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Posts within ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’
Ceres Report: Sustainable Biz a Necessity, Not a Nicety
A report issued by Ceres this week sends a message loud and clear to for-profit business:
Start taking sustainability seriously – or else.
As energy prices rise, populations grow and resources become increasingly constrained, the report explains, sustainability strategies are no longer a “nice to do,” but rather a critical business necessity – and a factor in determining success.
“Sustainability performance is fundamental for business success in the 21st century,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, which published the report, The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability. “If businesses deepen their efforts to solve social and environmental threats, it will position them to innovate and compete in the fast-changing, resource-constrained global economy.”
The report provides a roadmap of sorts for integrating sustainability into every aspect of business, focusing on 4 distinct areas: governance, stakeholder engagement, disclosure and performance. It also calls for significant performance improvements from companies by 2020. Among the report’s 20 key expectations for companies:
- Make energy efficiency and renewable energy the foundation for company operations
- Design and implement closed-loop systems so that air and wastewater emissions are eliminated and zero waste is produced
- Dedicate 50 percent of research and development investment to developing sustainability solutions
- Compensate and provide incentives for top executives and other employees to drive sustainability into the business
The good news is that many companies already recognize the challenges outlined in the Ceres report, and are incorporating them into their business planning. Further good news? Given the best practice examples the report includes, along with the clearly-defined roadmap for implementation, companies that are currently lagging behind can quickly and easily become educated, inspired and on their way to greater sustainability.
More information and report downloads can be found at www.ceres.org.
Helping Haiti from the Streets of Taiwan
Timberland Earthkeepers in Taiwan took to the streets last weekend with their “Help Haiti Road Show,” designed to raise support for relief efforts in Haiti. A team of models dressed in Timberland Yele Haiti gear paraded along streets in Taipei, accompanied by Janet Hsieh – actress, musician, designer and host of the travel show “Fun Taiwan.”
Minister Mario Chouloute, the Haitian representative to Taiwan, was also on hand to give a status update on recovery efforts in Haiti:
Our thanks to the Taiwan team for their efforts to raise awareness for the ongoing needs in Haiti. To learn more about how Timberland is contributing to Haiti relief efforts — and how you can help – visit our Help Haiti webpage.
Modeling Corporate Climate Action
By admin /
February 24th, 2010 /
Categories: Corporate Social Responsibility, green consumerism
/ Comments
It’s easy to get the impression that there is no hope for climate action. Perhaps you’ve heard that the recent DC snowstorms buried any chance to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. Or that hacked emails have set the climate movement back a decade. We have a completely ineffectual Senate, a gun-shy EPA, and a dysfunctional global climate community. Our political leadership seems to be paralyzed by fear to take on the climate crisis.
That’s not the impression you’d get reading the business news, though. There, you would have seen a year of climate momentum. In October, several major companies left the US Chamber of Commerce over its position on corporate climate action. Bill Gates has called for making climate change our #1 priority. Every week, another company seems to be launching a new effort to reduce its climate impact. The steady ticker of corporate action toward energy efficiency, renewable energy investment, carbon neutrality, and extraordinary technological innovation tells a remarkably different story than our stuck-in-the-mud politics and lightweight public discourse on climate.
We’ve launched a new project, Climate Counts Industry Innovators (or i2) that will help this momentum build. We heard from so many companies–even after our first year of company scoring in 2007–that simply got it. They understood that an external review of their climate actions made simple for consumers could have real long-term brand benefit in an increasingly competitive world. We found a forward-thinking group of companies that voluntarily wanted to go through our scoring process; they wanted to face Climate Counts’ scrutiny of their carbon management efforts to bolster an already strong spirit of environmental innovation with an outside point of view. Six of those companies now comprise our charter group of i2 companies: Amtrak , Ben & Jerry’s , Clif Bar , REI , Shaklee , and Timberland . They represent different sectors, different geographies, different sizes, and different corporate structures. But what they share is a commitment to making it clear to consumers that climate action is business leadership. They’re helping build markets for renewables, they’re testing new technologies, they’re helping employees and consumer make the link between their lives and climate change, and they’re doing the common-sense work of running their companies more efficiently.
This is yet more proof that businesses that are committed to their own long-term viability understand the realities of climate change, aren’t being misled by the climate deniers, and respect the steady evolution of consumers on issues as complex as climate change. They’re positioning themselves to out-compete the companies still dithering on climate.
Companies that are setting a high bar on corporate climate responsibility are increasingly faced with a critical issue: how to gain the consumer’s attention for that leadership. Since launching our Climate Counts Company Scorecard three years ago, we’ve always maintained that companies wanting to see real ROI from credible sustainability programs and investments need to make it abundantly clear to consumers what they’ve done and why.
When it comes to innovation of all kinds (technological, environmental, or otherwise), consumers want to be wowed. They are drawn to CEOs who have put the time and resources into developing meaningful solutions to problems. Consumers may not always know what to ask of companies about their climate and sustainability programs, but they want to be impressed by the innovation they represent. More importantly, though, they have to believe it. But it’s not just about who’s the loudest or more effusive or uses the best shade of green in a logo or ad campaign. In a world where recycling and light bulbs still define the consumer environmental conversation, companies have a unique opportunity, even responsibility, to lead consumers on the issues that really matter.
What’s the best news about the innovative actions of these companies? While they’re confidently preparing to put distance between themselves and climate laggards, they’re also helping us all imagine a world that’s both better for good business and better for the people and resources upon which they depend.
Wood Turner is the executive director of Climate Counts. To learn more about the Climate Counts Industry Innovators program, visit http://i2.climatecounts.org or e-mail i2@climatecounts.org
We’re Blushing Right Down to Our Green-Rubber Soles
Fast Company has unveiled their list of most innovative companies for 2010 … notables in every industry who are turning the formula of innovative ideas + creative execution into powerful initiatives. Timberland is honored to be included on the list, with our partnership with Green Rubber noted as one of the ways we’re working to make a profit while making a positive impact.
Here are a few of our favorite innovators from this year’s list:
- Eco-conscious architecture firm Kieran Timberlake has designed pre-fab homes that can be assembled on-site on one day. The homes are LEED-certified and feature solar panels, recycled wood-and-bamboo siding and automatic ventilation systems.
- Envion recently unveiled a plastic-to-oil technology that can, using a proprietary infrared process, convert 10,000 tons of plastic trash per year into up to 50,000 barrels of synthetic oil for less than $10 per barrel.
- Frito-Lay moved one-third of its 32 plants to "zero landfill" last year, and the rest will achieve that goal by the end of 2011.
- Zipcar ! Need we say more?
Our thanks to Fast Company for the honor … and our congratulations to the amazing array of companies with us on this year’s list. To view the entire list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2010, click here.
Bearing Witness to Haiti
By admin /
February 2nd, 2010 /
Categories: Corporate Social Responsibility, earthkeeping
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The following is an email sent by Timberland President and CEO Jeff Swartz to Timberland employees worldwide, chronicling his recent trip to Haiti. We’re sharing it here on Earthkeepers because we believe it stands up to its name — "bearing witness" — as a powerful account of destruction and survival in Haiti … and provides perspective for the important work that lies ahead as the nation rebuilds.
Team Timberland,
So, what’s so hard about this note, which I have intended to write for a week? Last week, I visited Haiti, in the company of Bill Shore , the founder and executive director of Share Our Strength, and a Timberland Board member, and chair of the Board’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, and in the company of Wyclef Jean , a 12 time Grammy award winner, a Haitian musician and activist, Timberland’s partner in an effort to plant trees and reforest Haiti, as part of our global Earthkeeper efforts. The visit was in response to the earthquake that struck Haiti 3 weeks ago; our visit was an attempt to focus Timberland’s Earthkeeper resources temporarily on disaster relief. The trip was emotional and powerful; I left Saturday night and was back in the office Tuesday.
So, what’s so hard about a brief note that describes the heroism of the many doctors we saw, the heartbreak of the destruction we saw, the inspiration I felt with Bill and Wyclef, and the indignation I felt at the world’s well intended but inept efforts to cope with this disaster?
Maybe it is the scale of the disaster, in the context of a country already ravaged by history. Maybe it is the raw, emotional experience of being amidst death and destruction, and in the presence of the dying. Maybe it is the feeling of futility, the ultimate experience of the City Year “Starfish” story , that waited for me at each stop we made in Haiti—yes, we made a difference here, but wow, we did not even scratch the surface of the pain and agony here…
For all these reasons and more, I have not done my job by you; I have not been able to bear witness to you from Haiti. So, below, I have tried to right that wrong. Call this note, “bearing witness”–but “bear with me” also works–it is a very long note. Long for the reasons I cite above, and long because it is hard even now for me to say simply why a bootmaker flew to Hell and how the experience of that Hell affirmed my belief in the mission of commerce and justice. So, here goes.
Imagining a New Way Forward
By admin /
February 1st, 2010 /
Categories: Corporate Social Responsibility, earthkeeping
/ Comments
Last week , Billy Shore provided a poignant account of his trip to Haiti with Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz and Earthkeeper Wyclef Jean , among others. Below, Jeff Swartz shares his own thoughts on the devastation in Haiti, how it redefined Timberland’s partnership with our partner Yéle Haiti … and how innovation is built from crisis.
Please note this is excerpted from a piece which appears on Fast Company today. Please click here to read the entire entry, and our thanks to the Fast Company team for sharing.
After the earthquake
We reached out, and Wyclef moved from celebrity entertainer to Haitian leader—from rapping out lyrics, to rapping out directions. He told us from the ground, aid is pouring in, and stalling at the airport. Not a question of good instincts, good intentions, pure hearts—but the issue is not about intention, it’s about execution. Get the food, get the water, get the medical supplies to the people—period. And Wyclef was hard but clear: we are a for-profit company, with superb logistic competences, and with a factory for over 20 years in Santiago, in the Dominican Republic— just 100 miles from Port au Prince. He told us to urgently mobilize the trucks, open the warehouse, and get material flowing. Yéle will get the food packed—Timberland has to get it delivered. And then Yéle will do its magic—mobilizing young Haitians, in neighborhoods like Bel Air and Cité Soleil, to distribute food to the hungry, hope to the powerful souls living in the open after the quake. Do what you do well—do what a great bootmaker does—work your logistics network, and partner with the right entrepreneurial partner, and together—we can deliver good.
And so we did—we mobilized our logistics team in the DR, and went to work. And while we are not Federal Express or UPS—we grunted and we got shipments moving over land.
And then Wyclef said—get on the plane and come here, and see the model for building a new Haiti. A model that is one part the private sector, one part the authentic and effective NGO, and nine parts the spirit of free Haiti. See Timberland plus Yéle plus the young of Haiti work in a specific, focused way to be part of creating a new Haiti.
So I went. They say journeys are more about who you travel with, and less about the itinerary. On this voyage, I had the company and counsel of heroes —like Bill Shore (the founder and CEO of Share Our Strength, Timberland board member and teacher of mine), and a team from Partners in Health who needed a ride to this island in desperate need of medical miracles. We made our way to Port au Prince. And in the searing humidity, we served 8,000 hot meals that Yéle had found a way to cook. We served from the back of a truck, in Cité Soleil. We sweated, and cried, and we saw the outlines of a way forward. One part private sector competence and passion, one part on-the-ground entrepreneurial NGO brilliance, and 9 parts Haitian strength and dignity and grace and energy. And when we wheeled out of Cité Soleil, while my heart will never be the same, neither will my head.
Spending two days in post-earthquake Haiti does not make me akin to its survivors — but it was time enough for me to develop a new understanding of crisis and devastation and reaffirmed for me, a third-generation entrepreneur, that out of crisis flows innovation. Before the earthquake, I was the CEO of a for-profit company with strength to share and a passion for commerce and justice. Planting trees in Haiti felt like, looked like, the right thing to do. It still is. Only now, post-quake, I’m a CEO with strength and passion who has witnessed both frustration and amazingly, hope in both a ravaged land and its survivors. Tomorrow we’ll plant trees … today we’re growing a logistical network from Santiago to Cité Soleil. Tomorrow we’ll revisit our marketing plans — today we’re leveraging our strategy skills to figure out how to get more food into the hands of the hungry. Trees, yes, community building, yes — a solid vision for the future is as critical to Haiti’s survival as anything right now. But before the re-growth, a nation needs to heal, and before it can heal, it needs help.
Jeff Swartz
President & CEO, Timberland
Sharing Our Strength
More than a week after Haiti’s earthquake , the tragedy still remains at the forefront of our hearts and minds. And while it’s good news that relief and recovery efforts are underway, it’s clearly not enough. Countless reports lament the fact that critical supplies aren’t being transported or distributed quickly enough, nor reaching those who need them most. Goods and personnel coming into the island nation remain largely bottlenecked, as Port Au Prince ’s nonfunctioning seaport and many impassible roads hinder relief efforts.
It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of so many challenges … but it’s also an opportunity to think creatively about how you might be able to help.
Timberland knows very little about disaster relief. But we do know about distribution – getting goods from Point A to Point B is a critical component of our business, and so we have to know how to manage it fairly well.
Another thing we know about is making boots – and one of the primary places we do it is in the Dominican Republic , where we’ve owned and operated a factory since 1982. Our Dominican Timberland community is 1,600 people strong, operating out of 10 buildings in the Free Zone Pisano in Santiago.
So – if we leverage our experience in managing transportation and distribution, make use of our workforce and facilities in the DR as a means of bringing supplies to the island, and then work with our existing partner on the ground, Yele Haiti – we just might be able to help get supplies into the hands of the survivors who need them most.
We tested the model a few days ago, facilitating the delivery of 70,000 pounds of food and medical supplies from Toronto to Santiago where it was trucked across the border and into Haiti. It worked – and now we’re committed to making the model more scalable so that we can continue to use the infrastructure and people power we already have in place to lend our strength in the best way we can. We have the model, we have the desire … now we simply need to figure out how.
In the weeks and months to come, we look forward to revisiting the original mission of our partnership with Yele Haiti – reforestation – and hope to move ahead with our plans to build a tree nursery and provide both trees and fruit for a region more in need than ever. For now, we are proud to have found a way to support the critical work they’re doing to bring care and relief to people in Haiti.
You can make a donation to the Yele Haiti earthquake fund by clicking here or texting the word “yele” to 501501 ($5 per text will be donated).
Helping Haiti
The shock of yesterday’s 7.0 earthquake in Haiti is being felt around the world.
We wait now for news of both damage and survivors … we pray for those whose lives and families have been devastated … and we unite, in concern and compassion and with a desire to do whatever we can to contribute to the relief and recovery Haiti and its community desperately and urgently need.
Waiting is unavoidable. Praying is, for many, instinctive. But uniting in common concern and acting, in hopes of turning devastation into renewal, is where our greatest power now lies.
A few months back, Timberland announced its partnership with Yéle Haiti – a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while transforming the country through educational, cultural and environmental programs. At the time, the vision for our partnership with Yele Haiti was one of reforestation – building a tree nursery in Gonaives , a city in northern Haiti devastated by a series of hurricanes and storms; enlisting local farmers to maintain it; and using the trees grown there to reforest the hillsides surrounding the city.
Yesterday afternoon, our partnership with Yele Haiti took a dramatic and unexpected turn. Many communities in the island nation have been reduced to rubble … and instead of focusing on ways to positively transform those communities, Yele Haiti today is mobilizing medical and emergency supplies to provide them critical relief.
As part of our partnership with Yele Haiti, Timberland makes a donation to the organization for every pair of Earthkeepers™ Yele Haiti boots and every Yele Haiti t-shirt that we sell. While the original intent for that donation was to support Haiti’s reforestation, we’re now rededicating our efforts – and our donation – to the country’s earthquake relief.
It is good intent and good effort … but undoubtedly not enough. Should you wish to contribute personally to the massive relief effort underway, this link will allow you to donate directly to the Yéle Haiti organization. You can also donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “yele” to 501501.
While the enormity of this earthquake has left destruction beyond comprehension, the will, spirit and soul of people around the globe who are willing to help a nation in need will equally astound. Together, we can and will help Haiti and its people heal, strengthen and recover.
Jeff Swartz
President & CEO, Timberland
Earthkeeping in India
By admin /
January 11th, 2010 /
Categories: Corporate Social Responsibility, earthkeeping
/ Comments
Rita Kodkani is a member of the Timberland team in India, as well as one of our company’s Global Stewards — a group of passionate individuals who volunteer, above and beyond their regular work duties, to engage and empower fellow employees to take part in community service initiatives worldwide.
A few months back, Rita took a much-deserved vacation … and spent it in her home region of Bundelkhand in central India, leading a tree-planting project. Over the course of several days, Rita worked with a local NGO and community volunteers to plant more than 100 trees in village and farm areas alike — and also spent time educating community members on energy conservation, forestation and climate change.
Talk about making the most of your vacation.
Our sincere thanks to Rita for sharing her story and the following photos from her tree-planting experience … and for providing leadership and inspiration to other Earthkeepers across the globe.
A Final Word (or two) on Copenhagen
Our Copenhagen correspondent team caught up with Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz when he joined other business leaders at the climate conference last month. As the video suggests, plenty of businesses and their leaders are forging ahead with creating climate solutions — even absent binding legislation.
