Earning kudos: some companies do everything and more to ensure the safety of their workers and the people in the neighbourhoods in which they operate.

Ray Anderson, founder of Interface, had an epiphany brought on by the book The Ecology of Commerce (ISBN: 0887307043) by Paul Hawken. Mr. Hawken wrote: "To create an enduring society, we will need a system of commerce and production where each and every act is inherently sustainable and restorative ... Just as every action in an industrial society leads to environmental degradation, regardless of intention, we must design a system where the opposite is true, where doing good is like failing off a log, where the natural, everyday acts of work and life accumulate into a better world as a matter of course, not as a matter of conscious altruism."

Ray Anderson and many others have taken this advice to heart and are creating corporations that are also socially responsible. Mr. Anderson plans to take carpet manufacturing to new sustainable heights, and serve as a model for the industrial world. His international company has established Mission Zero whereby "Every creative, manufacturing and building decision we make will move us closer to our goal of eliminating any negative impact our flooring and fabric companies may have on the environment by the year 2020."

The company's plans include eliminating waste and toxic emissions, using renewable sources of energy, and creating a business culture that combines sustainability and profit.

Likewise for General Electric, which announced a new climate policy in 2005, called Ecomagination. Over the last two decades, the company has fought several legal battles, including charges of environmental pollution. GE has long been criticized for dumping toxic waste into New York's Hudson River, for example. In 1999, the company agreed to pay $250 million to the United States, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to resolve claims it polluted the Housatonic River with PCBs and other hazardous substances. But, the firm says it now plans to make dramatic cuts to its emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. It aims to drop them to one percent below 2004 levels by 2012: without a change in policy, emissions levels would increase by 40 percent above 2004 levels. According to a 2005 Economist article, the company also hopes to persuade investors that clean energy can be profitable as well. In addition, GE's chief Jeffrey Immelt launched an international campaign to convince politicians that it's possible to have a clean environment and a healthy bottom line. In fact, he said the company would double its revenues by 2010 from 17 clean-technology businesses, including a big boost in spending on research for clean products.

According to The Climate Group, an international nongovernmental organization, a growing number of companies, as well as countries, regions, and cities are taking action to tackle global warming. In the second edition of its publication Carbon Down Profits Up (2005) the group and HSBC, an international financial services organization, reported on 74 companies that have started programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The report also highlights the advantages gained by firms that take early action to address climate change.

The companies in the report come from 18 sectors in 11 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. "All have cut costs and/or increased revenues from reducing emissions. Taken together the gross savings total $11.6 billion U.S. Four of these companies-Bayer, BT, DuPont, and Norske Canada--have achieved absolute GHG reductions of 60 percent or more with total gross savings of $4 billion U.S. Another 21 companies have achieved GHG reductions of over 25 percent and saved another $10.9 billion U.S."

In addition to cutting emissions, some of the firms have created low-carbon products, such as Toyota's Prius. Others have embraced research and development in clean technology, such as GE's commitment to invest $1.5 billion a year in the area by 2010. And, some are moving into the alternate energy market as worldwide demand for wind, solar, geothermal, and fuel cell energy increases.

In fact, most large corporations now highlight their service to the community in their annual reports along with financial results. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an industry in itself, spawning experts in both consulting firms and executive suites.

One of the CSR leading lights is The Body Shop, which started in England in 1976 with its motto of Profits with Principles. The company opposes animal testing of its products, defends human rights, practises fair trade, and aims to improve energy efficiency in its shops, offices, and factories.

Reports are published regularly on the most ethical companies, the most sustainable companies, the most philanthropic companies, the best employers.

Acknowledging that corporations have huge potential for harm, the Canadian magazine, Corporate Knights, celebrates the country's best corporate citizens. Its annual survey judges companies on their actions in reducing factory emissions, paying their CEOs a fair wage relative to earnings, providing leadership opportunities to women and visible minorities, paying their fair share of taxes, avoiding work stoppages and making sure worker's pensions are properly funded better than the rest. Included in the top 50 for 2006 are Shoppers Drug Mart, Reitman's, Toyota, and Dofasco.

Many on the Corporate Knights list make Maclean's annual list of the top 100 employers as well. Among past corporations to make the grade are Manulife for its employee fitness programs; University of Toronto for providing 100 percent tuition subsidies, on-site day cares, Christmas shutdown, and reduced summer hours; Toyota for employee car discounts and family fitness centres; and Dofasco for its long-heralded employee profit-sharing plan, and for providing one of the country's best employee health and safety programs.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. "... while multinational corporations can do more to prevent their presence from undermining sustainable development and the promotion of human rights, it is ultimately up to governments to define proper responsibilities," states an article at YaleGlobal (a publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization). Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your view.

2. When U.S. manufacturer Deere & Company learned that it was sixth among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens in 2004, the company's chief, Robert W. Lane, said "It's recognition like this that makes you want to get up in the morning. "Business Ethics Magazine, which publishes the report every year, says the list ranks companies according to service to seven stakeholder groups: stockholders, community, minorities and women, employees, environment, non-U.S, stakeholders, and customers. And it adds that "Good corporate citizens serve all constituencies well. That's the emerging definition of corporate success." Research some of the companies on the 2006 list (http://www.business-ethics. com/whats_new/100best.htm) and discuss what makes them ethical. Do the same for the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World at http://www.global100.org/ what.asp.

3. According to a 2000 report by the Institute for Policy Studies (Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power), "a full five percent of the Top 200s' combined workforce is employed by Wal-Mart, a company notorious for union-busting and widespread use of part-time workers to avoid paying benefits. The discount retail giant is the top private employer in the world, with 1,140,000 workers, more than twice as many as No. 2, DaimlerChrysler, which employs 466,938." But Slate Magazine, a daily online magazine owned by The Washington Post Company, reported some encouraging news in October 2005: Wal-Mart's CEO, Leo Scott, gave a speech in which he said the company planned to become a better citizen by offering more accessible health care to its employees. He also "urged Congress to boost the minimum wage ... (and) pledged that Wal-Mart would reduce energy use in stores, increase the fuel efficiency of (its) vast truck fleet, and generally figure out ways for the big boxes to make a smaller environmental impact." Do a follow-up report to find out what the company has done in the last year to make these changes.

One U.K. survey found that 55 percent of shoppers said they were more likely to buy Fairtrade goods, while 83 percent said businesses should improve long-term trade links to benefit African producers rather than make charitable donations. Pictured here is a Fairtrade coffee farmer in Central America.

In 2004, Alcan Inc. was chosen Best International Corporate Citizen by Corporate Knights magazine. As one of Canada's most international companies, with 88,000 employees worldwide operating in 60 countries, the magazine said Alcan's international community involvement includes philanthropic investment, volunteer work, charity support, and health and education programs. The company's head office is in Montreal, Quebec.

DEFINITION

Business for Social Responsibility (U.S.) defines global corporate social responsibility as "business decision-making linked to ethical values ... and respect for people, communities, and the environment."

FACT FILE

CSR Europe is a European business network of CSR (corporate social responsibility) professionals which consists of more than 60 leading multinationals and reaches out to another 1,400 companies through 18 National Partner Organizations.

Websites

United Nations Global Compact--http://www. unglobalcompact.org/

Business Ethics Magazine-http://www.business-ethics. com/index.html

Pew Center on Global Climate Change--http://www. pewclimate.org/companies _leading_the_way_belc / business_resource_portal/ business_reports_res. cfm#cleantech

Carbon Down Profits Up, Second Edition 2005--http://www.pewclirnate.org/ docUploads/climate% 20group%20%2D%2D% 20Carbon%20Down%2C% 20Profits%20Up%2Epdf

RELATED ARTICLE: The global compact.

Following Milton Friedman's advice that "the business of business is business" isn't always considered enough these days. Business critics say it's important for companies to encompass "the triple bottom line," pursuing social and environmental goals as well as profits.

To that end, the United Nations Global Compact was officially launched in New York in July 2000. Now, it includes more than 2,500 companies worldwide, as well as international labour and civil society organizations who support universal environmental and social principles. The Contract outlines ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment, and anticorruption. According to the contract, businesses should:

* Support and respect the protection of inter nationally proclaimed human rights; and make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses;

* Uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour: the effective abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation;

* Support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies; and,

* Work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.

RELATED ARTICLE: The novel idea of simple honesty.

Many of those who scoff at the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility say that any profitable company that behaves honestly and obeys the law in a competitive market is serving the public good without even trying.

As an article in The Economist put it (January 2005) such a company has employees who "willingly work for the company in exchange for wages; the transaction makes them better off. Its customers willingly pay for the company's products; the transaction makes them better off also. All the while, for strictly selfish reasons, well-run companies will strive for friendly long-term relations with employees, suppliers, and customers. There is no need for selfless sacrifice when it comes to stakeholders. It goes with the territory."