Social workers

Corporate social responsibility - or CSR - is starting to capture the collective imagination and consciousness of businesses everywhere. It is the classic trickle that is becoming a torrent, driven by organisations' changing perceptions of how they should behave in relation to the environment and the wider community with which they engage. And it is manifesting itself in a multitude of colours - from bursaries and sponsorships of music and the arts, the recycling of discarded office furniture and PCs to help the homeless re-establish themselves within society, to businesses setting themselves sustainable development goals that reflect care and consideration for the environment and their impact on those around them. The UK government has also thrown its weight behind CSR, defining it as "the voluntary actions that business can take, over and above compliance with minimum legal requirements, to address both its own competitive interests and the interests of wider society". It sees CSR as good for humanity and good for business, arguing that a better understanding of the potential benefits of CSR for the competitiveness of individual companies and for national economies can help encourage the spread of CSR practice. As a result, the DTI and other government departments have supported initiatives exploring the business case for CSR, engaging with organisations such as Forum for the Future - a charity that works in partnership with business, the public sector and others to build a sustainable future - on projects examining the links between CSR, sustainability and business performance. Forum for the Future believes a popular way of understanding sustainability is the concept of the 'triple bottom line': economic, environmental and social accountability. "A significant number of businesses are waking up to the sustainability agenda," says the charity's Sally Uren. "A growing number of companies are already adapting one or more parts of their business in ways that mark them out as leaders in the field of sustainable development. They are the 'leader businesses' - the ones that are setting trends and reaping the rewards. They are the ones to watch." Far from being a fad, Uren believes the escalation of this trend is inevitable. "Over the course of the next few years, we will see a new breed of business that will be winners on all fronts. Not only will their profits be enhanced, they will also play a central role in delivering a more sustainable way of life." One of those winners undoubtedly is Land Rover. Key figures from government, education and industry, including Uren, have agreed to oversee the company's carbon dioxide offsetting programme, run by Climate Care, which includes Land Rover investing in new technologies to further reduce the emissions from its vehicles. Meanwhile, at the national level, there is still much to be done, with the UK's carbon emissions rising by 1.25% last year, according to provisional government data, although Britain remains on course to meet its Kyoto Protocol goal. The main reason for the increase was a move from gas to coal for electricity generation. Emissions of all greenhouse gases in the Kyoto deal were up approximately 0.5%, but are still below the target of a 12.5% cut from 1990 by the period 2008-2012. The UK's total greenhouse emissions last year were down about 15% from the 1990 figure. However, CO2 output rose from 544.2 million tonnes in 2005 to 560.6 million tonnes in 2006, a significant rise compared to previous years. The nation's CO2 output is now only 5.25% below the 1990 figure that is used as the baseline for the main Kyoto Protocol gases. "While these figures are provisional, they underline why concerted effort to tackle climate change, both from government and wider society, is absolutely critical," states environment secretary David Miliband. "Despite this year's provisional figures, we have a good foundation to build on. We're still on track to almost double our Kyoto commitment, with an estimated 23.6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2010, and we expect the long-term downward trend to continue." The government admitted last year it would fail to meet its unilateral target, set before the 1997 general election, of cutting CO2 emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2010. Instead, it said existing policies would yield a 15-18% cut over the same period. What is clear is that the current response to climate change - whether corporate or governmental - still has some way to go. And while the contribution of different companies varies significantly as they face greatly divergent risks and opportunities, Forum for the Future argues that all companies, regardless of sector, should be engaged on this critical issue. "The negative economic consequences of inaction will, over time, dwarf those of action now," it argues, "and business will suffer alongside the rest of society. Conversely, those companies that offer products and services with a lower climate impact than their competitors will increasingly realise advantage in the marketplace." This is an argument with which Envirowise's business partnership leader Simon Drury has a great deal of empathy. "CSR is all about organisations acknowledging the sustainability of business by recognising the positive impact they can have on society and the environment. And by 'society', I mean customers, staff, investors, stakeholders, people in general and the community in which those businesses operate. In terms of the environment, it's not only about using materials and manufacturing products that sustain that environment, but also how waste is re-absorbed, especially toxic chemicals, as there is only so much that can go to landfill, for example, before we run out of space." Drury believes more and more businesses are now developing an awareness of, and consideration for, their social responsibilities. "The challenge is trying to integrate this into the organisational paradigm and ethos of the business by constantly asking themselves, 'how are we handling this? Why are we doing this?' It's about questioning their approach to the whole manufacturing lifecycle, for example - from the planning stage, right through to construction and disposal. "Organisations are being driven by legislation along environmentally sustainable routes anyway. The main barrier to making this happen is that they have to make this an integrated part of their business processes, an everyday occurrence. If they don't, they will be missing out on a significant element of their potential future profitability - and survivability." Some of the tangible benefits Drury singles out in the manufacturing process are the use of cleaner designs and less natural resources. "The cheapest resource you will ever find is the one you never use, of course." But it goes deeper than that. When it comes to the end of life of these goods, they can be disposed of responsibly. "Instead of throwing out office furniture and PCs, which go to landfill sites at a cost of so much per tonne, they could be reused within the community, as is happening increasingly - to help people rebuild their lives, for example. Boots now take the sandwiches left on their shelves at the end of the day and make sure they go to the local homeless. "There are so many ways that CSR can be actioned," Drury concludes. "For every single waste stream, it's possible to find a home. Unless you look, you won't know." One company that has certainly looked - and found - is 2006 Best Factory_Awards winner Vitacress Salads, Europe's leading grower and packer of watercress, rocket, baby leaf salads and speciality vegetables. In fact, CSR is built into the fabric of how it operates. "The protection of, and involvement in, the environment is part and parcel of our way of life," says CEO Nick Stenning. "There is something about enlightened self-interest that, as a farming-based business, is intrinsic to the way in which we relate to the countryside." That has been a powerful catalyst behind the company's comprehensive CSR policy, in which it seeks to encapsulate caring for the environment, sustainability, biodiversity and corporate governance. "In terms of our crops, our approach and philosophy is very much based on 'grow-with-the-sun'," adds Stenning. "There is this whole argument about whether a rose grown in Kenya, for example, and flown all the way to the UK is acceptable. Yet it's been shown that it accounts for only 17% of the carbon emissions, when compared to a rose grown in Holland. The difference is that the former uses all the power of nature outdoors, as opposed to being grown artificially in greenhouses, with all the energy that requires." Natural approach Philosophically, the company has always believed in 'grow with nature'. "We don't have lots of greenhouses that require huge amounts of energy to keep them going, particularly in winter. Instead, during the winter months, we source the majority of our products from our large farms in Portugal where essentially we grow the same products as we grow in the UK during the summer. As the summer season ends here, we switch over to Portugal. We believe fundamentally that you get better products that way, but there is no doubt that, as our understanding and awareness of CO2 emissions has increased, it also turns out to be a better approach environmentally." Reducing its carbon footprint is an essential part of Vitacress Salads' attitude to CSR. For the past two years, it has been working to calculate its levels of CO2 emissions and now has a precise measure for each pallet of salad leaf distributed by the business. The upshot is that the company has been able to reduce associated emissions by 30%. "We've also been working with the Carbon Trust on one particular project where the opportunity has been identified to reduce CO2 by 60 tonnes per annum, mainly by plugging some gaps in the cold chain and reducing the amount of wasted energy," he says. It's an approach that sits well with the Carbon Trust's own take on carbon emissions. "Carbon offsetting should be seen as the final step within a robust carbon management strategy," says senior account manager Hugh Jones. "Good quality offsetting should only be explored once all means to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions at source have been exhausted, and companies have reduced emissions from their supply chain to deliver low carbon products and services. This approach delivers a double bottom line benefit of reducing energy costs and avoiding the costs incurred through offsetting, not to mention doing the right thing for the environment." Vitacress Salads is also keen to minimise the impact of its farms on the local community. "We have a dozen farms in the UK, ranging from small watercress farms to ones with their own packing operations, where they have tractors on the roads and are out harvesting in the early hours of the morning. So we are conscious of the effect this can have on our neighbours. That prompted us to set up a community forum where we meet regularly with the relevant parish councils, enabling us to inform them of what's happening within our business and to listen to any issues they might raise." And staff at Vitacress Salads' head office have created holts for otters - there's a webcam link, so that anyone who is interested can watch them - while the biodiversity of the company's sites helps to sustain all sorts of species, with the bumble bee population now thriving. CSR is nothing new as a concept, of course. The AESSEAL site in Rotherham (below, right), which designs and manufactures mechanical seals and support systems, has accorded CSR growing prominence across its operations for at least 20 years. "Right from the outset, our MD Chris Rea recognised that, in the market we serve, you have to have a visionary concept of doing things right and being seen to do them right," says Jamie Thums, general manager of the company's Derby facility and head of excellence. "CSR is not a bolt-on to the business. It's about creating a continuous improvement regime that embraces everyone - customers, suppliers, your staff and the community at large." All of this does come at a cost, Thums admits, though not an insurmountable one. "It has to be absorbed internally. Also, we are in this for the long term and see CSR as the value-added part of the business. Important as profitability undoubtedly is, there has to be the right balance and CSR is the complementary element that we believe will deliver that sustainability as we grow and prosper as an organisation. "Legislation is arguably tightening all the time, forcing companies to be more responsible in the way they engage with a world that is increasingly shrinking through globalisation. Our strategy as a business is to try to do that voluntarily through a balanced approach that allows us to delivery against financial and commercial goals. It's about sustainability and best practice, which we believe is the way forward."