Seven Reads to Keep Your CSR Game Current
Photo by Marek Levák on Unsplash.
This month, we’re trying something a little different. We asked Future 500 team members to share a recent report, assessment, or a news story that helped them keep their repertoire sharp. Here are a handful of reports and articles worth a quick look:
1. “The Smart Supermarket: How retailers can innovate beyond single-use plastics and packaging,” Greenpeace USA, November 2019.
This report offers concrete suggestions and real-world examples for how retailers can reduce single use packaging by taking readers through the aisles of a hypothetical store that has moved beyond single-use plastics and packaging.
Want to know more about Greenpeace USA’s work on plastics? We interviewed their Director of Oceans Campaigns, John Hocevar, about the surge of action on marine debris, and what they expect from companies.
2. “The Bridge to Circularity: Putting the ‘New Plastics Economy’ into Practice in the United States,” The Recycling Partnership, October 2019.
America’s recycling system is structurally broken, underfunded, and, as a result, fundamentally incapable of delivering a circular economy, this report concludes. Fixing the mess in the nation’s blue boxes will cost $500 million, the partnership says.
3. “A climate advocate walks into an oil industry summit,” Sarah Golden GreenBiz, October 10, 2019.
As the name suggests, a former campaigner spends two days making awkward small talk at the annual meeting of the Western States Petroleum Association, and shares her notes. Worlds collide, as they say.
4. “Secretive national oil companies hold our climate in their hands,” Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, October 10, 2019
A dozen or so state-owned oil, gas, and coal companies now produce the majority of the world’s fossil energy—overtaking public companies such as ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell. Twelve of the world’s 20 largest emitters are national oil companies, operating under a cloak of obscurity. They don’t report their emissions. In fact, most don’t report anything at all.
5. “How Multinationals Can Help Advance LGBT Inclusion Around the World,” David Glasgow and Karyn Twaronite, Harvard Business Review, August 15, 2019.
The NYU School of Law’s Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging team interviewed 30 individuals from Dow, EY, and Microsoft to understand how their companies ensured LGBT inclusion in countries such as Brazil, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Their Opening Up the World report outlines three broad approaches that multinationals might consider.
6. “Why the Fed, Long Reticent, Has Started to Talk About Climate Change,” Jeanna Smialek, The New York Times, November 8, 2019.
One of the Federal Reserve’s regional branches held the system’s first-ever climate research conference. “It is partly a sign that the central bank is ready to talk about a global economic agenda item, and partly a recognition that the risks are too important for the authorities to ignore... The event made it clear that the Fed is on the cusp of diving into climate-related research more intently.”
7. “Filthy Fashion Scorecard,” Stand.Earth, November 4, 2019.
The environmental organization investigated the companies that are members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition or that signed the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action or G7 Fashion Pact. Stand says these rag-tag commitments fall short, because most fashion companies continue to overlook Scope 3 supply chain emissions. Still, five companies float to the top of the list and are doing a decent job, the group says: Levi Strauss & Co., American Eagle Outfitters, Burberry, H&M, and Gap Inc.
For a peak behind the curtain at Stand.Earth’s theory of change, check out our Ask An Advocate Anything Q&A with one of their senior campaigners, Kendra Ulrich.
Did we miss an important recent report? Please let us know via our LinkedIn Page, and we’ll share it with the team!
Future 500 is a non-profit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Based in San Francisco, we specialize in stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and responsible communication. From stakeholder mapping to materiality assessments, partnership development to activist engagement, target setting to CSR reporting strategy, we empower our partners with the skills and relationships needed to systemically tackle today's most pressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
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