Business, NGOs, campaigns and partnerships: The road to engagement

Transcription

1 Business, NGOs, campaigns and partnerships: The road to engagement Toby Webb, Founder, Ethical Corporation. MSc Corporate Governance and Ethics class, Corporate Responsibility module, Birkbeck College, University of London, January ethicalcorp.blogspot.com / ethicalcorp.com

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3 Some background an industry cannot survive an ongoing conflict with society. Dialogue, adjustment and collaboration are not a luxury but a necessity (Aarnout Loudon, former president-director, AKZO Nobel, 1987) Stakeholder relations seen as a crucial element of CSR. Scholars (e.g. Freeman, Carroll, Epstein, Hartman and Stafford, Waddock et. Al.) assume CSR can only be fully developed in partnership whereby the exploration of new roles is a central element In 1900, 100 International NGOs. By 1998 more than 50,000 in existence

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5 Some background Key milestones: Rise of the UN post- WWII and UN conferences: 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio), 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg) Key events in 1990 s and 2000 s showed importance of dialogue and engagement (Brent Spar, Nigeria, sweatshop scandals, HIV/Aids pharmaceutical NGO campaigns in 2001 etc) Partial Source: Partnerships for Corporate Social Responsibility (de Bruin, Nijhof, Honders 1997)

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7 Some background Last thirty years: Increasing economic globalization in the form of both globally extended capital markets and extended outsourcing of production in global supply systems across the world (Midttun 2008) Global markets remain politically under-governed in a political sense CSR and business self-regulation have rapidly expanded, and become a megatrend Source: Midttun A (2008) Global governance and the interface with business: new institutions, processes and partnerships. Partnered governance: aligning corporate responsibility and public policy in the global economy. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE VOL. 8 NO , pp

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9 Some background Developing and emerging nations often fail to impose what they see as acceptable social and environmental standards on business. Laws may be similar to US and EU: enforcement much less used In a partnering role, governments may bring in complementary competencies and resources to tackle social and environmental issues outside their unilateral authoritative control in partnership with companies Source: Midttun A (2008) Global governance and the interface with business: new institutions, processes and partnerships. Partnered governance: aligning corporate responsibility and public policy in the global economy. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE VOL. 8 NO , pp

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11 Some background & examples NGOs set up Forest Stewardship Council (FSC: Certification of sustainable and ecologically-sound forestry) driven by the failure of an intergovernmental process to agree on a global forest compact. EU: A billion Euros a year of illegal timber (WWF 2010) 10% of US imports illegal! Est.1993 FSC developed set of principles and criteria for forest management that address legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, and environmental impacts 2008 US Lacey Act being enforced. EU rules from 2012, years on from FSC!(2010: 37 corporate members of WWF s Global Forest and Trade Network) Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), launched in 2002 in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. (Partial success) Ethical Trading Initiative, (UK 1998) NGOs, trade unions corporate members collaborating on good practice in code development and implementation, and then promoting/sharing better practices practice (Only partial success)

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13 How NGOs drove/drive engagement Greenpeace: Shell / BP / Electronics / McDonald s / Climate change (E.G. Soy campaign RE McDonald s. Greener Rankings RE Electronics) Rainforest Action Network: Equator Principles & Community rights Friends of the Earth: Boots Pollutes / Climate change / GM WWF: Shell / Coca-Cola / SAB Miller Global Witness: Extractive transparency Europe & US Transparency International: Corruption - Globally Clean Clothes Campaign: Textile workers in Europe Workers Rights Consortium: Textile workers in the USA Oxfam: Textiles, electronics

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15 Examples of Partnerships in Action Rainforest Alliance: Unilever/Kraft/Chiquita/Mars Fairtrade: Tate & Lyle/Cadbury (sugar & cocoa) Climate Group: HSBC (Research and policy) Marine Stewardship Council: Findus & Wal-Mart Forest Stewardship Council: TetraPak & IKEA Unilever: 100% certification target for Lipton Tea and PG Tips (RA)

16 Examples of Partnerships in Action Marks & Spencer targets for wood certification (Rainforest Alliance) Nestle and the Tropical Forest Trust (Palm Oil) UNEP & Shell (2010) Nigeria controversy UNDP and Statoil ( ) Plus MANY others (Business Action for Africa, UNDP reports) When it goes wrong: WWF and Asia Pulp & Paper / Greenpeace & Npower

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18 What makes a partnership work? Aligned objectives Clear boundaries An end in sight: How long does it run for? Grievance mechanisms Transparent reporting Agreed outcomes Collectively agreed progress indicators

19 Who is next for the NGOs? Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas campaign today Companies with high impact but outside the list of big brands: Fish, Leather, Soy, Commodities, Mining, Finance, Timber, Oil & Gas, Electronics, textiles, etc etc! Industry groups on commodities Big global trading firms: (Cargill, Glencore, Trafigura),

20 Challenges for the NGOs Donor apathy in difficult times Partnerships can and do come to an end Transparency: They do not report Trust: Companies are suspicious Shifting goals: Going where the money is Becoming co-oped by business for cash (WWF?) Annoying governments in dev. Countries (China) Measurement: Can they prove they have delivered? SCALE: Can they deliver more in commodities?