The CSR Way to Add Value and Increase Your Profits

The CSR Way to Add Value and Increase Your Profits

A Compendium Of Concepts and Tools

Kalpana S Murari

2015

\

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the Science of Climate Change

Defining Climate Change

Causes for Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases :Contributing factors

THE SCIENTIFIC PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Desertification

Soil Degradation

Preserving the biodiversity

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Corporate Sustainability

Climate Conventions and International Documents

CONCEPTUALIZING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Eco-Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and Conservation

Economic Efficiency and Resource Efficiency

Sustainable Consumption and Production

Understanding the Triple Bottom Line

Corporate Sustainability

Environmental Reporting for Sustainability

ISO International Standards.

MANDATING ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES.

Environmental Policy as a Precursor

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING

Standards for Corporate Environmental Conduct

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

Environmental justice (EJ)

BUILDING A LOW-CARBON ECONOMY

Voluntary Commitments and Actions in the Private Sector

LEADING THE WAY: DUPONT AND SONY

Policy for CSR in the Supply Chain

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

PREFACE

The present book emerged from material  compiled over  five years of research for working papers  on climate change  and sustainable development. It was later collated  for an undergraduate  preparatory course  in Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  It essentially  discusses  concepts and tools that aid businesses in accomplishing the directive by governments on CSR.  Corporate sustainability can be achieved if and when corporations are mandated to file  reports to regulatory bodies on implementation of tools like the environmental management systems and environmental audits.  CSR, as contemplated in this book is a feasible and viable blueprint that can be emulated by big, small and medium enterprises involved in manufacturing entities and also operate as service providers.   The book is an attempt to guide readers into understanding the means and methods to attain a successful CSR policy that can eventually increase profits.

I was particularly inspired by the text book ‘Climate Change and the Law’ recommended  in my Master’s Program in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at the Lewis and Clark College, Oregon, USA and decided to replicate a similar presentation.   I have, with due permissions from my esteemed Professors, reproduced some of the reading material from the said book and also ‘Legal Protection of the Environment’ on topics relating to Climate Science, Low-carbon Economy and Environmental Impact Assessment. The advantage of publishing the book online was the flexibility it offered to  provide readers access to digital links of  articles, documents and reports. These links enable and  encourage readers to explore the subjects and gain knowledge beyond what has been complied here. I noticed that the Safari browser available on Mac or any Apple device is not suitable for opening the digital links provided in the book and instead Google Chrome serves the purpose. The book is aimed at aiding corporate executives who are decision makers in quality control, global supply chain management,   raw material sourcing and corporate sustainability. The book is a good initiation for those students who wish to pursue higher studies in those subjects. I have extracted case studies and success stories of corporates that have achieved corporate sustainability. Further, I have also provided excerpts from popular books with an aim to encourage students to read them in complete. I have intentionally restricted the narrative so as to avoid the tedium of a textbook.

INTRODUCTION

It  is imperative that the reader understands the basic science of climate change to help him recognize the benefits of adopting climate ethical business practices. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about social innovation and consumerism. CSR in the right sense is the way businesses look beyond philanthropy to reach out  in a more sustainable manner to give back to the society  by achieve sustainability every step of the way. It calls for ethical actions in raw materials sourcing, designing of products and logistics, and devising environment friendly business processes. CSR encompasses every aspect of a business woven into the lifecycle of a product before it is made available for retail. It is also largely about enhancing the brand equity of a product, evolving business cultures, and changing the means by which corporates meet their targets and garner profits. CSR when implemented in the right form is a sophisticated philosophy that can drastically change the decision-making abilities of corporate leaders.   The pragmatic implementation of economic concepts within business modules can increase the profitability of a business, and the global market share of the product.

Finally, CSR works for the planet and mitigates the debilitating effect of climate change by using a top down approach. Businesses are expected to raise the bar on environmental standards  to lead the way in climate innovation and sustainability. Companies are willing to take ownership of the environmental footprints of their products and meet the challenges posed by 'product risk' within their lifecycles by taking a ‘cradle to grave’ approach. A realistic CSR policy forces  businesses to revisit and rethink their business strategies that are not harsh on the planet and ultimately help combat climate change impacts.

Understanding the Science of Climate Change

Human activity is changing the global climate with unpredictable and potentially profound consequences for the planet altering global weather patterns, ecosystems and food security, and human health so much so that it is time we change our thinking to deal with evolving climatic conditions across the world. There are many modes of tackling the emerging climate change issues and the most effective way is to alter our lifestyles. By changing the way we exploit our natural resources, source our raw materials, render our products and their manufacturing processes environment-friendly, and increasing the life cycle of products we can aid in the fight against climate change. To understand and implement the solutions available to tackle climate change it is essential to comprehend the science of climate change and the global carbon cycle.

The threat to our planet and its environment emanates from the warming of the planet due to human activities and the consequences of such global warming remains unclear till date as its residents witness unprecedented scale of events culminating in natural disasters. The atmosphere is a critical part of two carbon cycles, which distribute a chemical raw material required by all living organisms. In the shorter cycle, carbon is fixed in green plants and in certain microorganisms, such as algae, through the process of photosynthesis. This process takes place when sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll, which powers a process that breaks down CO2 from the atmosphere to form organic molecules, such as glucose and amino acids, that accumulate in the biomass of the plants. Animals, which are not capable of photosynthesis, obtain the carbon they need to produce energy for maintaining their bodily processes by eating plants or other animals that are primary or secondary consumers of plants. Carbon is returned to the atmosphere in the form of CO2 through the cellular respiration of living plants and animals and their decomposition upon death. The carbon in vegetation is also released to the atmosphere when it’s burned, as in forest and range fires or slash-burn-farming. The oceans absorb and release vast quantities of CO2 and thus serve as a buffer that keeps the level of CO2 in the atmosphere relatively stable.

There is also a geological carbon cycle that takes place naturally on a much longer scale of time. The cycle begins when organic material from plants and animals slowly becomes locked into sedimentary deposits, where it may remain for hundreds of millions of years in the form of either carbonates, containing the shells of marine organisms or organic fossils, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Some of the carbon is eventually released when the geological formations in which it is locked are exposed to weathering and erosion. Human beings have greatly accelerated the release of this carbon by mining and drilling large quantities of fossil fuels and burning them to produce energy while in the process of emitting CO2

Defining Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines Climate Change as means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. It refers to the response of the planet’s climate system to altered concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that leads to increasing global average temperatures, a condition that is commonly known as the global warming leading to changes in global climate patterns.

Climate change is a complex issue involving science, economics, politics and justice. Scientific aspect of climate change is a constantly evolving one and any uncertainty that futuristic research may cause, it may not deter individuals, organizations and communities to act against its impacts. It raises questions on the ethical issues surrounding the ‘right to development’ achieved at the cost of the poor and vulnerable communities strewn across the world. Poverty alleviation programs are seeing a reversal in trends from being effective in raising the standard of living for the poor to a disturbing trend of communities losing their habitats and their livelihoods, left to the mercy of weather patterns and natural disasters that are a direct result of climate change.

The inevitability of dealing with climate change for a long time into the future seems imminent, especially on the face of extreme weather related events across the globe. Most of the developing countries lack sufficient financial and technological capacities to manage climate-related risks even as they depend on agriculture and other climate-sensitive natural resources for subsistence living. Multi-faceted approaches have been considered to tackle climate change impacts, including sector based, human rights based and ecosystem based methods. In the meanwhile, climate change presents itself as a major challenge to legal and policy based approach to environment protection.

Read: A Framework for Understanding the Fundamentals of Climate Change

Causes for Climate Change

Most of the climate scientists believe that the cause for climate change is the human expansion of the greenhouse effect – warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat from Earth to space creating a blanket around the earth. Gases involved in this effect include water vapor, carbon di oxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Water vapor and gases such as carbon dioxide and methane allow energy from the sun to pass through the atmosphere to the earth’s surface, and then trap a portion of that energy before it is radiated back into space. This so-called greenhouse effect is a natural