CSR in Europe, Middle East and Africa : global warming

Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change – call for signatories

ulrikehaug — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:59:00 GMT

In preparation for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders’ Group on Climate Change (CLG) has launched the sign-up process of the Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change. Gary Elliott, Vice-President of Global Citizenship, HP, has endorsed this statement from the business community. The communiqué is a message to governments stating that a large part of the business community calls for an ‘ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change’.

So far, more than 130 global companies have signed the Communiqué. The CLG hopes to reach 500+ companies from across the globe. The deadline for signatures is Friday 11th September 2009. So. if you work in a business that supports the goals of the Communiqué, why not grab this chance to sign up?

Ulrike Haug
CSR Stakeholder Programs

Sustainable practices in IT: a sober assessment

jeanne2007 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:27:00 GMT

At the beginning of this month, Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) published a report focusing on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry and its commitment to fighting climate change. The assessed sustainability practices included climate change strategies within companies as well as their initiatives to support their clients in climate saving activities.

Dennis Pamlin, Global Policy Advisor, WWF, called this report a “sober assessment of the situation in the IT industry” on his blog.

The report provides a good overview of existing climate change strategies in the ICT industry. It provides highlights but it points also to things that need improvement. There are certainly some leaders in the industry with well established strong environmental programmes, while at the same time there are companies which still need guidance and which are not familiar with the most efficient ways to combat climate change - yet.

I would like to stress the word YET. Climate change is a tremendous challenge which cannot be solved easily. Together with Fujitsu, BT and IBM we scored well on all five categories (environmental basics, supply chain basics, carbon basics, carbon delivery and carbon champions). We don’t want to rest on our laurels and we must maintain our commitment. The latest news is that we disclosed our suppliers’ carbon emissions, which Karl wrote about his blog entry.

It is great to see that many companies have developed good climate change strategies and we should learn from each other.

Jeannette Weisschuh, Head of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

Climate Futures report – scenarios for a climate-changed world

ulrikehaug — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:41:00 GMT

Last week, HP Labs and Forum for the Future, a renowned UK-based sustainable development organisation, announced a report called ‘Climate Futures’. Unlike many other reports on climate change that we’ve seen recently, this report doesn’t focus on narrowly on environmental impacts and geographical changes but analyses the economic, political, social and psychological consequences of climate change. It describes five possible scenarios that result from different responses to climate change. I think it’s a very interesting, sometimes unsettling read.

The report is based on consultations with 60 climate change experts from across different sectors and countries. I believe it provides organisations with a good outlook into possible futures and allows them to consider and prepare for possible changes ahead. I personally hope it will encourage organisations to think about what their role can be in creating a more positive future. We still have a choice today, but the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be.

James Goodman of Forum for the Future is one of the authors of the report and gives a good overview of the most important findings in his blog.

I’ve copied below a summary of the five possible futures that the report identifies.

Let me know what you think!

Ulrike Haug
CSR Communications
HP EMEA

FIVE POSSIBLE FUTURES IN 2030

Efficiency First. Rapid innovation in energy efficiency and novel technologies have created a low-carbon economy with little need for changes in lifestyle or business practice. Artificially-grown flesh feeds hundreds of millions, supercomputers advise governments, and eco-concrete walls protect the USA’s eastern seaboard generating power from the waves and tides.
The result is an increasingly individualistic, consumerist and fast-moving world, which relies on ever more complex systems. Some call it a golden age of technology and freedom, others a shaky house of cards at a growing risk of crashing down.

Service Transformation. Carbon is one of the most expensive commodities, businesses have shifted to selling services instead of products, and good citizens share with their neighbours. No-one owns a car – it is far too expensive – and athletes have just staged the world’s first virtual Olympics, staying at home and competing in cyberspace.

NATO is ready to go to war if necessary to enforce the 2020 Beijing Climate Change Agreement, and water shortages have already forced the abandonment of Central Australia and Oklahoma. The dramatic transformation in business has been painful, with rising unemployment in the old high-carbon sectors. Booming mega-cities are only just managing to cope and fuel poverty is a huge problem.

Redefining Progress. The global depression of 2009-18 forced governments to regulate the economy tightly and encouraged citizens to put greater priority on quality of life than on making money. Countries compete to score highest in the World Bank’s Wellbeing Index and the EU Working Time directive sets a limit of 27.5 hours a week. The trend is towards economic resilience and simpler, more sustainable lives, but ‘free-loaders’ plunder resources, several big cities have set up as ‘havens of real capitalism’ and some governments are aggressively pro-growth.

Environmental War Economy. Talks about a post-Kyoto Treaty broke down and a global pact was only signed in 2017. Governments enforced tough action to make up for lost time, reshaping their economies to focus all resources on climate change.

Civil liberties have been stripped away. In some countries you need a license to have children and, if you go over your household energy quota, the carbon monitor will turn off your appliances. Climate refugees from Bangladesh and the Pacific islands make up 18% of New Zealand’s population and are expected to boost Antarctica’s population to 3.5 million by 2040.

Protectionist World. The 2012 Climate Agreement collapsed amid accusations of cheating and undeclared power stations. Globalisation fractured into protectionist blocs as countries launched go-it-alone strategies and fought violent wars over scarce resources. Soldiers fighting for nations and businesses are waging war over oil, gas and gold in the thawing north-west passage.

Violent factions exploit the chaos to launch devastating bio-chemical attacks. Cyber-terrorists operating from safe havens in failed states have already bankrupted two multinationals. Action to mitigate climate change is all but abandoned.

Challenging tomorrow's leaders on Sustainable Innovation

ulrikehaug — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:36:00 GMT

At the end of last week I attended the European Academy in Society (EABIS) Annual Colloquium at Cranfield University where HP and Ashridge Business School jointly launched the Ashridge Sustainable Innovation Award. The Award is an essay competition aimed at MBA and other postgraduate students across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and is organised by Ashridge in collaboration with EABIS and supported by us and WWF.

The aim of the competition is to find the best ideas from management and other post-graduate students about how organisations can innovate to create value from the shift to a low carbon economy. The theme builds nicely on the work that we've been doing with WWF in EMEA over the past year around how IT can assist the shift to a low carbon economy. We support this Award because we want to bring our work to the academic world by encouraging students to change their mindset from seeing climate change as a risk, to seeing it as a business opportunity.

During the coming months, WWF plans to visit 10 universities across the region to promote this Award. These visits can range from stand alone events to lectures and learning sessions that can be integrated directly into educational programmes. Dennis Pamlin, Global Policy Advisor, WWF will be the one to visit the universities and as you can read on his blog, he's already looking forward to it.

We're really excited about collaborating with our three partners on this project and are looking forward to receiving essays from students about different areas of innovation. We've also created a Facebook page where students can connect with each other and start a discussion. This page can only be as good as users will make it, so if you are interested in the topic of the Award, join us on Facebook and help us start the discussion. To find us on Facebook, search for “Ashridge Award”.

I'll keep you updated on further developments with this project on our blog. To find out more about eligibility, deadlines, the high profile jury and our thoughts on the award theme, visit www.ashridge.org.uk/SustainableInnovation.

Let me know what you think about this initiative and leave a comment below.

Ulrike Haug; CSR Communications; HP EMEA