CSR Today July 2014 full issue by Rajesh Tiwari

publisher’s note

CSR and the Fourth Estate

T Rajesh Tiwari Publisher rt@iccsr.org

CSR is all about helping society look beyond profits and hence the media (which is a guardian of public good) has a stellar role to play in this endeavor

he articles in the media till now have focused on how corporations need to embrace CSR as a business imperative. However, what has not found ample coverage in media is the role of media itself in championing the cause of CSR. Indeed, the media has a huge role to play in how CSR is presented to the world at large. It is simply not enough for corporations to do their bit for social causes, and stop there. They must move a step ahead and let the world know their deeds so that others are inspired to follow them. Of course, we are not referring to “advertising” CSR as it would then tantamount to corporates trumpeting their achievements like they would do when they launch new products. On the contrary, they must follow the example of ITC and Vedanta that have created brilliant ads that portray their values and showcase the excellent work that they have been doing. There are other companies like Shell that have come out with innovative ways to reach out to the masses with respect to their CSR initiatives. CSR is all about helping society look beyond profits and hence the media (which is a guardian of public good) has a stellar role to play in this endeavor. Yet another example of media supporting CSR is that of Infosys. There are very few articles that do not mention the respect and the adulation that Infosys commands from the Indian public at large. This has been made possible because of the

adroit media coverage. The way in which the social initiatives undertaken by Infosys have been covered in the media speaks volumes about how well the company has managed its media coverage. Apart from this, the media can also act as a conscience keeper by constantly reminding corporations about the need to give back to society and to look beyond profits. Internationally, The Guardian Newspaper has been at the forefront of demanding accountability and transparency from the corporations. In India, The Hindu does a good job of publishing articles and editorials that exhort the corporations to be socially conscious. Finally, the media can also take a critical view of the CSR programs that a corporation claims to run and it can ensure that the corporation is not indulging in “Green Washing” which is the case where a corporation pretends to follow CSR but in reality does not do so. Media should also consider providing space for carrying social ads in both print and electronic media at prominent places and in peak time of broadcasting so that the message is never lost and is seen by millions of people rather than just showing it in non prominent pages or in non prime time...just to fulfill the angle of social commitment! At ICCSR, we urge all in the media to give prominence to “good” as what is bad gets covered anyways. We urge the media to contribute their bit for the cause of people, planet and society.

July 2014 | CSR Today | 1

Contents

juLY

2014

| vol.

issue

Printer and Publisher: Rajesh Tiwari EDITORIAL Consulting Editor: Y Singh INDIAN CENTRE FOR CSR ADVISORY BOARD Pankaj Pachauri, Ted McFarland, Mag. Martin Neureiter, Chandir Gidwani, Lou Altman, Kingshuk Nag, Toby Webb, Anil Bajpai, Nikos Avlonas, Rajesh Tiwari, Satish Jha, Amit Chatterjee, Jitendra Bhargava, Namita Vikas, Dinesh N. Awasthi, Kapil Dev, Dr. Kamal Kant Dwivedi, Sanjiv Kaura, Suhel Seth PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION AND LOGISTICS Hardik C

08 cover story Lessons in Running a Responsible Business

Vijay Thadani, Founder & CEO, NIIT, is among the few entrepreneurs who accord equal importance to business and social responsibility. From a career spanning more than three decades, he distills five top lessons needed to run a successful CSR initiative.

csr society

13 Over 90% Delhiites Feel Climate Change is for Real: TERI Survey 16 Top 10 Workplace Charging Etiquette Tips

CASE STUDY

18 Meeting the Call for Sustainability

sustainability

20 LSE Partners with SSE to Promote Sustainability 22 LEED for Roads 24 Saving Uganda’s Forests 26 Sustainability Strategy and Renewable Energy Mix

28 Sustainable Cities Need Integrated Policymaking

HEAD OFFICE CSR Today Indian Centre for CSR, 601, 6th Floor, Technocity, Plot No. X4/5 A, TTC Industrial Area Mahape, Navi Mumbai- 400701 (India). Tel: +91 22 2778 8481 / 82 Fax: +91 22 2496 6803 Email: editor@csrtoday.net Website: www.iccsr.org REGIONAL OFFICES NEW DELHI Regional Director: V Chopra Sr. Vice President: Abhay Kumar Vice President: Bhanu Pratap Singh bangalore Priya MK PUNE Assistant Vice President: Neha Garg

sustainability capital 36 Pathways to Progress

MUMBAI Vice President: Chaitali Chatterjee Circulation: C.R. Tiwari

34 Amid US Oil Bounty, a Growing Debate Over Exports

To Advertise: Email: ak@iccsr.org Mobile: 09899780277

CSR capital 40 ‘Sustainability Premium’ for Investors

CSR LEADERSHIP

42 The CEO of Coca-Cola on Using the Company’s Scale for Good

REGULARS

01 Publisher’s note 03 CSR News 44 Book Review

advertisers’ index: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. Inside Front Cover | ONGC Back Cover

Printed, Published and Edited by Rajesh Tiwari on behalf of Indian Centre For Corporate Social Resposibility, Printed at Jayant Printery, 352/54, J.S.S. Road, Murlidhar Temple Compound, Near Thakurdwar Post Office, Mumbai 400 002 and Published from Indian Centre For Corporate Social Resposibility, 106/A, Nirman Kendra, Plot No.3, Dr. E. Morses Road, Mahalaxmi Estate, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai 400 011. Editor: Rajesh Tiwari Disclaimer The publisher, authors and contributors reserve their rights in regards to copyright of their work. No part of this work covered by the copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written consent. The publisher, contributors, editors and related parties are not responsible in any way for the actions or results taken by any person, organisation or any party on basis of reading information, stories or contributions in this publication, website or related product. Reasonable care is taken to ensure that CSR Today articles and other information on the web site are up-to-date and accurate as possible, as of the time of publication, but no responsibility can be taken by CSR Today for any errors or omissions contained herein.

CSR News Panasonic strengthens rural primary education, contributes solar lamps

uilding further on its endeavor to contribute to the society, Panasonic India under its Ecoskool project contributed solar lamps to 15 government primary and upper primary schools of Jhajjar with the aim of strengthening the rural primary education system in this area. As a part of a continued focus on community development initiatives, the company selected a total of 486 awardees who mainly included teachers, students and VEC members. With an aim of benefiting schools, this programme was primarily focused on reducing absenteeism and encouraging students to go to school regularly. Secondly, to aid children studying at home without kerosene light and motivate schools and VEC members in improving efficiency and effectiveness. Thirdly, providing an “alternate energy” source; playing a significant role in helping meet people’s energy needs. As a part of the selection process for the award winners, two students from each class were identified who had the highest attendance percentage in FY13-14. For teachers, those with low absentee rates were selected post an approval from the school administration. VEC members selection was basis those who attended most of the VEC meetings and contributed to the functioning of the school. Mr. Ram Rohilla- DEO of the Education department expressed “I would like to congratulate Panasonic for coming forward with this initiative as a part of the Ecoskool project. Such steps bring about a positive development and help in implementing effective governance and smooth functioning of schools resulting in benefiting various students seeking effective educational growth. We are extremely proud to be a part of this programme and thank Panasonic’s support in the same.” Mr. Mayank Shrivastava- DGM, Panasonic India also commented saying “The idea of contributing to the society has been a part of our DNA since the company’s inception. We view our corporate citizenship activities as an investment in the society and not mere profit distribution. This initiative by Panasonic will help in the overall upliftment of schools, thereby contributing to the evolution of society and to the happiness and wellbeing of people at Jhajjar. A similar event would be organized for the students of FY 14-15 batch next year and highest attendee students would be felicitated along-with Teachers and VEC members.” Panasonic India will continue to strengthen its efforts towards achieving sustainable development in the country through undertaking various activities across education, health and environment and help the disadvantaged sections live a better life. The company’s initiatives will make a difference in building the country’s future.

Adobe is World’s Greenest IT Company

dobe has been ranked the second greenest company in the United States, and third greenest in the world, according to Newsweek’s 2014 Green Rankings released this week. In the category of IT companies, Adobe tops the list both in the U.S. and globally. The Newsweek Green Rankings are based on data evaluations of the world’s 500 largest companies by market capitalization. The 2014 ranking methodology considers six key principles: transparency; objectivity; public data; comparability; engagement; and stakeholders. Companies are scored based on their performance on eight specific indicators. The rankings also take into account the existence of a sustainability board; the existence of third-party environmental metrics; and “sustainability pay link,” which attempts to tie the earnings of senior executives to the achievement of certain corporate environmental targets. More than 70% of all workspaces at Adobe are LEED certified. Since 2000, the company has implemented measures to reduce water consumption in its workspaces by 62%.In 2013 alone, 27% of energy at the San Jose headquarters was produced by on-site renewable electricity and 100% of waste was diverted from landfills. The company has cut electricity usage by 50% since 2002 which has helped it achieve carbon neutrality at its owned North American facilities this year. July 2014 | CSR Today | 3

CSR | NEWS

Steel, Retail, Cement Firms Better at CSR

T companies lag behind steel, retail and cement sectors in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending. Sourav Mukherji, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B), said: “Currently, non-IT companies are spending more than two per cent of net profits on CSR but IT firms spend just 0.3-1.5 per cent.” Speaking at the CSITM-Nasscom Workshop on CSR: Rules, Legal Implications and Opportunities, Mukherji said according to the study of several companies’ annual reports, it had been observed that the IT and communication sector recorded the lowest CSR spending because “they neither employ the underprivileged nor have a clear notification on CSR spends from the Government.” Strategic CSR According to the notified rules, CSR spends exclude ‘activities undertaken in pursuance of the normal course of business of the company’. Further, IT companies are mainly unaware of the tax treatment on CSR spends. Talking about CSR policy adopted by companies, Mukherji said: “A strategic CSR Model is where sourcing happens in the industry with no extra work done and this is where cement companies are striking the right chord. The same

cannot be adapted to the IT domain, so there is a need for these companies, which file net profit of say 5 crore or more, to constitute a committee with three or more directors.” Explaining the need for CSR committees, Abhishek Hunbad, Co-founder, NextGen, said: “The committees will set up mechanisms to monitor the activities and govern money flow, project flow and work flow, and look to deploy the CSR budget as a venture capitalist and not as philanthropist.” First, he urged companies to decide their areas of intervention (education/ healthcare/sanitation) and then work together with Nasscom-directed NGOs

to make a difference to society. “Incubation centres are also an intervention approved by the Government. NextGen was incubated at IIMB in 2009 and is now a multimillion dollar company,” he said. Mohan Reddy, Vice-Chairperson, Nasscom Executive Council, and FounderChairman and Managing Director, Cyient Ltd, presented an industry overview. He said: “With the intention to support communities and neighbourhoods, the Government reviewed the Companies Act and added the two per cent CSR clause. Now, there are about 8,000 companies with over $2 billion of CSR funds.” Listing out the social initiatives, Ganesh Natarajan, Chair, Nasscom Foundation, and Vice-Chairman and CEO, Zensar Technologies, said: “The National Digital Literacy Mission is our pet project and we invite corporate partners to set up digital literacy centres in villages; Nasscom will adopt an NGO to run these centres.” Digital literacy Defining technology as a path-breaker, Natarajan said Nasscom believes digital literacy can create an inclusive and sustainable India. He urged the heads of companies not to cut ‘fat cheques for NGOs’ but to work alongside Nasscom to create and engage employees in making the country a ‘digitally-empowered community’.

Ganga Clean-up Drive

midst growing focus on the Ganga clean-up drive, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on the Government to rope-in voluntary contributions of the stalwarts of the India Inc. and the leading Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), to clean rivers such as Ganga and Yamuna by rewarding them with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tax incentives. The proposed suggestion mooted by the Chamber for the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation can augment funds and all round support for the much publicised rivers cleaning plan of the government, 4 | CSR Today | July 2014

beginning with the holy river Ganga and Yamuna, said Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President, PHD Chamber. The voluntary contributions of Indian industry including other profit making agencies would keep soaring for rivers cleaning drive of the government of the day provided its linkages are further deepened with the CSR activities and the adoption of the pockets earmarked for them along the length and breadth of the rivers are permitted to be owned by these groups in terms of raising bill boards with their names inscribed on them for public consumption, feels the Chamber.

CSR | NEWS

Slum Redevelopment a CSR Activity

lum-redevelopment, road safety awareness and consumer protection services will be treated as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, according to clarifications issued by the ministry of corporate affairs in response to queries from stakeholders.

BJP’s election manifesto had promised to usher in a low-cost housing policy that would ensure every family in India a home by 2022. The ministry, in a circular, has clarified that slum-redevelopment or housing for economically weaker sections could be covered under the eligible CSR category of ‘measures taken for reducing inequalities

CSR Policy for Schools too

faced by socially and economically backward groups’. Activities relating to road safety promotion, which is a dire need in India, are also likely to get a major fillip as the ministry has clarified these would also be treated as eligible CSR activities. Promoting road safety awareness through print, audio and visual media would qualify as a CSR activity under the broad head of ‘promoting education’; providing trainers to drivers would fall under ‘promoting vocational skills’; and social projects like giving medical and legal aid, treatment to road accident victims would fall under the eligible category of ‘promoting health care’, explains the circular. Any project meant for development of rural India will be treated as a ‘rural development’ project and will be an eligible CSR activity. Likewise, supplementing government schemes like mid-day meals would also qualify as CSR for alleviation of poverty and malnutrition. Renewable energy projects would be eligible for promoting ‘environmental sustainability’.

fter higher education, the state government has now introduced a dedicated policy for the implementation of CSR activities associated with the school education and sports department. “The provision regarding CSR in the New Companies Act 2013 has brought within its ambit all the companies with at least Rs 5-crore net profit or Rs 1,000-crore turnover or Rs 500-crore network, making its mandatory for them to spend 2 per cent of the three years’ average net profit on CSR activities. This present a big opportunity for the department to seek CSR funding, further accentuating the need to have a fullfledged CSR policy,” reads the GR. As part of the policy, a state-level CSR committee, having secretary, school education and sports department, as its chairman, will be formed. It will have education commissioner and sports commissioner among the six members with deputy secretary (training) as member secretary.

IICA Signs MoU with Grant Thornton

he Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Grant Thornton India LLP have signed a memorandum of understanding. The objective of the MoU which was signed yesterday in Delhi is to develop capacity of the Indian companies for effective implementation of the CSR Rules laid down as per Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013. The MoU was signed by Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, DG&CEO, IICAand Mr. Vikesh Harish Mehta, Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP. Dr. Chatterjee pointed out that “With the notification of the rules the agenda has been set for knowledge and awareness building and to show the corporates what they can do for national development.” He added that “IICA creates directional sense and disseminates information. We need partners who share our vision and we are privileged & optimistic to have found GT because this has a kind of connect and synergy that will lead to value creation

all around”. Mr. Mehta said that “The legislation for CSR is a revolutionary concept. Tying up with IICA is a complementary partnership, which will create solid infrastructure for common clients.” He further said that “So far regulation had been compliance driven and the new law takes CSR beyond compliance.” Mr. Rajib Kumar Debnath, Executive Director, Sustainability, CSR and Energy Services, gave an overview of Grant Thornton’s orientation towards CSR projects. Others present at the MoU signing ceremony wereSwarnimaChouhan, Associate Vice President from Grant Thornton, and Mr. Atul Dev Sarmah, Head, Centre for Institutional Partnerships and Corporate Communications (IP&CC), Ms. GayatriSubramaniam, CPE, NGO Hub, National Foundation for CSR (NFCSR), Ms. Swagata Sen Pillai, Sr. Programme Executive, IP&CC, M. Mukesh Kumar, CPE, Data Centre, NFCSR, and Mr. Nikhil Pant, L&D, NFCSR from IICA. July 2014 | CSR Today | 5

CSR | NEWS

IIM-A asks Board to Contribute to CSR

news digest

n a first, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has asked members of its board of governors to contribute towards conserving buildings, following the new corporate social responsibility (CSR) norms. Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had amended the list of CSR provisions under section 135 of theCompanies Act, 2013, saying donations to IIM-A’s building conservation was CSR activity, among other steps. At a meeting of IIM-A’s board on Friday, Director Ashish Nanda requested board members to contribute and spread the word among peers for donations for the institute’s campus building and classroom restoration activities. Nanda said the ministry’s move was good news for the institute.

Corp Bank’s CSR Activities

He also shared with board members clarifications regarding CSR provisions under section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, released by the ministry vide a circular (general circular 21/2014) on June 18. “The institute had sought a clarification from the ministry and their response unequivocally confirms donations to IIM-A for the conservation and renovation work on which we are embarking will be covered under CSR provisions. I requested board members to use their good offices and contacts to encourage organisations to use funds earmarked for CSR spending towards this valuable activity, which preserves and maintains the heritage of extraordinary buildings of international importance,” Nanda said.

Tax Relief for CSR in Budget?

he finance ministry is seriously considering a proposal for allowing tax rebates to corporates on the mandatory expenditure they have to make on social welfare schemes as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). According to sources, while earlier the ministry opposed the idea, there appears to be some rethink on the subject and the tax concession may form part of the proposals to be announced in the Budget . The corporate affairs ministry is in favour of tax benefits for social welfare spending. The new Companies Act requires entities with sizeable business to shell out, at least, two per cent of their three- year average annual net profit towards CSR. Industry has also been seeking tax benefits on spending towards CSR which would also serve as incentive to carry out such work. However, the finance ministry was not in favour of giving tax benefits to businesses. In the new revised draft of Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill, the finance ministry, then headed by P. Chidambaram, had observed that allowing deduction for CSR expenditure would imply the government would be contributing one- third of this expenditure as revenue foregone. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha in the previous Lok Sabha, had in its report on the DTC Bill recommended tax benefit for CSR expenditure in backward regions and districts, but the finance ministry was not bound by its recommendations. 6 | CSR Today | July 2014

orporation Bank’s ‘ Corp Kiran’ – an association of wives of senior executives of the bank and women employees – extended financial and material support to ‘Mobility Training Centre for the Blind’ and ‘Swamy Shraddananda Sevashram’ in Mangalore on Thursday. Corp Kiran carries out activities related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the bank. A press statement by the bank said here on Friday that the association distributed woollen threads and other materials required for knitting to ‘Mobility Training Centre of the Blind’.

Wildlife Protection and CSR

rotection of wildlife, especially the tiger, should be part of the boardroom agenda, said Keshav Varma, Founder Director, Global Tiger Initiative (The World Bank) & Founder Member, Global Tiger Forum. He was speaking at a special interactive session with senior CII members in Kolkata. Varma is the founding Director of the Global Tiger Initiative for the World Bank, a partnership of 13 tiger range countries; and international Senior Advisor to The Global Snow Leopard Conservation Initiative launched by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, involving 12 range countries.

PSU CSR Rules

ublic sector companies will soon have to follow the social welfare spending norms as prescribed under the new companies law that will replace existing guidelines in this regard. At present, CSR spending by central PSUs is based on guidelines issued by the department of public enterprises. According to an official, DPE would be harmonising CSR norms for PSUs with that of provisions in the new Companies Act.

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cover story

Vijay Thadani Founder & CEO NIIT

8 | CSR Today | July 2014

cover | story

Lessons in

Running a Responsible Business

he year was 1984. Six people were seated around a table, brainstorming to come up with a set of values and beliefs for their company. In all probability, there was no such word as ‘business responsibility’ at that time, and certainly not an organized discipline of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it is today. Interestingly, however, the very first sentence written by the group was “We at NIIT believe that our growth is the derivative of the growth of each one of us.” Through this sentence, the group had inadvertently laid the foundation for a responsible business. By the end of the thinking session, the group had written down 272 words that formed the basis of what was to become their CSR policy.

The company was none other than NIIT, India’s education and training major. Among the six people was Vijay K Thadani, the founder of NIIT. Ranked among the country’s top thought leaders in the Information Technology space, Thadani’s passion for having a socially responsible corporate has persisted. In his more than three decades of valuable experience in IT and CSR, Thadani believes he has learnt five important lessons. These five lessons are in fact five pillars that can support the CSR initiatives of any corporate.

Imbibing CSR into the DNA

According to Thadani, business responsibility should be a part of a compa-

ny’s day-to-day activities. It should not be looked upon as an extra activity. “Why business responsibility? I sincerely hope it is not because of Company Law Board, it is not because of the business responsibility statement that SEBI wants us to give as companies. CSR is perhaps as old as business is. Different people have different ways of looking at what they got out of society and what they gave back to society,” says Thadani. “Business responsibility has to become a part of an organisation’s DNA. We learnt that CSR will function when we don’t have to say that we do business and we also have a CSR function. Everyone in business has to be performing CSR,” he says. Referring to the first sentence that was crafted by the team of six, including him, July 2014 | CSR Today | 9

cover | story

Training India

Science for school children NIIT Foundation (NF) has initiated activities identify and provide the necessary support

NIIT Foundation is doing commendable work in the field of inclusive development in the country

to smart children entering secondary educa-

stream higher education. The targeted area

tion (Class 8/13-14years) in terms of supplemental training so that they pursue main

n 2005, when NIIT Foundation (NF)

graduate to the same level of proficiency

is science education to improve scientific

geared up to reach out and ensure

as the urban student by providing focused

and analytical abilities of smart children.

inclusive development in India, it

and high-quality training. This change in

unambiguously endeavored to simulta-

students can happen in as short a period as

N Reach ( NGO Accrediation )

neously make the initiative scalable and

six months or upto a year, with the right mix

NIIT Foundation (NF) furthers its initiatives

sustainable by design. Keeping ‘Education

of technology, training, industry input and

by offering services to NGOs focusing on

and Training’ as the mainstay of its initia-

experienced faculty.

education and training underprivileged

tive, it explored the approach of various

youth. These initiatives include necessary pre-

NGOs, the corporate sector and the gov-

Career Development Center

assessments that serve as a tool to assess the

ernment towards social development. NIIT

The CDC program focuses on setting up

overall ability and qualification of the student.

Foundation has already placed more than

training centers in the urban slums of Delhi

1500 of its students in more than hundred

NCR with an aim to benefit its resident

organisations. The prominent organisa-

unemployed youth. A CDC provides voca-

Program for people with disablities

tions are Café Coffee Day, Barista, Pizza

tional training courses, with the objective

It is estimated that over 15 million Indians are

Hut, Big Bazaar, PVR Cinemas, Pantaloons,

of providing employment in the organized

hearing impaired and 80% of such individuals

BSES, Shoppers Stop, KFC, HUL, Net Ambit,

industry to this youth group.

do not receive any formal education. There

SMC Global, and many more. NIIT Founda-

are only 500 schools that cater to this popula-

tion has received positive responses for

DU-CII Project

tion; as a result, formal education continues

the internship programme as well as

Program DU-CII Project is an initiative to

to be a far-fetched dream for these youth.

placements. Some of its programs are

‘zap-the-gaps’ between ‘Education’ and

as below.

‘Employability’. It aims at developing pro-

Hole-in-the-wall

fessional programs for university students

HiWEL Playground Learning Stations (PLSs)

District Learning Center

to help them gain the necessary employ-

promote Minimally Invasive Education

The District Learning Center (DLC) at

ability skills. These certificate programs

methodology, which encourages children to

Chhindwara started on the hypothesis that

have been developed in collaboration with

self-organize and take responsibility for their

it is possible to bring a rural or semi-rural

industry experts.

own learning at their own pace

Thadani says, “When we amplify the word ‘us’, we necessarily don’t include only those at NIIT. We also include everybody around us as well. We realized our growth will depend on the growth of the system around us, whether it is our customers, students, civic society or government.” Underlining the need to weave CSR into a corporate’s fabric, he says, “Business responsibility also makes a lot of business sense. It is as simple as that. We have learnt, and hopefully in not some business seminar, that profit is a zero sum game. I would make profit only when you make a loss. 10 | CSR Today | July 2014

However, I feel this is not necessary. It is actually not true.” “You may be creating value for one part of your stakeholder, which may be your customer. But there are other stakeholders too, which include the suppliers, the government, the civic society, and the underpriviliged lot. If you are not creating value for all these, then your profit is not complete,” he avers. Giving an example of Stephan Covey’s popular book ‘Win-Win or No Deal,’ Thadani says, “if you don’t create a win-win situation with all the stakeholders in the

society, there is no way you will be able to create a sustainable business because it will come to a grinding halt some way or the other. Those of us who understand how to run business or who claim to know how to run business must know one simple thing – responsible business is good business. If you keep that in mind then many of the questions get answered.”

Inspiration Leads to Respiration

While formulating a CSR policy is one thing, implementing it on the ground is

cover | story a completely different ball game. The values and beliefs statements, likes the ones NIIT has come up with, adorn the reception of companies and their balance sheets. They are seldom adhered to. As one of his learnings, Thadani has found a way for walking the talk. “We decided that anyone we recruit would be made aware of these. So, we ensure that these rules are read out and explained to any new recruit. Because this is a rule book of NIIT, practicing this is very important. But even then, these sentences remain very abstract and people have to know how to convert these to real things. This is where the second important learning, of ‘inspiration brings respiration’ comes into play,” he says. “This means that you have a great thought but unless you create an inspiring goal around it, it does not come to life,” says Thadani. Giving an anecdote, he says, “In 1988-89, we would have regular town-hall gatherings. During one such gathering, somebody said, ‘we didn’t fight for India’s freedom but now we have the chance to fight for the country’s economic freedom, and for this economic freedom, IT is going to play a very important role’.” Since NIIT was already playing in the IT field (it was training people), finding a value proposition there was a challenge. The company then decided to proactively reach out to train the untrained. “There are some parts of society which we are unable to reach. We thought if we reach such people, they could become our customers while if we left them, they could become our adversaries. We worked on this philosophy,” says Thadani. “I remember one the World Computer Literacy Day, we decided to teach 10,000 people free of charge in a year. In its final version in 1995, we trained 100,000 people free of charge. Most of these were old people who wanted to learn so that they could stay connected with their grand children. There was therefore no economic agenda behind it. When I look back, IT did change the character of the country and that statement made sense,” he says confidently.

NIIT Foundation’s Vision, Mission & Values Vision • We will be global-path-breakers in employability training, gainfully employing at least 2 million under-served youth every year.

Mission & Values • Be Customer Centric– Students and Employers – be the preferred choice • Meet any and every commitment that we make – lead by example • Leverage Partnerships – be a platform for growth for all including staff • Each one to operate from Entrepreneurial mind-set – being innovative in everything we do • Each one to recognize risk-taking – celebrate people who stick their necks out - we know that path breakers are treading unknown paths • Actively build Alumni Network – it’s not about one time push but being a lifelong friend

Later NIIT changed the economic freedom story to the new goal, which it has now – ‘Reach a Billion, Teach a Billion.’ “We know that all the one billion people will not be able to pay us but there will be a few who will pay us and there will be several who will get the benefits,” says Thadani. Every morning NIIT trains 10 million school children across 11 states in the country. Drawing immense satisfaction from this initiative, Thadani recalls an incident that happened during his journey to Tirupati. “We were going to Tirupati to see God but we met him midway. We stopped on the way to have idlis where there was this young boy who asked us to settle the bill fast. The reason for his haste was that he had to go to attend his class seven kilometers. This was one of the schools in Tamil Nadu that were servicing. The feeling of satisfaction that swept me that day is hard to explain,” he says.

Passion + Perspiration = Performance

Another vital lesson that can make or mar any CSR initiative deals with 3Ps – passion, perspiration and performance. “The third lesson is that passion alone can’t create performance. Passion has to be supported with perspiration,” explains Thadani. “Passion plus perspiration equals great performance. Perspiration means that you

have to put your money where your mouth is. We decided to do just this.” “Every NIITian (there are 10,000 of us) gets four days of paid leave for community service. Since 60-70 percent of them are trainers, you can calculate that we are giving 1200 teachers to the country free of cost. These people go and create opportunities and this contributes to CSR,” he says.

To Manage it, Measure it

Underlining the need to create a mechanism that would enable tracking of CSR activities, Thadani believes this will help create a matrix of which initiative to focus on. “You need to measure it if you want to manage it. While it is good to feel good about anecdotal stories, you need to have a dashboard out there. We created a dashboard to monitor both paid students and non-paying students and then we created a matrix of which initiative will create the biggest value,” he says.

Do Away with Hidden Agenda

The fifth, and probably the most important lesson, Thadani shares is that of cautioning corporates from harboring a hidden agenda when it comes to CSR. “If you do this (CSR) with a hidden agenda, it will be a disaster. Don’t mix busiJuly 2014 | CSR Today | 11

cover | story

Social change does not come out of responsible business. Social change is a result of a smart and responsible business. By paying 2 percent CSR, businesses can’t expect 98 percent good. They have to be genuinely concerned about all the stakeholders”

ness with business responsibility. It is exactly for this reason that we set up NIIT Foundation. This is where we are supposed to do anything and everything related to CSR,” Thadani says. NIIT has certainly not chased CSR with any hidden motive. It picks up rag-pickers in New Delhi and trains them in whatever areas and when they start earning money, it tells them to fund someone else. The rained rag-pickers, in turn, express their gratitude by contributing something. “With this you can increase your coverage and benefit out of this. Education is not done to only to create more jobs but also to create more job creators. This is how the multiplier happens. Every action may not cause an impact, sustainable action does and synergestic action can create even more. Sporadic activities don’t cause any impact. We firmly believe that education and skill can create sustainable activity,” says Thadani. Working on the greatest need and the biggest challenge confronting the country, he says, “We discovered that India would run out of teachers in the times to come. We won’t run out of computers, 12 | CSR Today | July 2014

or anything else but we would run out of teachers.” “We thought can we think of a school that doesn’t have teachers and where children can teach each other? This thought led to the ‘Hole in the Wall’ project. This went on to become ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ movie. Danny Boyle went on to keep the awards but we had the satisfaction of creat-

NF’s Three-Pronged Approach • Technology: Leveraging Technology for improving Quality and reducing costs • Content Design & Development: Student centric interactive content aligned with Industry Education Process Management: Certified trainers; Centrally Automation; Central assessments and certification of students • Reach: Extensive network across the country

ing the concept. It changed the lives of all those children who didn’t have schools,” avers Thadani. He believes that the country is slipping on both – the business and social fronts – and something urgent needs to be done. “As India is trying to become an important part of the global economy, one parameter that people see is that of ease of doing business. India has been slipping on this index. There is one part of doing business, which includes doing business with the government. However, there is another part – that of doing business with the society where also we score very low,” he says. “So, India is slipping year-on-year on both accounts. While the former part has to be looked by the government, the latter has to do with the social system and there I feel running responsible businesses, creating social change around them is an important game.” “Social change does not come out of responsible business. Social change is a result of a smart and responsible business. By paying 2 percent CSR, businesses can’t expect 98 percent good. They have to be genuinely concerned about all the stakeholders,” adds Thadani.

CSR Society

Over 90% Delhiites Feel Climate Change is for Real: TERI Survey The comprehensive study, covering eight cities, gauges the perception, awareness, opinion and behaviour of people towards environment in India

Photo Courtesy: njitvector.com

he Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has released the findings of its Environmental Survey 2014, which was initiated to gauge the perception, awareness, opinion and behaviour of people towards environment in India. This year, the survey covered eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Jamshedpur, Kanpur and Pune. The focus of the survey was on the general environment, and in particular, water and waste related issues. In his video message on the occasion, Dr R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI, said: “This time, we have focused on cities which normally don’t get the kind of attention they deserve. If we want to bring about improvement in environmental quality, then the foundation on which any such effort would rest, would be on the awareness of the public. I hope through this survey we are able to bring about the level of awareness that really lays the foundation for action in the right direction. If we don’t, then we would all be taken over by urban blight.” July 2014 | CSR Today | 13

CSR | Society cent favored prioritizing environment over development. Air quality, however, was stated to have worsened by over 50 per cent of the respondents.

Water

Dr Prodipto Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, said: “TERI’s Environmental Survey 2014 of residents of eight major cities of the country provides usual insights into the attitude and perceptions regarding India’s environment. Urban respondents felt government and consumers played a positive role for improving the environment. The survey will be of immense value to policymakers in identifying areas where sound environment management policy can play a significant role, and where greater efforts of outreach and awareness building are necessary.” TERI is an independent, not-for-profit research institute focused on energy, environment, and sustainable development and devoted to efficient and sustainable use of natural resources. Since its inception in 1974, TERI has emerged as an institution of excellence for 14 | CSR Today | July 2014

its path-breaking research, and is a global brand widely respected by the political leaders, policy makers, corporate entities as well as the civil society at large.

The findings from Delhi Over 90 per cent of the respondents stated that climatic changes were occurring; 95 per cent felt that temperature was increasing and 64 per cent stated that rainfall was declining. The response on wind patterns were mixed with 39 per cent stating a decline and 36 per cent stating extreme patterns. A large percentage of respondents stated that they did not see any change or expressed their ignorance on the intensity and frequency of extreme events in the city. Only 15 per cent citizens viewed that there was no conflict between the objectives of environmental protections and development. Over 50 per

Waste Management As far as the pattern of household waste disposal is concerned, a large percentage of respondents (87 per cent) stated that garbage was being collected from their homes and the remaining 13 per cent took it to a central point. When asked about their opinion on the best strategy to manage waste in the city, 75 per cent of the respondents selected generating less waste and 14 per cent favored improving waste recycling capacity. However, only six per cent thought segregating of waste could help, whereas the remaining five per cent felt levying a user charge could be the best strategy to manage waste in the city. The survey suggest that 88 per cent of the respondents felt improper waste management had severe health impacts with another nine per cent stating the impact to

Photo Courtesy: wikimedia.org

Almost 95 per cent of the respondents felt that water was being wasted and only five per cent viewed otherwise. 70 per cent stated that the pattern of usage by the citizens caused wastage as people use more than what was actually required.

Almost 95 per cent of the respondents felt that water was being wasted and only five per cent viewed otherwise. Among reasons for wastage, 70 per cent stated that the pattern of usage by the citizens caused wastage as people use more than what was actually required. Leakages from the taps/ faucets at home were identified as a reason by 60 per cent of the respondents whereas leakages during distribution were cited as the cause of wastage by more than 50 per cent of the respondents. The respondents were asked questions about subsidy on water tariff, pricing and billing mechanism of water to assess their perceptions and views on such issues. Around 99 per cent of the respondents stated that they were aware of such a provision by the government. However, when asked whether they should pay the actual cost of water that reflected the scarcity value of water, 76 per cent of the respondents replied in negative. Only 17 per cent expressed their willingness to pay the actual cost of water and seven per cent did not have any opinion on this.

CSR | Society be moderate. The survey attempted to understand the willingness of the citizens to segregate their household waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories before disposing it. It was found that only 35 per cent of the respondents were willing segregate waste. The survey included questions on the behavioural responses towards recycling or reuse of waste. Paper, magazines and newspapers were the most commonly sold products as indicated by the respondents (95 per cent). Glass items, metallic items and cardboard including tetra packs were other major products usually sold/sent for recycling/reuse by their households as stated by 85 per cent, 82 per cent and 66 per cent of the respondents respectively. About 19 and 12 per cent of the respondents sold or sent electronic waste and broken furniture, respectively for recycling.

Air Pollution Interestingly, general awareness about the government policies on various aspects of environment was found to be fairly high in the city with a significant percentage of the respondents having some or other opinion on policies. However, the opinion on adequacy of the policies or their implementation was divided and varied across the sectors. On policies concerning air pollution, 40 per cent of the respondents felt that the policies were not implemented and 30 per cent stated that policies were well implemented, whereas 14 per cent found the policy inadequate.

Photo Courtesy: jgosolimpicos.blogspot.in

Environment and Development The responses varied across different socioeconomic categories. A higher percentage of respondents from middle income localities (41 per cent) when compared to high and low income localities (24 per cent and 26 per cent respectively) stated that development should be prioritized over environment. Only four per cent of respondents from middle income localities stated that environmental protection and development could go hand in hand, whereas 13 per cent and 21 per cent for the respondents

The survey suggest that 88 per cent of the respondents felt improper waste management had severe health impacts with another nine per cent stating the impact to be moderate. from low income and high income localities respectively has similar views. With regard to education, more than 57 per cent of the primary educated respondents reported that government should prioritize environment over development.

Health Almost 99 per cent of the respondents agreed that the quality of environment had an immediate impact on health. When asked about the environmental problem having the most visible impact on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health in city, 79 per cent of the respondents pointed towards air quality, 13 per cent stated water quality and remaining eight per cent selected waste.

Source of Information Television was the most important source of information for the surveyed citizens on environmental issues as stated by 76

per cent of the respondents followed by national newspapers (41 per cent) and regional newspapers (22 per cent). Internet and informal conversations were chosen by 18 per cent and 16 per cent respondents respectively as the most important sources of information on environmental issues. Only four per cent of the respondents indicated magazines as a source of information on environmental issues. The survey comprised a sample of 11,214 citizens spread across the selected urban agglomerates of India. The urban agglomeration of Delhi includes cities from its neighbouring states â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Noida and Ghaziabad from Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon and Faridabad from Haryana, and has a total population of 21.6 million. The estimated per-capita income in Delhi for the year 2012-13 at current prices is Rs 2.01 lakh, which is the highest in the country and is three times the national average. July 2014 | CSR Today | 15

CSR Society

Top 10 Workplace Charging Etiquette Tips

ccording to our EV infrastructure expert Britta Gross, EVs begin to sell themselves once people see how easy it is to plug in at home and work and realize the fuel savings. In an ongoing effort to promote a workplace culture that encourages employees to drive electric, we now have 16 | CSR Today | July 2014

401 electric vehicle charging stations free for employees and visitors, with more than 20 percent using solar energy. To help our employees get the most out of their charging experience, we developed a top 10 list of workplace charging etiquette tips. It’s worked well for us so far and we thought we’d share these best practices as other compa-

nies may be looking to develop similar tips. We gratefully acknowledge Brad Berman’s “Eight Rules of Electric Vehicle Charging Etiquette” as a model for our document.

Safety First

Practice safe charging. This means properly managing the cord during and

Photo Courtesy: bizmology.hoovers.com

GM has found that workplace charging is one of the most important things a company can do to raise awareness of electric vehicles and energize employees

CSR | Society after charging. During charging tuck the cord under your car so people will not trip on any excess length, or drive over it. After charging, neatly wind the cord on its holder and tuck in any excess length. Avoid overstretching the cord to help ensure it can be used for years to come and do not place the cord such that it comes in contact with the paint of another vehicle.

EV Spots are for EVs

It’s not acceptable for an internal combustion car to park in a charge spot designated for a plug-in car. That’s a firm rule, no matter how crowded a parking lot is, and no matter how infrequently the charging location is used. Contact security if such a situation occurs.

EV Drivers Must Adhere to Posted Signs

It is never acceptable for an electric vehicle to park in a designated handicapped parking space – even if the handicapped parking space is next to the charger.

Charge Only When Necessary

Don’t charge if you don’t need a charge. Leave the spot free for another EV driver who might need the charge to complete his or her daily travels without gasoline. GM is providing workplace charging to employees and campus visitors to promote the early growth of an EV market. To make the most of GM’s investment, please utilize your home as your primary charging location and use workplace charging as needed to augment your home charge.

First Come, First Served

Company vehicles and personal vehicles have the same right to access workplace chargers – there is no special treatment for either.

All Electric Vehicles are Created Equal

An owner of a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) does not have the right to unplug an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), such as a Chevy Volt, or a plug-in hybrid

electric vehicle (PHEV) just because that car has a back-up gas engine. Our goal is for every EV driver to maximize his/her daily electric commute.

It’s Okay to Ask for a Charge

If a charging spot you need is being used, and you are able to park next to the car that is currently charging, open your charge port door as a signal to the other EV driver to plug you in when he/she is finished charging.

Don’t Unplug Someone Else’s EV… Except When They Are Done Charging

Don’t unplug someone else’s EV, unless they have clearly finished charging (blinking green charge-indicator light on the dash). Take care when touching anyone else’s car, charge cord, etc – treat it like your own. And if you unplug a car that has finished charging, make sure to close the

cle is done charging.) It is never acceptable to park your vehicle in a designated charge spot for more than a day. These are charging spots, not parking spots. Contact security if such a situation occurs.

…Or Expect to be Cord-Swapped It is common EV courtesy to share chargers and/or outlet access with all EV drivers. If you charge in a popular area where there is high charger demand, then once your vehicle is fully charged you should expect to be unplugged by another EV driver who also wants a charge. If you anticipate being cord-swapped, consider disabling your charge cord theft alert (set vehicle’s display panel option to “off ”), so that the alarm doesn’t sound when your vehicle is unplugged.

Workplace Charging is a Privilege, not a Right

Remember, charging your vehicle in a company-provided charge-spot is a privi-

To make the most of GM’s investment, please utilize your home as your primary charging location and use workplace charging as needed to augment your home charge. charge door so it is not mistaken for a car waiting to be charged.

Charge Up and Move On…

Whenever possible, only occupy a charging spot while your car is being charged. As soon as the charging session is completed – either when your battery is full or when you have adequate range to comfortably reach your destination – be prepared to unplug and move your car, making way for a fellow plug-in driver. (You can use your OnStar Remote Link App to set a “Charge Complete Reminder” that will send either a text or email when your vehi-

lege. You are an ambassador of an important and growing market for plug-in electric vehicles. It is an important strategy for our company. We appreciate your engagement. Thank You! GM is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge, which seeks to persuade America’s employers to commit to provide electric vehicle charging access to employees through partnership, advocacy and promotion. Source: http://fastlane.gm.com/2014/06/03/top10-workplace-charging-etiquette-tips/ July 2014 | CSR Today | 17

case study AT&T

Meeting the Call for

Sustainability Taking a progressive approach to optimizing energy use has served AT&T Services San Diego well, saving 2,187,012 kWh annually and garnering $258,168 in SDG&E incentives.

Energy programs with great payback AT&T has a corporate mandate that all sustainability projects pay for themselves within two years. By working closely with SDG&E nd taking advantage of SDG&E Energy Efficiency Business Re18 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: durbanchamber.com

ustainability is a priority for AT&T nationwide, and equally for AT&T Services San Diego, proven out over thousands of energy conservation projects. Notes Tim Twomey, Regional Energy Manager for AT&T Services San Diego, “Our work in energy effi ciency and renewables has not only reduced our energy use. It has also helped us improve the reliability of our services.” This is no small task, considering that many of the company’s local buildings are 80-100 years old. Twomey explains, “We’re going after the whole system, which means optimizing use everywhere we can and only implementing alternative energy sources once we’ve made sure we’re as energy efficient as possible.” For more than 100 years, AT&T has been serving the greater San Diego area with the most advanced communications technologies available. To this end, AT&T invested nearly $750 million in it wireless and wireline networks in the area from 2010-2012. AT&T Services San Diego is the local operations group that manages the company’s more than 100 buildings in the region with a commitment to increasing efficiency, maximizing energy savings, and reducing its footprint on the grid.

Case Study | AT&T bates (EEBR) and Energy Efficiency Business Incentives (EEBI), AT&T Services San Diego has been able to achieve its two-year target. “With a good, responsive utility like SDG&E, I can use their resources to help me leverage my time and ability to get projects funded,” acknowledges Twomey. In fact, AT&T Services San Diego’s strong relationship with SDG&E was key to the implementation of a variety of energyeffi ciency initiatives across the company’s 100 local buildings. An LED lighting retrofi t was conducted at five of the company’s major sites, including the two largest, Trade Street and Pacific Center Drive. This effort involved replacing more than 100,000 fixtures and implementing nodal network controls. Additional work at the Pacific Center Drive location involved replacing older air-cooled chillers and upgrading heat pumps and package units.

Upgrading for reliability and reduction At AT&T Services San Diego, a great deal of alternating current (AC) power must be converted to direct current (DC) power. This task is performed by rectifi ers, but much of the equipment AT&T San Diego Services used for this was decades old. The company was able to replace these rectifi ers with new more effi cient units which saved 5-15%.

Alternatives for further conservation AT&T Services San Diego has implemented several alternative energy solutions, including fi ve 200kW Bloom Energy fuel cells powered by natural gas at its Trade Street facility. The fuel cells offer twice the effi ciency of a typical power plant and have been positioned close to the data center to enable a lifetime lower heating value (LHV) electrical efficiency of 56%. Based on this success, AT&T Services San Diego plans to install two more fuel cells during 2014 in the San Diego region, bringing total capacity up to 2.4 MW. Retrocommissioning is currently underway at the site to optimize efficiency prior to installation. These efforts include implementation of variable frequency drives, outside air economizers, and controls. To harness the sun’s energy, the company has also installed a 250kW photovoltaic array. According to John Keller, Senior

Photo Courtesy: goinfopipe.com

Highlights • LED lighting retrofits • Chiller, heat pump & package unit upgrades • Rectifier retrofitting • Five 200kW natural gas fuel cells • Retrocommissioning efforts • 250kW photovoltaic installation

Annual Savings: 2,187,012 kWh SDG&E Incentives: $258,168

“These photovoltaics have generated more than 1.7 million kWh of energy which we have used to offset demand.” The company is also exploring solar for its cell sites. Energy Manager for AT&T, “These photovoltaics have generated more than 1.7 million kWh of energy which we have used to offset demand.” The company is also exploring solar for its cell sites. Taking a progressive approach to optimizing energy use has served AT&T Services San Diego well, saving 2,187,012 kWh annually and garnering $258,168 in SDG&E incentives. SDG&E Senior Account Executive Alex Ter-Vrugt sums it up, “AT&T is truly a leader in the cellular services industry in terms of working towards greater sustainability and better corporate citizenship.” AT&T simply sees it as a smart business strategy. Twomey adds, “The ability to decrease our dependence on the grid and not be affected by brown-outs is big. That improves the reliability of our service, which is a win for us and for our customers. S ource: https://w w w.sdge.com/sites/default/files/documents/1402923160/2014%20ES%20Case%20Study%20AT&T%20San%20 Diego%20FNL050714.pdf?nid=10826 July 2014 | CSR Today | 19

Sustainability

LSE Partners with SSE to Promote Sustainability The announcement comes as momentum builds among investors and stock exchanges to promote corporate sustainability disclosure that is consistent and comparable across markets.

20 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: blog.sigmamarketing.com

he London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group has announced that it will partner with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, joining nine other exchanges in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia to promote sustainable business practices among publicly listed companies worldwide. In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the LSE Group committed to working with investors, companies and regulators to promote long term sustainable investment and improved environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) disclosure and performance among companies listed on its exchanges. “London Stock Exchange Group’s approach to corporate responsibility is founded on four pillars that are closely tied with how we operate as a business: our markets, our services, our people, and our community,” said Mark Makepeace, Group Director of Information Services, LSE Group. “Given our role at the heart of global financial markets, we are in a unique and privileged posi-

Sustainability tion to promote sustainability and corporate responsibility. Ultimately this is about supporting stable global long-term economic growth. We are therefore delighted to join the UN SSE initiative as a Partner Exchange and look forward to collaborating on important sustainability themes with the UN and peer exchanges around the world.” The announcement was made as UN officials participated in the market opening at the LSE today, where they welcomed LSE Group to the SSE. “By joining the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative today, the London Stock Exchange commits to a renewed effort to engage in dialogue with key capital market stakeholders to raise the level of best practice,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi. “Together, we can promote markets where market signals and sustainability priorities are in alignment, not conflict. This is part of our vision for a sustainable future. This will be a key element for promoting much-needed investment in sustainable development.” UNCTAD is recognized as a global centre of excellence on issues related to investment and enterprise for sustainable development. Built on several decades of successful experience, its staff provide international expertise in research and policy analysis, inter-governmental consensus-building, and technical assistance to over 150 countries. “Stock exchanges have a crucial role to play in enhancing both the quality and quantity of environmental, social and corporate governance reporting by companies listed on their exchanges, and we are pleased to welcome the London Stock Exchange to the UN SSE initiative,” said Fiona Reynolds, Managing Director, Principles for Responsible Investment. “Only 3 percent of the world’s largest companies currently disclose information about their ESG performance. Better disclosure will improve the usefulness and comparability of information being reported in each market, enabling institutional investors to better manage risk and make more informed investment decisions.” The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (PRI) is a network of international investors

working together to put the six Principles for Responsible Investment into practice. The Principles were devised by the investment community. “By looking at the materiality of sustainability and valuing environmental, social and governance factors, mainstream investors are increasingly becoming key leverage points and are driving companies to act,” said Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director. “The Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative is delivering the message that stock exchanges are a critical player in bringing investors, companies, regulators and other key stakeholders together to help make corporate sustainability a transformative force in achieving a shared, secure and sustainable future.”

Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva Investors. “As long term investors, we are concerned with valuing companies accurately. We believe that business performance on non-financial environmental, social and corporate governance issues are often material to company valuation. However, it is frequently difficult to gain access to this information. Today’s announcement should help the London Stock Exchange maintain its top quartile performance in this fast moving area.” Nine other exchanges have joined the UN SSE since it was launched in 2009: NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ OMX, Borsa Istanbul, BM&FBBovespa (Brazil), the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Egyptian Exchange, the Johannesburg Exchange, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The Initiative is co-organized by UNC-

UNCTAD is recognized as a global centre of excellence on issues related to investment and enterprise for sustainable development “As the old adage goes, you get what you measure. The disclosure of relevant ESG information and transparency over sustainability strategies, risks and opportunities is crucial for companies to manage environmental and social risks and for investors to be able to assess these factors,” said Charles Anderson, Director of the UNEP Finance Initiative. “The London Stock Exchange is committing today to working with companies, investors and regulators to design more transparent and sustainable capital markets. We believe their engagement will enable asset owners and asset managers to use their influence to direct capital and send positive market signals to those companies that exhibit best sustainability practices.” “We warmly welcome the participation of the London Stock Exchange in the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative, which continues to go from strengthto-strength,” said Steve Waygood, Chief

TAD, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The proposal and recommendations will be reviewed by the WFE’s newly formed Sustainability Working Group and presented at the WFE Annual Meeting in Korea later this year. Members of the UN SSE initiative will meet in Geneva on 14 October for their biennial Global Dialogue: five party talks between exchanges, investors, companies, regulators and policy makers. The Global Dialogue takes place as part of UNCTAD’s 4th World Investment Forum, which will be opened by UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon. Source: http://www.unpri.org/press/london-stockexchange-partners-with-united-nations-sustainable-stock-exchanges-initiative/ July 2014 | CSR Today | 21

Sustainability

LEED for Roads Since connectivity drives GDP, how we prep our infrastructure for the future is an important consideration by anna clark

naking 1.7 miles through the mountains of west Denver, the Eisenhower Tunnel, at 11,158 feet above sea level, represents the highest point of the U.S. Interstate Highway system. But nearly 60 years since President Eisenhower initiated the greatest public works project in history, the 47,000-mile stretch of roads has its share of potholes. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, America’s infrastructure earned a D+ on its 2013 report card. Estimates for modernization of transportation, energy, and water infrastructure run as high as $3.6 trillion needed by 2020. Such an investment demands a sustainable approach as climate change, the urban heat-island effect and a growing population add stress to the system. In response, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design jointly have launched Envision, a holistic framework for evaluating and rating the community, environmental and economic benefits of all types and sizes of infrastructure projects.

22 | CSR Today | July 2014

“Roads are the connective tissue of commerce and make economic growth possible,” said Bill Bertera, president and CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. “Since connectivity drives GDP, how we prep our infrastructure for the future is an important consideration, especially for the business community.”

How it works Introduced in 2012, the Envision rating system helps decision makers see best practices in civil engineering from a systems-based perspective. It ensures that civil engineers and planners do not inadvertently miss opportunities to make a project more sustainable. “Think LEED for infrastructure,” said Bertera. “The USGBC focuses on the vertical infrastructure and we focus on horizontal infrastructure. Between the two organizations, we can offer a community a complete palette for making itself more sustainable.” Envision is a fairly complex piece of software that takes time and knowledge to use properly. But the checklist is “very easy to use,”

said Bertera, adding that the the tool can be used at any stage in a project. Structured as a series of yes/no questions, Envision’s checklist and rating system are organized into five categories – quality of life, leadership, resource allocation, natural world and climate and risk. Altogether, it contains 60 sustainability criteria, called credits. As with LEED certification, Envision helps projects achieve different levels of designation from a third-party evaluator. “Even though some projects may never get to award level, our tools are freely available for engineers, planners, and anyone else interested in making a project more sustainable,” said Bertera. Presently, about 300 infrastructure projects are using Envision as a tool, and about 30 of these will go through a verification process. So far, three projects have earned Envision awards, and two more will be announced this summer. Projects that have benefited from the framework in some way span the country from the California Department of Water Resources to the Cape

Sustainability Cod Planning Authority, including jurisdictions in between such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Building a case for sustainable development Dallas-based civil engineer Mikel Wilkins first used Envision with a pipeline project in 2009. Among about 40 Envision verifiers in the U.S., Wilkins and his engineering partner Kevin Shepherd are the only certified verifiers in Texas. Their firm Verdunity is a charter member of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. They have been driving Envision forward in Texas through projects such as Panther Island, a master planned urban waterfront community north of downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The 320-acre redevelopment area is part of the larger Trinity River Vision project that provides for environmental cleanup, flood protection and infrastructure improvements for neighborhoods adjacent to the West Fork of the Trinity River. “The credits helped us define more targets,” said Wilkins. “The first plan had no green infrastructure, but by going through the process we found a better implementation plan for green infrastructure. “Traditionally with infrastructure, you have those interested in water, roadways, and so on. But this is not the case with a true collaborative effort. By going through Envision, we identified opportunities to add more to it, including axes where they were not seeing the total picture. It forces you to think outside your own area.” But Wilkins also added that balancing the cost of making a project more sustainable can also be “a problematic equation.” “One of the challenges is that projects are financed based on costs and don’t take into account what added investment might be derived over the 30 years,” said Wilkins. “The next logical step was to evaluate the economics of it.” To build out the economic case, Verdunity used the Business Case Evaluator, developed by Impact Infrastructure to measure the cost of a project over the project lifecycle, gauge its potential benefits and make the information available at the point of procurement. The results helped Verundity communicate the benefits to owners, council

people and leaders at the city management level. “Creating healthy communities and resilient infrastructure systems requires collaboration across traditional boundaries and evaluation of the fiscal costs and benefits of projects over the full life cycle,” said Wilkins. “Envision is the only truly holistic system that works in any given type of infrastructure project, whether it is a small project or on a grand scale.”

Envisioning a greener supply chain Envision was created to improve benefits of sustainability projects. But “without intending it, other applications are developing,” said Bertera. “These can range from public financing to product development.”

said Pedersen. The interdisciplinary interactions that spur energy-saving ideas among engineers on building projects also benefit designers, product developers and suppliers.

Fostering buy-in for a sustainable future “Sustainability is a way of thinking that colors all of our decisions association with infrastructure,” said Bertera. “But this tool is not proscriptive. If you’re a decision maker, it simply puts more information on the table. Our assumption is that more information is a good thing.” Bertera is optimistic that others will think so, too. “This tool was invented by engineers, but it could also be called a ‘good government’ tool,” he observed. “Envision gives

Public infrastructure investment is presently hovering around 2.6 percent of GDP – half what it was 50 years ago. Tom Pedersen, senior vice-president and director of sustainability for engineering and construction firm CDM Smith, offered an example concerning light pollution. “Light pollution happens when the security lighting that emanates from a facility creates ‘noise,’ which can cause difficulty and discomfort in communities,” explained Pedersen. Looking for ways to conserve energy, the project team saw the potential to reduce energy consumption and light pollution at the same time. “As we discussed how the project team was concerned about light pollution, we realized that security lighting was not needed because infrared cameras were being used instead,” said Pedersen. By installing more infrared security cameras, the engineers were able to increase efficiency while shrinking the environmental footprint of the property. “Envision walks you through these credits to allow project teams to consider aspects they haven’t already thought about, such as opportunities to reduce excessive lighting,”

leaders the means to describe infrastructure improvements in ways that voters can understand.” Public infrastructure investment is presently hovering around 2.6 percent of GDP – half what it was 50 years ago. To move the needle, voters and leaders need to understand the value of investing in infrastructure and how their investment can be held to high standards of excellence and resilience, which is what sustainability ultimately means. “Doing more with less no longer works,” explained Bertera. “There are externalities that make that anachronistic. They have to do with the obvious realization that this planet is changing. The government that helps the private sector do its work is one that takes responsibility for providing the infrastructure needed.” Source: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/06/26/ envision-greener-infrastructure-momentum?mkt_to k=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoisqXJZKXonjHpfsX57%2BouT %2Frn28M3109ad%2BrmPBy73YIIWp8na%2BqWCgs eOrQ8kl0JV86%2FRc0RrKA%3D July 2014 | CSR Today | 23

sustainability

Saving Uganda’s Forests With Eco-Fuel Africa, Sanga Moses is building local enterprise that has deep impacts by andrea stone

You quit a job as an accountant at a major bank in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to found Eco-Fuel Africa. Tell me how that came about.

One day in 2009, I made a journey home [to my village in western Uganda] to visit my mother and I met my kid sister carrying wood when I knew she was supposed to be 24 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: ugandatouristguide.com

ocial entrepreneur Sanga Moses wants to save the forests of his native Uganda while improving the lives of its young girls at the same time. A member of National Geographic’s newest class of Emerging Explorers, and also a grantee of its Great Energy Challenge initiative, Moses founded Eco-Fuel Africa, a company that sells kilns and machines that turn food waste into briquettes of clean, inexpensive cooking fuel. By eliminating hours spent gathering wood, the green charcoal allows girls to stay in school and gives women a money-making venture that can help lift their families out of poverty.

sustainability in school. When she saw me she started crying. I asked her why she was crying and she said, ‘I’m tired of missing school and walking ten kilometers to gather wood.’ That affected me because I am a strong believer in education. Education has changed my life. Seeing my sister on the verge of losing the only chance she had to improve her life hurt me so much. That changed everything and that is how this journey started.

ers who earn about $152 a month. That is a lower middle class income and is more than what the government pays a primary school teacher. Users can save about $200 a year by using our fuel. Then we have farmers who supply us with the char and on average earn about $30 a month. What are the benefits for women and girls?

Girls don’t have to skip school to find wood. Parents, because they have some disposable income either through savings [on fuel] or through sales as retailers or farmers, can buy books for their children,

What is she doing today?

That’s a sad story. It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do and, at that time, she was 12 years old. Unfortunately, they married her off. I wasn’t able to save her. But there are millions of girls around the African continent that are going through this. Tell me about the link between subSaharan Africa’s dependence on wood fuel and deforestation. How does your work address that?

Deforestation is a huge problem. My country, Uganda, has already lost 75 percent of its forests. As a continent, Africa is losing its forest at a rate that is twice the world average. The problem is that [the population is] increasing very fast. Sub-Saharan Africa has a very high fertility rate. To put that in perspective: Uganda now has 35 million people. The population has more than doubled in the last 20 years. That means the demand for fuel is increasing, the trees are disappearing, and no one is replanting these trees. So if we can help people find an alternative source of fuel, that will slow down the rate of deforestation.

Photo Courtesy: ugandatouristguide.com

Your idea was to produce kilns that turn food waste into fuel.

When I got the idea to study this, I went to a university professor in my country and he took me to his engineering class and asked his students to help me. I worked with ten of his students to develop the initial technology for the kiln and briquetting machines. How do they work?

The kilns are used to carbonize the farm waste. Things like coffee husks, sugar cane

Uganda, has already lost 75 percent of its forests. As a continent, Africa is losing its forest at a rate that is twice the world average waste, rice waste. You put them in the kiln, start a fire and they get carbonized. You get a powder called char. It is sold to us [by farmers who run the kilns] and then we compress that into fuel briquettes, package them and take them to the market. Slightly over 114,000 people have used them since 2011. Has it been difficult to convince people to stop using wood for fuel and use your briquettes instead?

It has been easy for us because our fuel is cheaper. These are communities that are struggling to afford charcoal. Already the price of charcoal is very high. People spend 40 percent of their income on just charcoal. Our selling point is mainly the cost. Our cost is very low. We don’t do any marketing. It’s mainly word of mouth. Whoever tries it, doesn’t stop. Right now our biggest problem is the demand exceeds the supply.

can pay school fees, [and can buy] uniforms, sanitary pads. Where do your revenues go?

It’s a social enterprise, so it’s something between a nonprofit and a company. Most of our money is reinvested back in the business to keep growing. We have some corporate social responsibility programs and one of them is replanting trees. We don’t plant them directly because we want kids to grow up appreciating the importance of forests. We normally work with schools to have these kids go to depleted areas to replant trees and we tell them why it is important to replant forests. This interview has been edited and condensed. This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

What have been the economic benefits of using briquettes?

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

We have a network of 460 women retail-

fuel-africa-saving-uganda-forests/

news/energy/2014/06/140621-sanga-moses-eco-

July 2014 | CSR Today | 25

Sustainability

Sustainability Strategy and Renewable Energy Mix The IO Performance Spotlight focuses on UNS’s approach to build a business aligned and integrated sustainability strategy by erik bakken, jeff yockey, and carmine tilghman as told to steve rochlin

he IO Performance Spotlight focuses on how companies meet sustainability challenges through their day-to-day operations. This spotlight focuses on UNS Energy Corporation (and it’s major subsidiary, Tucson Electric Power, “TEP”), which provides power to more than 402,000 customers in southern Arizona and natural gas and electric service to about 237,000 customers in 30 communities across Arizona. IO spoke to several senior managers at UNS about their approach to build a business aligned and integrated sustainability strategy. As part of this IO asked UNS – a major provider of solar power – for its perspective on bringing renewable energy generation and distribution to scale. We’ve started on the journey to build a business aligned and integrated sustainability strategy. The main driver for it has been our focus on creating a new business-wide strategic plan. The company is in organic growth mode. Creating a sustainability strategy wasn’t an edict from the top. We

26 | CSR Today | July 2014

think sustainability has been part of how we’ve conducted business for many years. So for us it’s been about brining it into the light, putting it together and branding it for UNS and the community. We’ve focused on aligning our approach to the UNS Strategic Plan. This means: 1) looking for operational efficiency and cost savings; 2) looking forward and identifying business and societal risks from environmental and social factors, and; 3) an increased focus on the customer and addressing what’s important to our customers. Some of our biggest customers like mining companies, retailers, tech companies, defense contractors and government institutions are advancing sustainability programs and want support related to their energy use and emissions. That said, they also want partners that care and express the same kind of values they do. This is a journey that presents a core challenge. We’re a rate-regulated utility in a financially constrained environment. Sustainability initiatives won’t generally pro-

vide the kind of market advantage it might to another industry that operates in an open market. So whatever we do has to fit UNS. If we can use sustainability to address one or all of the three strategic areas we mentioned, then that will build the knowledge that sustainability can be a real business tool for us. Our CEO gets it. He’s observed how companies can build a portfolio of great programs that end up isolated. He felt that a key step was to establish a definition of sustainability that executives, managers, and employees could first understand and then buy into. People don’t have trouble understanding definitions of sustainability. They have trouble applying those definitions to the work they do. It often seems abstract. So we set to build a definition that fit our culture, connected to our values and strategy and to the kind of language we use. For UNS Energy: Our guiding principal is to conduct our business in a way that Maximizes Value to Customers, Community, Employees, Environment, and Investors over the short and long term.

Sustainability Our goal is to act responsibly, balancing competing stakeholder interests, and to be recognized for those actions. We started our sustainability planning process by doing a brainstorming exercise of a wide range of sustainability metrics that we should track. We then compared to a benchmark of industry leaders and those of similar size. At the same time we engaged a crossfunctional working group and had strategy sessions. The message was: sustainability isn’t owned by a team, it’s everyone’s job. If that’s the case, then how do we first understand what our stakeholders expect, then look to what our business needs, and then connect the dots for a balanced approach that everyone shares in delivering. The conversation really opened eyes. This allowed colleagues to engage with our proposed metrics and our definition from a place of both understanding and interest. We had some colleagues who we might have guessed would be resistant who actually flipped and said we weren’t going far enough in some areas! A key area that we recognized as material for us and for anyone in the industry is our energy mix and our emissions, including CO2. We have an interesting history. When this region really started to develop after World War II people needed affordable and reliable energy and they needed it fast. Coal, which is abundant in this region, was the answer. At the same time, you look at our territory and we’re a natural place to develop renewable generation and take advantage of energy efficiency efforts. So while we utilize coal, about 20% of our energy will come from solar and energy efficiency as a resource in the near future. Pound-for-pound, we’re one of the biggest providers of renewable energy in the country. It’s important to understand that solar and other renewables aren’t cost competitive from an overall energy delivery perspective, based on the technologies available today. And most utilities will tell you that customers are simply not willing to compromise on price. So what drives us or any company is the way government gets

involved. For us there was a mandate to expand renewable use. There was no costrecovery at first. So the challenge for us was whether it was a better decision to own or source it from others through Power Purchase Agreements. We made the choice to own and spent considerable financial capital on it. We think our customer benefits more if we own the generation and distribution. It was the right bet because the price to generate solar decreased and then the rate our regulatory commission provided allowed for some cost recovery. It’s been a good business decision. Our investments in solar are not driven solely by compliance. We are considerably ahead of compliance. It’s driven by good business and our values. But let’s be clear

coming from renewables. The way for the lay person to think about it is that renewable energy generation doesn’t have the ability to engage with the systems that have been developed to allow for safety, fail-safe features, managing peak-loads, and keeping things going across any range of potential interruptions. This isn’t something any one utility can address alone. The regulators and the public need to be educated about the constraints our grid poses and what it takes to bring renewables on line at scale. For our overall sustainability strategy going forward we’d like to see it become a program that is part of what staff think about when they make business decisions. We’d like it to be part of the risk management process for the business and to use sustain-

A key area that we recognized is our energy mix and our emissions, including CO2 – what makes this good business is the federal renewable energy subsidy. The business case doesn’t work without it. To what length these subsidies stick around relative to the actual cost of production determines whether or not companies like ours will be able to continue to invest in renewables. In solar you’ve really bottomed out in the savings you can get from the way you manage panels. We might find further efficiencies and cost savings. But by 2017 when the federal government is considering whether to renew the subsidies, we don’t think the price of solar per kilowatt hour will be substantially different than it is today. If the subsidies end then regulators will have to mandate the requirement and rate payers will have to pay more, or renewable investments will decrease. Also to really reach scale from solar or other renewables we’re going to have to change how we as a country operate the grid. We’d have significant challenges to the way we operate the grid with only 15-30%

ability to figure out solutions that we can take to our customers. For our energy mix we’d like to ramp up the conversation with stakeholders to build understanding that moving to renewables has to be a collective decision. If the public wants more, then we’ll learn how to do it and we can help bring it to scale; but there will be trade-offs. Together we will need to find that balance. Erik Bakken is Director, Corporate Environmental Services/Land Resources Jeff Yockey is Manager, Corporate Environmental Services Carmine Tilghman is Sr. Director – Wholesale, Fuels & Renewable Energy Steve Rochlin is co-Founder and co-CEO of IO Source: http://iosustainability.com/io-performance-spotlight-how-uns-energy-approachesits-sustainability-strategy-and-renewable-energy-mix/?utm_source=ZohoCampaigns&utm_ campaign=June+Newsletter_2014-06-09&utm_ medium=email July 2014 | CSR Today | 27

Sustainability

Sustainable Cities Need Integrated Policymaking At the sidelines of the recently concluded World Cities Summit 2014, Centre for Liveable Cities head Khoo Teng Chye shared with Eco-Business why policymakers should ‘fight productively’ and engage in critical thinking to arrive at integrated, sustainable solutions for cities. by vaidehi shah

28 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: your.kingcounty.gov

s the world hurtles along a development pathway that will see 70 per cent of global population living in cities by 2050, the need for multi-pronged, integrated policymaking was identified as the most viable way to help cities respond to challenges arising from this rapid urbanisation, according to a participant poll conducted at the end of the recently concluded World Cities Summit (WCS) 2014. More than 100 speakers who shared their insights at the four-day summit identified the use of technology, long-term planning and honest, transparent politics as key responses to the challenges that will accompany the unprecedented speed and scale of rural to urban migration. This year’s summit, themed “Liveable and Sustainable – Common Challenges, Shared Solutions” and co-located with the Singapore International Water Week and CleanEnviro Singapore Summit attracted some 20,000 participants. Jointly organised by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and

Sustainability Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), WCS also featured a platform for city mayors and leaders from around the world to share best practices with one another, and a symposium for young city leaders. Eco-Business interviewed CLC executive director Khoo Teng Chye at the sidelines of the mega-event, about the myriad challenges that rapid urbanisation brings, Singapore’s strategic role in overcoming these challenges, and the best way forward to achieve the much-needed “integrated policymaking” that summit participants called for. Singapore tends to fare quite well on liveability indexes - for example, it has been called Asia’s most liveable city, and it is third on the Global Liveable Cities Index. However, it has also ranked poorly on indexes relating to cost of living and inequality. How can urban planning efforts help resolve this disparity? By definition, cities have higher concentrations of people and economic activity, and they tend to attract highly educated, higher-earning individuals as well as lowwage workers seeking a better life. As a densely populated city lacking land and other natural resources, Singapore is certainly vulnerable to the negative impact of inequality. Urban planning is important in mitigating the spatial manifestation of inequality in a city. Singapore’s urban planning and housing policy, for example, have had remarkable social consequences. The fact that over 80 per cent of the population live in public housing means that the low to the upper-middle income groups live in the same neighbourhoods. There are no fences or gates, and the recreational spaces are for all. Social cohesion and equity is preserved through everyday interactions and common spaces. Economic and social inequality can also be reduced by improving the distribution of various amenities, infrastructure and resources, such as public hospitals and schools. When designing new towns, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) includes multiple affordable food options, green spaces or parks, food markets (or

traditional wet markets) and supermarkets, and well-maintained libraries open to the public. At the same time, URA allocates zoning categories to situate residential neighbourhoods near to regional malls and light industrial parks. The availability and quality of public transport, pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths provide easy access to employment clusters, seek medical treatment, and purchase goods and services. This in turn can alleviate the lived experience of urban inequity. Ultimately, governments can no longer view income disparity simply as an economic problem to be addressed by economic agencies. Urban inequality often has spatial causes and manifestations.

as residents demand to have more say in shaping their city. Engagement during policy formulation is necessary so that initiatives can be implemented successfully and development projects will meet residents’ needs better. While there will periodically be disagreements over specific policy decisions, these need not discourage us from seeking other areas for engagement. For example, while some in civil society were unhappy with the decision to build a road through the Bukit Brown Cemetery (an old cemetery located in central Singapore, which houses rich biodiversity as well as historically important graves), government and civil society – sometimes the same groups – are engaging each other effectively in

As a densely populated city lacking land and other natural resources, Singapore is certainly vulnerable to the negative impact of inequality Hence, land use and urban planning agencies must be part of the policy solution, in collaboration with other public and private stakeholders. How can the private sector and civil society contribute to public policy and planning efforts in making cities more liveable and sustainable? Through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, governments and urban solutions providers can partner to develop key infrastructure projects, leveraging on the latest technologies and developing sustainable solutions for city living. While the private sector implements these projects, the government must maintain oversight and play a larger regulatory role to ensure their success. In addition, technology applications, such as mobile phone apps, can go a long way to engage citizens in the planning and development of their cities. Public engagement is growing in importance and impact

other areas, such as the Rail Corridor (a 24-kilometre corridor of land stretching across Singapore, which was recently freed up due to the closure of the Malaysian railway station in the city centre. The community made a strong call for the land to be preserved as a ‘green corridor‘) or, more recently, over Pulau Ubin (a rustic offshore island that is currently the subject of a public consultation exercise on preserving the island’s natural and cultural heritage). The theme for WCS 2014 is “Liveable and Sustainable Cities: Common Challenges, Shared Solutions”. Cities worldwide vary so widely in terms of population, size and access to resources; what challenges does this pose to developing solutions? What opportunities does this diversity present? Every city is different in scale, history and context. No one city is a model city, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, cities in the same region, or which are at the same stage of development have much July 2014 | CSR Today | 29

Sustainability

30 | CSR Today | July 2014

identified integrated master planning and development, as well as dynamic urban governance, as the key fundamentals behind becoming a more liveable and sustainable city. Let me highlight one of the principles of integrated master planning and development, which we call ‘fight productively’. We sometimes think co-ordination and collaboration should ideally be smooth, but in reality, some of the friction from different agencies colliding is desirable. Former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee was known to create fights to encourage more critical thinking, such as in the debate on whether to have a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. Former civil service Head Lim Siong Guan told us in an interview that Dr Goh “objected to the MRT because the case for having the MRT was that ‘you have no alternative’. That’s not to say that he objected to the MRT but he objected to the logic, and to people who don’t think deeply enough and argued deeply enough”. Going through the difficult process of understanding each side - sometimes through serious debate - before coming to a sound decision is an important part of

Source: http://www.eco-business.com/news/sustainable-cities-need-integrated-policymaking/?utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=June%2011%20 newsletter&utm_content=June%2011%20newslett er+Version+B+CID_94b82ff6f3721f823dff69eccfa1 b662&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_ term=Sustainable%20cities%20need%20integrated%20policymaking

Photo Courtesy: shawnmeindl.com

to learn from one another, as well as from cities that have gone through that development stage. In this respect, the diversity of cities at the World Cities Summit presents tremendous opportunities for learning and collaboration. Some 130 mayors and city leaders are participating in the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum this year, probably the largest ever such gathering. The scope for sharing is tremendous. In fact, I would suggest it is quite difficult for a participating mayor to not learn something useful from such an event. The World Cities Summit is co-located with the Singapore International Water Week and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore, because of synergies between urban planning, water, and environmental solutions. While these synergies are very intuitive to recognise at a policy level, what challenges do cities face in translating this holistic perspective into practical solutions on the ground? That is a good question, and one that CLC had studied as part of our research. Based initially on our research into Singapore’s development experience, we have

learning how to integrate urban planning, water and environmental solutions. This is why the fact that WCS, SIWW and CESS are being held together is so valuable. It brings such a diversity of leaders and experts, which so much depth of experience, together in one place and with a shared desire for mutually beneficial exchanges. What is the strategic significance of an event like WCS (and its two collocated events) to urban development around the world? How does it help shape Singapore’s position in the global urban landscape? For Singapore, the city-state is well placed to lead the discourse on integrated urban solutions. Given our small size and limited resources, Singapore has always adopted a whole of government approach to urban planning and sustainability issues. We have had a unique and successful experience in urban development, especially our high-liveability-and-high-density model, which is relevant to the growing number of urban centres. Singapore and Singapore-based companies are also urban solutions providers for the region and world. Many companies use Singapore as a base to export their urban solutions, for example water firm Hyflux, urban developer Surbana, commercial real estate provider Ascendas and energy and water solutions firm SembCorp. Universities are also setting up research institutes here to build knowledge in this area, for example, the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities in the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the Future Cities Lab set up by ETH Zurich, and MIT. Together with private corporate laboratories like GE and Siemens, Singapore has become a strong and well-connected hub for urban solutions.

2014-15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS Indian Centre for CSR, being the pioneer in CSR Training programs has developed special global programs for Indian Corporate to address the growing needs of CSR Compliance and complexities in the evolving world of Sustainability. These courses / Training programs help organizations in sustainment of their competitive advantages and addresses the most important need of their growth. The idea solely aims towards not just helping to compliance but eventually allow corporate to see and evaluate global best practices for enhancing their top line and bottom line. We invite nominations from Executives, NGOs , Corporate, Education Institutions, Government PSUs and other Stakeholders for the Training Courses / Programs for the year 2014-15 TOPIC

DATES

CITY

Fees for Fees for NGOS Corporate & Institutions

Certificate Programme on New Companies Act & Designing of CSR Strategies & Reporting

9-Aug-14

Pune

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

21-Aug-14

Kolkata

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

23-Aug-14

Vadodara

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

26-Aug-14

Chennai

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

28-Aug-14

Bangalore

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

30-Aug-14

Hyderabad

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

17-Oct-14

Nagpur

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

FACULTY: A) Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, CEO & Director General, ICCSR, A Doctorate in Social Administration from USA, Founder, Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. , Ex-Group President of Reliance Industries. Also, worked as Private Secretary to Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Government of India) (B) Shri Ashwani Kumar, Senior Faculty & Advisor, ICCSR, Project Mentor - World Hope Foundation & Ex General Manager(I / c), HSE & CSR, BHEL, ND49 Strategies for NGOs to become Income-Generating Enterprises

5-Sep-14

Mumbai

INR 7,900

7-Nov-14

Delhi

INR 7,900

22-Dec-14

Ahmedabad

INR 7,900

27-Mar-15

Pune

INR 7,900

FACULTY: (A) Dr. (Ms) Manjula is the Dean for Management Programs in Indian Centre for CSR. She is a Ph.D in Textiles & Clothing from SNDT Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, Mumbai. She is Pan India Faculty for Entrepreneurship & Business Management for Voluntary Service Organizations. She has been dedicated towards the economic empowerment of underprivileged woman through her various training activities at the grass-root. A Post Graduate Diploma holder in CSR and Ethical Business Management from ICCSR, she has carved a place of prominence for herself in Third Sector Fraternity. Faculty on various International and National rostrums, Manjula has represented Indian woman in countries like Japan and United Kingdom. With 40 yrs stint into Social Development and Women Empowerment, she is here to earmark a new beginning towards Social Cause through Corporate Social Responsibility. (B) Arpita Singh is the Certified CSR Trainer, Indian Centre for CSR. She has been awarded MS degree in CSR & Ethical Management from University of Applied Sciences, Vienna and she is the registrar of Iccsr.

2014-15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS TOPIC

DATES

CITY

Fees for Fees for NGOS Corporate & Institutions

Certificate Program on ISO 26000

25, 26, 27 Sept 2014

Mumbai

INR 65,000

INR 58,000

8, 9, 10 Apr 2015

Bangalore

INR 65,000

INR 58,000

3, 4, 5 Nov-14

Delhi

INR 65,000

INR 58,000

8, 9, 10 Dec-14

Bangalore

INR 65,000

INR 58,000

FACULTY: (A) Mr. Martin Neureiter, Chairman of ISO 26000 and the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most acclaimed CSR Guru. He is Corporate Advisory Board Member of ICCSR, founder and CEO of The CSR Company. He is an advisor to Fortune 500 companies ad is scientific head of the postgraduate education at University of Applied Sciences Vienna for CSR and the Convenor within ISO-DEVCO for the Middle East North Africa. He has authored several books on CSR, such as Corporate Social Responsibility Leitlinien und Konzepte in Management published 2004, which was the first German language book on the issue and Handbuch Corporate Citizenship published 2007. (B) Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, CEO & Director General, ICCSR, A Doctorate in Social Administration from USA, Founder, Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. , Ex-Group President of Reliance Industries. Also, worked as Private Secretary to Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Government of India) (C) Satish Jha, Advisory Board Member to ICCSR & President and CEO, OLPC India. Mentor of couple of dozen social projects with a focus on technology, business strategies and public policy in the areas of universal access to education, healthcare and bridging the digital divide. (D) Shri Ashwani Kumar, Senior Faculty & Advisor, ICCSR, Project Mentor - World Hope Foundation & Ex General Manager(I / c), HSE & CSR, BHEL, ND49 ICCSRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship Globally acknowledged Executive Development Program (EDP) on CSR. > Certification Program by CSR Institute, UK (Residential Program)

26, 27, 28, 29 Nov-14

Goa

INR 88,000

INR 80,000

21, 22, 23, 24 Apr-15

Lonavala

INR 88,000

INR 80,000

FACULTY: (A) Tobby Webb, Corporate Advisory Board Member of ICCSR, Chairman, Ethical Corporation, Faculty - Birkbeck, University of London, CSR Advisor to British Government advising the Prime Minister (B) Wayne Dunn, Exec. Dir, CSR Training Institute, Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill, Wayne is an award-winning recognized global expert in CSR. Consulting for major industries, governments and international organizations he has worked on over 60 CSR projects spanning six continents and 2 decades including projects in over a dozen African countries. (C) Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, CEO & Director General, ICCSR, A Doctorate in Social Administration from USA, Founder, Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. , Ex-Group President of Reliance Industries. Also, worked as Private Secretary to Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Government of India) Global Best Practices on CSR Strategies & Reporting - Certification Program by Global Faculty

11-Dec-14

Bangalore

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

13-Dec-14

Kolkata

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

15-Dec-14

Delhi

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

18-Dec-14

Mumbai

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

20-Dec-14

Ahmedabad

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

2014-15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS TOPIC

DATES

CITY

Fees for Fees for NGOS Corporate & Institutions

Effective CSR Communication Strategies – An insight into Global Best Practices by International Faculty

17-Jan-14

Delhi

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

19-Jan-14

Bangalore

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

22-Jan-14

Mumbai

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

24-Jan-14

Pune

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

FACULTY: (A) Ms. Karin Huber, Advisor, ICCSR, is a Communication Specialist & Certified CSR Manager from University of Vienna, Austria and has Expertise on CSR strategy development, stakeholder communication & involvement, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Responsible Banking & Investment, Socially Responsible Advertising & Media Psychology. Globally, she is renowned International Faculty on Business Ethics and CSR Communication and Faculty at University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. (B) Mr. Jitendra Bhargava, Former Executive Director of Air India and author of book, ‘The Descent of Air India’, is known television and radio personality who regularly speaks on matter relating to civil aviation, human resources and corporate matters. Jitendra Bhargava has over 35 years of experience in Public Relations (PR) and Marketing and is considered One of the Best PR Professional in the country today. He is a sought after speaker and is virtually invited from all leading institutions of the country to speak on various topics. Certified Training Program on Environmental Strategies, Management & Reporting – A CSR Perspective

18-Oct-15

Nagpur

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

5-Feb-15

Mumbai

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

7-Feb-15

Pune

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

12-Feb-15

Delhi

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

14-Feb-15

Baroda

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

18-Feb-15

Raipur

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

20-Feb-15

Bhuvaneshwar

INR 8,900

INR 7,900

FACULTY: (A) Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh, Advisor to ICCSR & Head, University Department of Life Sciences, Mumbai University, is Member of (a) BCUD (Board of Colleges and University Development), (b) Board of Studies in Life Sciences, (c) Academic Council, (e) Faculty of Sciences, (e) Standing Committee for M.M. Sharma Endowment Grants as well as University’s Staff Welfare Committee, and (f) Library Committee of the University. He is also Chairman of the Board of Studies (Ad-hoc) in Environmental Sciences of the University of Mumbai. He is recipient of the prestigious Colombo Plan Award (1993), a Technical Co-operation Award of the United Kingdom. He received in February 2005, the most prestigious LEAD (Leadership in Environment and Development) Fellowship (Cohort 11). Sanjay is the first Teacher of Mumbai University to have been selected for the same. Dr. Sanjay happens to be Founder Trustee and currently Chairman of Konkan Nisarg Manch, an NGO (B) Dr. (Ms) Manjula is the Dean for Management Programs in Indian Centre for CSR. She is a Ph.D in Textiles & Clothing from SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. She is Pan India Faculty for Entrepreneurship & Business Management for Voluntary Service Organizations. She has been dedicated towards the economic empowerment of underprivileged woman through her various training activities at the grass-root. A Post Graduate Diploma holder in CSR and Ethical Business Management from ICCSR, she has carved a place of prominence for herself in Third Sector Fraternity. Faculty on various International and National rostrums, Manjula has represented Indian woman in countries like Japan and United Kingdom. With 40 yrs stint into Social Development and Women Empowerment, she is here to earmark a new beginning towards Social Cause through Corporate Social Responsibility.

2014-15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS TOPIC

DATES

CITY

Fees for Fees for NGOS Corporate & Institutions

SECTOR-SPECIFIC CSR & SUSTAINABILITY TRAINING PROGRAMS BY GLOBAL FACULTIES Training aims in Instilling awareness on key sustainability topics and areas of concerns and integrate a “common thinking” on sustainability across different organizations within the Automobile Sector

2-Mar-15

Delhi

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

Training aims in Instilling awareness on key sustainability topics and areas of concerns and integrate a “common thinking” on sustainability across different organizations within the Retail Sector

4-Mar-15

Mumbai

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

5-Mar-15

Mumbai

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

7-Mar-15

Pune

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

10-Mar-15

Ahmedabad

INR 19,600

INR 17,600

FACULTY: (A) Irene Daskalakis, Corporate Advisory Board Member of ICCSR. Irene has working experience in the World Bank, European Commission Delegation in Tirana, Albania & executed a project in Public Internal Financial Control, in close consultation with the Albanian Ministry of Finance. Irene has implemented advisory projects, workshops and research in Europe, Middle East, Asia and N. America (U.S.A). Project focus areas include the design of the Corporate Sustainability Strategy, the implementation of Sustainability Assessments and the development of Sustainability Reports (based on the G3 Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative, UN Global Compact Principles). (B) Dr. Panagiotis Panagiotakopoulos Panagiotis (Panos), Advisor to ICCSR has extensive scientific knowledge in the fields of Sustainability, Environmental Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, EcolabelStrategies and Organizational Development. He is the Faculty at Democritus University of Thrace and National Technical University of Athens. He is Greece’s National Eco-Innovation Expert for OECD, member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Associate of the Chamber of Environment and Sustainability and a member of the Network of Project Managers in Greece. Dr. P. Panagiotakopoulos has served as assessor of the IPMA International Project Excellence Award, while the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has assigned him as a Quality Control Consultant for its Certified Training Programs in Greece. (C) Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, CEO & Director General, ICCSR, A Doctorate in Social Administration from USA, Founder, Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. , Ex-Group President of Reliance Industries. Also, worked as Private Secretary to Minister of Information and Broadcasting (Government of India)

Timings: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm , Registration begins at 8:30 am For Registrations: Email: cc@iccsr.org OR registrar@iccsr.org or Call: 9867210670 Tel: +91 22 2778 8481 / 82 | Fax: +91 22 2496 6803 | Website: www.iccsr.org 601, 6th Floor, Technocity, Plot No. X4/5 A, TTC Industrial Area Mahape, Navi Mumbai- 400701 (India). • Fees includes lunch, tea, course material etc. • Fees for Residential Programs includes Stay along with other Training facilities. Travel to be organized by the delegate. • Service Tax of 12.36% is applicable extra • Please contact for Group discounts

Training Registration Form Please complete the registration form and send it along with payments to: Indian Centre for CSR, 601, 6th Floor, Technocity, Plot No. X4/5 A, TTC Industrial Area Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400701 (India). Email: ea@iccsr.org, Tel no: +91 22 2778 8481 / 82, Fax no: +91 22 22204 2368. Website: www.iccsr.org Nomination Details: Program Name: Training Date: City of the Program: 1. Name: Designation: 2. Name: Designation: 3. Name: Designation: Company:

Contact addres:

PAYMENT INFORMATION: Training Fees: Plus Service Tax of 12.36% is applicable: Total amount: Payment can be made in the following ways: (Please tick applicable box)  CHEQUE/DD/Cash at the venue (made out to Indian Centre for CSR) Cheque number Drawn on Bank (Send your Cheque at the above address.)  Bank transfer Bank Name: HDFC Bank Account Name: Indian Centre for CSR Account number: 00012560004973 RTGS/NEFT IFSE: HDFC 0000001 Bank Address: 101-104 Tulsiani Chambers, Free Press Journal Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021 Maharashtra  Online payment: Please go to our website www.iccsr.org for online registration and payment For further queries, contact: Email: cc@iccsr.org OR registrar@iccsr.org or Call: 9867210670 | Tel: +91 22 2778 8481 / 82 | Fax: +91 22 2496 6803 601, 6th Floor, Technocity, Plot No. X4/5 A, TTC Industrial Area Mahape, Navi Mumbai- 400701 (India).

SUSTAINABILITY CAPITAL

Pathways to Progress As Part of its initiative to unlock economic opportunity, the Citi Foundation Commits $2.1 Million to Support Career Mentoring for Youth

36 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: eliteprepu.com

he Citi Foundation today announced it will provide a total of $2.1 million to support initiatives by Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and iMentor to connect high-potential students from lowincome households with early- to mid-career professionals to provide critical career counseling and mentoring. The focus on mentoring as a cornerstone of youth career readiness and professional development is closely aligned with Pathways to Progress, the Citi Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three-year $50 million initiative announced this year to unlock economic opportunity for 100,000 low-income youth in 10 cities across the United States. The Citi Foundation commitment includes $1.1 million to launch MLT Ascend, which will connect nearly 1,000 undergraduate students across the country with the mentors, skills, and opportunities necessary to pursue the career path of their choice. As they prepare to graduate and enter the workforce, college students

SUSTAINABILITY | CAPITAL will be connected to MLT alumni mentors, each of whom is a successful early- to mid-career professional and a first-generation college graduate who is now in a position to assist the next generation by offering one-on-one career path planning and coaching. The commitment was announced recently at MLT’s 10th Anniversary Gala in New York. The Citi Foundation is also contributing $1 million to iMentor to help expand the organization’s successful mentoring program, which pairs high school students from low-income communities with college-educated adult mentors. Participants are matched with students in three- to fouryear mentoring relationships that include in-person and online meetings designed to nurture a college aspiration, assist with the college application and financing process, coach mentees through their college years, and prepare students for meaningful summer jobs and internships. With support from the Citi Foundation, now iMentor’s largest corporate funder, iMentor plans to increase its mentoring matches to 20,000 pairs nationwide over the next five years. “Many successful leaders can point to at least one person who helped them navigate career opportunities and choices,” said Ed Skyler, Citi’s Head of Public Affairs and Chairman of the Citi Foundation. “In a competitive environment, mentors are essential in helping students succeed academically and distinguish themselves by supplementing their education with seasoned advice. With this support, the Citi Foundation aims to improve the career readiness of these students by connecting them with committed mentors.” “Unfortunately, we see too many first generation college students, who have worked so hard to get to college, making avoidable mistakes that are keeping them from realizing their academic and career potential,” said John Rice, CEO of MLT. “MLT Ascend will provide these students with a personalized playbook for success and oneon-one coaching to help execute on that playbook. That will allow them to graduate and be prepared to compete in tomorrow’s job market when they do. We’re thankful for

Citi Foundation’s investment, which will allow us to leverage the collective volunteer power of our MLT Alumni to reach this new student population.” “iMentor’s model is built on the premise that sustained engagement with a trained mentor is critical to student success both in school and in life,” said Mike O’Brien, CEO of iMentor. “With the support of the Citi Foundation and the commitment of Citi volunteers, we are looking forward to expanding our reach and our impact across the country, providing young people with the guidance and resources they need to pursue the careers of their dreams.”

for Financial Empowerment Fund, will work with municipal governments in five of the partner cities to connect youth with meaningful summer job opportunities, along with financial education and access to financial products; and Make Your Job, developed with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, will establish youth entrepreneurship camps that empower participants to explore self-employment and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries

The Citi Foundation commitment includes $1.1 million to launch MLT Ascend, which will connect nearly 1,000 undergraduate students across the country with the mentors, skills, and opportunities necessary to pursue the career path of their choice. These commitments reinforce the objectives of the Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress, which is engaging community partners, government officials, and Citi volunteers to help young people ages 16-24 develop the workplace skills and leadership experience they need to secure jobs and begin developing career paths. The initiative is focusing on 10 of the largest U.S. cities where Citi has a presence: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Newark, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Pathways to Progress launched with three elements: ServiceWorks, developed with Points of Light and the Corporation for National & Community Service, will use volunteer service as a strategy to help youth and young adults develop essential leadership and workplace skills; Summer Jobs Connect, developed with the Cities

and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress in communities around the world and focuses on initiatives that expand financial inclusion. We collaborate with best-in-class partners to create measurable economic improvements that strengthen low-income families and communities. Through a “More than Philanthropy” approach, Citi’s business resources and human capital enhance our philanthropic investments and impact. S o u rce : h t t p : / / w w w. c i t i g ro u p. co m / c i t i / news/2014/140530a.htm July 2014 | CSR Today | 37

SUSTAINABILITY CAPITAL

Amid US Oil Bounty, a Growing Debate Over Exports

ith United States crude oil production at a 24year high and set to climb further, a national debate has emerged: Should the US export its oil for sale overseas? The question would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when U.S. oil production was in a seemingly inexorable 38 | CSR Today | July 2014

decline. Now the country is in the midst of an oil and gas boom made possible by new drilling techniques, including the combination of fracking with horizontal drilling, leading many to question long-standing government restrictions on oil exports. In the latest chapter of the debate, a report from global research firm IHS released at the

end of May argues that lifting the export ban and sending U.S. oil out to wider markets will boost domestic crude production by almost 30 percent and inject nearly $750 billion of added energy investment into the economy. The report also contradicts the conventional wisdom that gasoline prices would rise if the U.S. let go of some of its domestic supply. Instead, IHS projects, prices at the pump would actually drop by 8 cents per gallon. Energy consultant Daniel Yergin, the IHS vice chairman who spearheaded the report, says current U.S. policy on oil exports is an “archaic remnant of a system that disappeared 33 years ago. “It didn’t matter that there was a ban on exports for maybe 30 of those years or so, because the U.S., it seemed, was just going to be importing more and more oil,” Yergin said on a conference call about the report. “But in the last few years, it’s clear that it does matter.” The United States is now producing more barrels of oil per day than it imports, and the volume could eventually top the country’s production peak of 1970.

Photo Courtesy: www.thisismoney.co.uk

New report says lifting export restrictions would bring gasoline prices down. by christina nunez

SUSTAINABILITY | CAPITAL Old Policy, New Debate The “ban” on oil exports is not an absolute block, but rather a set of restrictions that date back to the fuel crisis touched off by the Arab oil embargo in 1973. Legislation passed in the wake of the embargo shut off most avenues for export, and for the most part, those restrictions remained in place even as other market controls were rolled back, as Yergin noted, in 1981. Today, oil producers are allowed to obtain licenses to export to Canada, and they may export oil that comes from Alaska’s Cook Inlet, among a few exceptions. But overall, less than 2 percent of the oil produced in the United States is sold outside its borders. Free-market proponents – not to mention oil companies and lawmakers from oil – producing states, such as Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana-argue that the United States should allow that oil onto the world market, where it could command higher prices. On the other side of the issue are U.S. refiners who benefit from discounted crude prices; lawmakers such as Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who has argued that exports would hurt U.S. consumers by raising prices; and environmentalists who say that the boost in production would only deepen the current fossil fuel dependence and weaken the response to climate change. The IHS report was funded by several oil producers, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, that have signaled their support for lifting the ban. “Obviously people who don’t like the study will point to that,” Yergin said in an interview with McClatchy. “This is our reputation, our work, and this is where our research led us.” Yergin led a team of more than 40 people credited on the report. Regardless of the report’s provenance, IHS is not the only research organization calling for an end to the ban. Nonpartisan think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution also have argued that the benefits of exporting U.S. oil would outweigh any potential downsides. And Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has acknowledged that the export question is one among “lots of issues in the energy space that deserve some new analysis and examination

in the context of what is now an energy world that is no longer like the 1970s.”

Why Would Gas Prices Go Down? If the United States started sending its crude to the world market, and domestic refiners no longer benefited from discounted crude, wouldn’t gasoline prices go up? That’s the argument of the ban’s proponents, who say it protects American consumers from higher prices. The ban unquestionably offers protections to refiners such as Valero and Tesoro. “In an environment where there are market restrictions on crude, and that crude price is artificially depressed, U.S. refiners come

One is to continue exporting oil to Canada— and, indeed, EIA data show that while overall exports of oil remain just a fraction of what is produced, they have risen nearly fourfold over the last five years and hit a 15-year high in April. Another option is to take the lightest type of oil, known as condensate, and refine it into products, such as naphtha (used in making chemicals) and kerosene, that are not subject to export restrictions. Many companies, including Valero and Kinder Morgan, are doing just that. Auers noted that there is so much condensate, which often occurs as a byproduct of natural gas production, coming out of the Eagle Ford shale in Texas that “some level of

Overall, less than 2 percent of the oil produced in the United States is sold outside its borders out ahead,” said John Auers, executive vice president of Turner, Mason & Company, an engineering consulting firm that is studying the issue. Part of the argument for lifting the ban involves a mismatch between the type of crude the United States is now producing and what refiners are outfitted to process. About 96 percent of the growth in domestic oil production is of the “light, sweet” (lower density, lower sulfur) variety. But in the past 25 years, Yergin said, U.S. refining capacity has been reconfigured to accommodate heavy crude from Mexico, Venezuela, and Canada. Yergin and others who support exports say that, as the United States produces more of this light crude, the lack of capacity to refine it is holding down domestic oil prices and dampening investment in oil exploration. Allowing producers new outlets for their oil wouldn’t lead to a hike in gas prices, the IHS report concludes. Instead, it argues, adding U.S. oil to the larger market would boost supply and therefore lower global oil prices. In the meantime, the EIA and others have noted that oil producers have some options.

condensate processing investment makes sense” whether the export ban remains in place or not. And for the time being, he said, investing in this simple refining process is a way for companies to profit from the current deluge of domestic oil. Lifting the export ban on this one type of oil might be politically easier to achieve, and the IHS report says it “would be an important interim step.” But condensate would be just one of multiple fossil fuel streams the United States is now in a position to direct overseas, including natural gas, another subject of export debate. “Six years ago we were going to be an importer [of natural gas], and now it’s turned around,” Yergin said. “So I think these debates are indicative of the fact that we are in transition from one energy position to another as a country.” This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge. Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/ energy/2014/06/140616-lifting-us-oil-ban-wouldlower-gas-prices-report-says/?sf3320770=1 July 2014 | CSR Today | 39

csr capital

‘Sustainability Premium’ for Investors If your company hasn’t yet begun to identify the growth, productivity and risk metrics from your sustainability efforts, it’s worth starting right now. by deb gallagher

ore companies are translating their sustainability efforts into revenue and productivity. But for the most part, investors don’t understand or even know about the shareholder value that sustainability initiatives can create. Part of the problem is that sustainability reporting, up until now, primarily has been targeted at the “value” investor, those actively seeking certain social responsibility standards. As a result, the indicators that could illuminate how sustainability affects business drivers do not really exist for today’s investors. In the recent MIT Sloan Management Review article “Bridging the Sustainability Gap,” authors David A. Lubin and Daniel C. Esty examine the gap that exists in sustainability reporting. On the one hand, executives are reluctant to develop more sustainability metrics, while on the other, investors stand back, waiting for better

40 | CSR Today | July 2014

Photo Courtesy: www.albertsons.com

The reporting problem

csr | capital gauges of sustainability’s financial impact. Lubin and Esty argue persuasively that now is the time to address that gap. “Given that the expected steady increases in the impacts of climate change, regulatory pressures and evolving consumer attitudes are likely to make sustainability strategy even more important going forward, we believe mainstream investors will reward companies that demonstrate business gains from sustainability – provided investors can easily spot the sustainability winners,” they wrote. “The greatest opportunity for such a ‘sustainability premium’ is during the early stages of a comparatively new phenomenon such as the emerging sustainability imperative. That’s when superior performance creates the best chance for differentiation from competitors.”

DuPont’s sustainabilitybased revenue uptick The authors use DuPont as an example of how to develop sustainability data for investors that is built around the drivers they understand: revenue growth, productivity and risk. On the revenue front, one of DuPont’s key sustainability-driven revenue growth metrics for the 2007-2012 period is as follows: “Revenue from products based on nondepletable resources doubled, from $5.9 billion on a 2007 revenue base of $29.4 billion to $11.8 billion on a 2012 revenue base of $35 billion.” Put another way, DuPont’s revenue from products based on nondepletable resources increased 100 percent over the sixyear period – compared to revenue growth of about 18 percent for the company as a whole during that time. So the ratio of revenue growth from products based on nondepletable resources to the company’s overall revenue growth was more than 5:1. This kind of figure enables investors to easily see the role being played by sustainability-advantaged products, which in turn helps them to understand the sustainability strategy and the competitive advantage that DuPont will gain from investments in its sustainable solutions.

In terms of productivity gains from sustainability, DuPont reported $6 billion in aggregate cost avoidance from energy-saving efforts between 1990 and 2010. That level of savings suggests a material impact during that period on DuPont’s net income, which was $3 billion in 2010. And in risk management, DuPont has highlighted six key areas of potential future exposure, including: absolute levels of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, water use in water-stressed locations, air carcinogen emissions and manufacturing plant certifications. DuPont reports that “water consumption in water-scarce or -stressed locations,” declined from 6 billion to 5 billion gallons between 2007 and 2012. The au-

growth. And if your company tracks topline revenue impacts from sustainability-designated products and services, consider creating a sustainability-driven growth metric (S/G). Such a metric should be included in your primary business performance reporting on at least an annual basis. If, on the other hand, your company hasn’t yet begun to identify the growth, productivity and risk metrics from your sustainability efforts, it’s worth starting right now. There is a learning curve, but there are many excellent models, and the results will be worth it. Say the authors, “Investors seeking to capitalize on [the forces driving sustainability strategies] must be able to distinguish companies that are pursuing carefully structured and successfully

DuPont reported $6 billion in aggregate cost avoidance from energy saving efforts between 1990 and 2010. That level of savings suggests a material impact during that period on DuPont’s net income, which was $3 billion in 2010. And in risk management, DuPont has highlighted six key areas of potential future exposure. thors compute a stressed water intensity percentage-of-revenue figure that relates water use to revenue growth and find a 30 percent decrease from 0.20 to 0.14 gallons/dollar of revenue for DuPont for this period – a significant shift.

Where to start? For companies eager to highlight the business drivers behind their sustainability strategy, the authors suggest beginning with reporting metrics related to revenue

implemented sustainability strategies that deliver actual material business advantages from those with less well-designed or wellexecuted strategies.” Source: This article first appeared at MIT SMR Management Report http://www.greenbiz.com/ blog/2014/06/26/how-do-you-demonstrate-sustainability-premium investors?mkt_tok=3RkMMJW WfF9wsRoisqXJZKXonjHpfsX57%2BouT%2Frn28M3 109ad%2BrmPBy73YIIWp8na%2BqWCgseOrQ8kl0J V86%2FRc0RrKA%3D July2014 | CSR Today | 41

csr leadership

The CEO of

Coca-Cola on Using the Company’s

Scale for Good

Muhtar Kent, the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Coca-Cola since 2009, talks about how the beverage company is imbedding sustainability into its business. by amy gallo

ecent research shows spending money on corporate social responsibility is no longer seen as a detriment to a company’s profitability. Stock analysts now view such expenditures as essential to a company’s long-term brand and value. Coca-Cola is one of the many companies that are making efforts to tackle the world’s greatest societal challenges — water scarcity, climate change, and even the rights of women and girls in the developing world. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Muhtar Kent Chairman of the Board and CEO of Coca-Cola

42 | CSR Today | July 2014

Sustainability isn’t new to us but we’ve been intensifying our focus on it. We’re prioritizing programs centered on water, women and well-being – all three of which are essential to our business. For example, we’re working to achieve water neutrality by 2020. So far, we’ve replaced 52% of the water we use in making our beverages and reducing water usage across our 800-plus bottling plants helps reduce the overall cost of production. We have also committed to economically empowering 5 million women by 2020. This is the largest such program ever undertaken by a commercial organization. Our micro distribution centers (MDCs) in Africa, many of which are run by

Photo Courtesy: www.bloomberg.com

Over the past several years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has evolved from simply being an isolated “do good” arm of a company to something more profound that’s changing the way organizations do business every day. How has Coca-Cola integrated these CSR principles into your operations?

csr | leadership women, help our beverages reach small shops and kiosks that can’t be served by more trucks and vans and create value for our business, our retail and restaurant customers, and the broader communities. Restructuring a company to focus on sustainability doesn’t happen overnight, so how long did it take to get everyone on board and how did you deal with any resistance to change?

Sustainability can no longer be a compliance measure or a “nice-todo”; it’s now a business planning imperative with measures, goals, and explicit value connected to our programs. Because of this importance, we didn’t really experience any resistance. There were certainly people who challenged our approach and provided candid feedback on how we could improve but overall there was collective agreement that this was necessary. If the ultimate goal is to create both economic value and social value, how do you strike that balance?

There may be an initial financial investment that doesn’t create an immediate and direct financial return – that’s OK. We know that by investing today, we will ultimately be a stronger, more sustainable business down the line. For example, developing our PlantBottle innovation – a fully recyclable packaging made of up to 30% renewable plant material – took significant upfront investment but we felt it made good sense, especially with oil prices fluctuating. And it’s helping contribute to our goal of reducing the carbon footprint of the drink in a consumer’s hand by 25% by 2020. It has also been a tremendous boost to our Dasani water brand, helping us win new customers and consumers.

based plastic, this creates value for our shareowners and our bottling partners. What is Coca-Cola doing that’s different from what other companies are doing?

There are a lot of companies and organizations out there doing great work but our scale allows us to think big and execute. It’s not just our size as a company or a brand, but the fact that we have operations in more than 200 countries. This footprint enables us to set up partnerships with organizations large and small to make the greatest local or global impact. We can fund projects at levels that make a real difference. And often times, we can use the size and nature of our operating model to address a need in a significant way. We also have our distribution network, which connects us directly to the 24 million retail customers we visit every week. As the world strives to bridge the gap of the last mile between the virtual world and the real world, we have an opportunity to help make this connection. We’re continuously working to make the most of our distribution network as well as our virtual and physical assets.

Sustainability can no longer be a compliance measure or a “nice-to-do”; it’s now a business planning imperative with measures, goals, and explicit value connected to our programs.

Have you faced any specific challenges in measuring the social value you’re creating?

Coca-Cola operates in more than 200 countries and the needs of each market depend on a variety of factors. While some markets face economic issues, others may face resource scarcity and gender inequality, and some face all of these issues and more. It can be difficult to measure and compare. Thus, we operate a value creation model that is globally driven but locally focused. Can you explain what you mean by a “value creation model”?

I mean one that creates value for all the stakeholders touched by our business. Consider PlantBottle. We’re able to put a package in consumers’ hands that reduces demand for oil. If consumers love our beverage more, that benefits our customers. And when the packaging is less expensive and we’re less dependent on petroleum-

How much of your company’s move in this direction is customer-driven vs. conscience-driven?

Today’s consumers expect companies to be socially responsible – not just on the surface either. Our brand is in our consumers’ hands but that’s not the primary reason for our sustainability efforts. Our efforts are primarily fueled by our business needs – we can only be as sustainable as the communities we serve so we’ve initiated a host of programs and partnerships to help strengthen those communities while continuing to build our business. We also have ethical drivers for our sustainability work. Across Coca-Cola, we are parents, partners, siblings, friends, concerned citizens – and we live in the communities where we operate. We have a responsibility to help others. Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. This is part of an ongoing series from Harvard Business Review and the Skoll World Forum on how mega-corporations are integrating innovative ways to solve social and environmental problems into their core operations. Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/05/the-ceo-of-coca-cola-on-using-the-companys-scale-for-good/ July2014 | CSR Today | 43

Book Review

Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities

hat has the law to do with Corporate Social Responsibility? Do Business Responsibilities for Human Rights (BRHR, with an acronym introduced in the book) differ from CSR? Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities: Global, Legal and Management Perspectives challenges the separation between CSR and law. It also demonstrates that BRHR may be gradually separating from CSR through emphasis on state obligations. Authors from around the world discuss how businesses engage in CSR and human rights, and how governments and intergovernmental organizations may support businesses in taking responsibility. In this book, you will find a group of exciting chapters written by management scholars, lawyers, CSR practitioners and business ethicists. Drawing on cases from around the world, they want to set a new agenda regarding divergence and convergence between CSR, BRHR, and the law. Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities adds a set of perspectives to this entire field, which is still in evolution – and some are quite fascinating and far-reaching for business. The book is a compilation of contributions that were developed

for the CSR, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights and International Law Conference, organized by the University of Copenhagen in 2008, supported by the CSR-progressive Danish government. This was an attempt to strengthen the legal influence of CSR on management decisions while retaining the fundamental principle of CSR as a voluntary management policy. (Sort of having your cake and eating it too.) This was also at a time when the Danish Government introduced the pioneering Financial Statements Act in which large companies were required to report on sustainability or provide reasons for not doing so. The contributors in this volume include international lawyers, economists, investment management specialists, accomplished academics and a representative of Danish commerce, according to CSR wire. The book is in three parts: first, an overview of the relationship between law and CSR including discussion of the United Nations Global Compact and the Human Rights Framework developed by John Ruggie; second, regional examples about the way businesses adopt responsibilities for human rights as part of CSR; and third, a view on law and management with CSR Codes of Conduct and more.

Strategic Governance

trategic Governance: Enabling Financial, Environmental and Social Sustainability provides a unique opportunity to reorient your thinking about what’s possible for your business. It introduces you to an enlightened, principle-based governance regime. If you transform this new way of thinking into effective action, you can achieve extraordinary results simply because the “new idea” driving your actions departs from conventional wisdom. For this reason, Strategic Governance book is also an opportunity to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Governance is a refreshingly short book, which

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makes it a stimulating weekend read. It is only 105 pages, if you include the governance self-assessment questionnaire and a range of governance-related quotations included as appendices. Its message is clear: governance is about the integration and alignment of what the business wants to achieve and the way it will achieve it. The right organizational design, culture, and behaviors set the foundation for how business goals are achieved. The Board of Directors is responsible for applying a clear set of principles to ensure that this takes place. If it does, the business will realize what the authors describe as a “breakthrough opportunity.”

Presents

The New Companies Act 2013 and Designing of CSR Strategies & Reporting (Open Workshop for One Day)

9th August – Pune n 21st August – Kolkata n 23rd August – Vadodara n 26th August – Chennai n

28th August – Bangalore n 30th August – Hyderabad n 17th October – Nagpur n

CONTACT FOR MORE DETAILS: +91 98672 10670 cc@iccsr.org OR +91 22 27788481 / 82 ea@iccsr.org

Program Rationale

training Objectives

Audience & Duration

The New Companies Act 2013 makes it mandatory for Indian companies to spend 2 per cent of their profits on CSR related activities. The bill also emphasizes the need for the following: • Creation of CSR Division • Appointment of Independent CSR Directors • Creation of CSR committees to supervise and monitor CSR • Mandatory reporting to the Government of India for the CSR activities undertaken and expenses made with respect to the same on year on year basis.

The herein program presents the scope and curriculum for the CSR & sustainability training, specifically for professionals. The training is developed according to international trends in the sector, as it pertains to sustainability, aiming to provide a holistic and systemic approach. The training aims to address the needs of professionals across diverse business functions, who wish to instill greater efficiency in their operations and communication. The overall training objective aims to: 1. Increase awareness on key CSR & sustainability topics and areas of concerns 2. Integrate a “common thinking” on sustainability across the organization 3. Enable participants to develop their organization’s sustainability strategy and report. 4. Enable participants to develop a sustainable brand

The program is estimated to take 1-day, 5.5-6 hours, of consecutive learning time. Audience: • Executive Management from all Industries • Executives from CSR, Planning / Budget, Marketing, Finance, HR departments

Training Cost For Corporate: The cost for each participant is estimated at INR 8,900 plus Service Tax (applicable by the government) For Education Institutions and NGOs: The cost for each participant is estimated at INR 7,900 plus Service Tax (applicable by the government) Note: For group discounts please contact 9867210670