A
  • Foxconn are a major supplier to a number of electronics companies, including Apple.
  • Investigation by the Fair Labor Association found widespread problems.
  • 360 recommendations suggested; 284 implemented within 6 months.
  • Apple roll out education in Foxconn facilities following riots.
  • 20 months later, all but 4 actions implemented.
  • Greenpeace praise Apple’s transparency in the supply chain.
39
Q

Why was Apple the target of the Fair Labor Association’s investigation? What was the consequential ‘ripple effect’?

A
  • Labour cost of approximately 5%.
  • Apple’s gross profit margin is about 70%; plenty of space to soak up increase in costs.
  • Apple’s customers are not price sensitive.
  • The ripple effect was the Apple/Foxconn were the public focus, but the target was the entirety of the electronics industry.
40
Q

List some apprehensions with the Fair Labor Associations’ investigation into Apple.

A
  • FLA paid by Apple to conduct investigation. Cadfod’s research was presented in a very different tone.
  • Western values being imposed on non-western countries inappropriately.
  • Western consumer imposing ‘late-modern’ values on companies in early states of development.
41
Q

What is the ‘Responsible Minerals Initiative’?

A
  • Extension of the Responsible Sourcing Initiative.

- Auditing of smelteries.

Sustainability, Technology & Business (4 decks)

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