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| Sweeping Changes in Corporate Sustainability? Yes Check Out Sustainable Brands Top 10
While the venerable late night talk show host on CBS Network – David Letterman – is moving on this week, the “Top 10 List” feature he made popular on his program flourishes in many other venues. One that is worth your serious reading is the Sustainable Brands “News & Views” post — on the 10 critical corporate sustainability trends to watch in 2015 and beyond. The commentary by SB’s Dimitar Viahov focused our attention on such items as Trend #3 – “Transparency Campaigns Gaining Attention but Scrutinized Ever More Closely.” He sees brand champion corporates launching transparency-themed campaigns such as SeaWorld attempting to publicly fight back against serious charges that the company abuses its animal kingdom assets (like the Orcas, or “killer whales”). SeaWorld has been buying the dominant ad space in daily newspaper op-ed pages for what we think are well-presented messages presenting the company’s side of the argument. Or the McDonald’s example, holding forth on “public discussions on foods” as a new CEO takes charge amidst rising consumer concerns about the company’s fast food menu offerings. The key question we think about is: Where does the recognized brand leader take the key messaging when the societal forces seem to be on the other side of the company’s unique selling proposition? Then there’s Trend #8 : “Major Pivots in Favor of Shifting Product Portfolios with Sustainability-Driven Criteria in Mind.” More about customer concerns regarding a company’s product. In a sweeping strategic move, chemical industry leader BASF (Germany) evaluated more than 50,000 product applications in the portfolio (with a sales volume of 56 billion Euros). That resulted in 1,000-plus plans for changing or phasing out products, based on a careful review by 1,500 experts. Other examples are the U.S. drug chain CVS tossing out a significant revenue and profit generator –- eliminating sales of tobacco products in its drug stores. Or the Panera Bread food retailer looking to remove artificial flavors, colors and other ingredients from the menu in its chain of stores. The G&A Institute team sees a wide range of these types of “customer” and “society-friendly” strategies being implemented in a variety of industries, especially by brand leaders seeking to protect and extend the brand influence. Company C-suites “get it” when they carefully appraise the realities of the transparency of their operations, product manufacturing and marketing. In the past 10 years we’ve tracked a sweeping change in the way large companies do business and go to market in both consumer and industrial & business segments. Author Viahov is the Sustainable Brands director of content development. He writes for the SB blog and regularly leverages the numerics in various posts (“10 forces,” “10 firsts,” “Five reasons…”) The very credible Sustainable Brands organization will further explore the 10 trends and other trends over the coming months, beginning at its early June “Sustainable Brands ’15 San Diego” conference. Meantime, get started with the Top Story in our newsletter this week -– you’ll find a few that affect your company in today’s list. Top Story of the Week 10 Critical Corporate Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2015 and Beyond Special – Is Water the New Oil? From California, to Texas, to India, to Brazil, to the Caribbean and to Iraq, the scarcity of water, pollution threats and the dramatic impact on agriculture, hydro-electric power and everyday living is becoming more and more acute. The fight for water is pitting cities against agriculture, environmentalists against power companies and even countries against countries as the supply of water appears to be decreasing, while the control of use and distribution has increased. What has been occurring around the world as the lack of water is approaching crisis stage? Disappearing Lake Powell underlines drought crisis facing Colorado river Weather events taken to extremes by climate change Starbucks Is Moving Its Bottled Water Business Out Of Drought-Stricken California Beyond California: The Worst Droughts In American History House passes bill to stop EPA water rule Dry Heat Nine things I learned at the 2015 Global Water Summit World faces growing challenge of water security Western drought steals clean energy along with fresh water at power plants Water quality rapidly deteriorating in many countries, study shows Sustainability in Focus A new calculator aims to make business sustainability choices simpler Sustainability Drives Supply Chain Professionals to Learn New Finance and Accounting Concepts Changing mindsets key for sustainability, PBN panelists say: Slideshow A Reason to Be Optimistic: The New Generation of Sustainability Professionals “Deforestation-Free” is just one step towards greater sustainability The Power of Sustainability-First Design Finding the ROI in Sustainability Apple Makes Huge Commitment To Sustainability Why Campus Sustainability Works: An Open Letter to George Will ESG Issues & Players How to instill corporate America with the values of a family-owned business From Optional To Mandatory”>How Corporate Social Responsibility Is Moving From Optional To Mandatory A Sharp Spike in Honeybee Deaths Deepens a Worrisome Trend Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Wall Street Investment Firms Promote Socially Responsible Investing Total Assets Of Sovereign Wealth Funds Doubled Since 2008: Preqin Normally risk-averse US pension funds are starting to bet big on Africa
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Check It Out… G&A Institute Sustainability Update™Informative, insightful, thought provoking The Governance & Accountability Instituteblog focusing on the sustainable world evolving daily before our eyes. Read it, absorb it, question it and challenge.G&A’s Sustainability Update™ Insights & perspectives for your sustainable journey… Recent Posts Lawyers and Sustainability Disclosure/Reporting Helpful Advice & Guidelines to Win Your Case GRI Releases New Linkage Document for G4 / CDP WATER _______________________________ _______________________________ Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Reporting G&A Institute is the Global Reporting
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_______________________________ _______________________________ Corporate ESG Performance Factors are important to financial analysts, asset owners and managers, and many stakeholders. The ESG framework or approach considers environmental issues and impacts, the company’s positioning and actions on social/societal issues, and important aspects of corporate governance. ESG key performance indicators are considered by investors as proxies for effective governance and management. Increasing numbers of of independent research and financial analysis firms monitor and measure these and advisie investors. The Sustainability HQ™ platform is an important profiling and monitoring resource for the G&A team, and for our clients and subscribers. ESG market players and corporate reputation influencers are profiled and monitored by G&A Institute. In these Highlights we provide some results of our continuous global scanning for ESG, sustainability and corporate responsibility news. The Associated Profiles indicated are in our Sustainability HQ™ platforms. For more information, please email us at info@sustainabilityhq.com
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Sweeping Changes in Corporate Sustainability? Yes Check Out Sustainable Brands Top 10 (May 19, 2015)
May 20, 2015
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