International

Russian businesses offer some Soviet-era employee services as well as sound environmental programs as they globalize

If you ask American experts what they know about Russian CSR activities, the majority would probably answer “nothing.” This is not particularly surprising. And if the same question is asked in the European Union, which is geographically closer to Russia, the answer would still be the same. This is unsatisfactory and the following discussion is one of the steps toward informing people about Russia’s CSR expertise and how the country’s businesses are integrating into the global process of developing new CSR standards and practices.

Report finds many countries made "significant improvement" in governance practices.

The World Bank Institute released its annual “Worldwide Govern­ance Indicators,” which measures governance practices across six categories in 212 countries.

The second Global Compact Leaders Summit revealed strides in responsible business performance and introduced new environmental mandates.

Responsible business practices—with an emphasis on environmental issues—were at the forefront of the second U.N. Global Compact Leaders Summit June 5-6 in Geneva Switzerland, as embodied in both new initiatives and recent study findings.  

Recent federal inquiries and discussions at the Australian Stock Exchange are raising the profile of corporate social responsibility in Australia.

Australia has recently experienced an upsurge of interest in corporate social responsibility. Many of the biggest Australian corporations (including banks such as Westpac, mining houses such as BHP Billiton and construction and development companies like Lend Lease) are already at the global forefront of corporate responsibility in their industry sectors. An increasing number of companies are publishing sustainability reports and, of those that are publishing, many are using the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) new G3 Guidelines as a template.

Europe has led on climate change. Now, it is staking out leadership on chemicals with the new REACH regulations.

The December adoption by the European Union of a new community-wide chemicals regulatory regime is still reverberating through the $2.56 trillion global industry, which is struggling to grasp the enormity of the coming changes. The principal aim of the new regime—known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, Restriction of Chemicals), which comes into force in June—is to enhance environmental and public health protection.

Does the new UN Secretary General have the commitment—and corporate experience—to drive the compact?

When the CEO of Novartis met with the Secretary General of the United Nations in the summer of 2000, neither suspected that the result would be to reinvent the very way the Swiss pharmaceutical giant does business. Kofi Annan was merely trying to entice Dr. Daniel Vasella and other corporate leaders to join his new Global Compact.

Since then, more than 3,000 CEOs have signed the Compact, making it the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. Annan’s objective was to bring companies together with labor, civil society and UN agencies “to unite the power of the market with the authority of universal ideals.”

Shining a new spotlight on the field of microfinance.

The award in October of the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and the institution he founded 30 years ago, Grameen Bank, has focused new interest on the field of microfinance, which provides the poor a way out of poverty by lending them small amounts of money for short periods of time without asking for collateral. The loans have allowed millions of low-income people to grow tiny businesses into viable enterprises.

Many advocates for aid to Africa seem to be unaware of how important the private sector is for growth. After 40 years of aid that has climbed into the trillions, Sub-Saharan Africa is poorer now than it was in 1960.

Lack of money isn’t the problem -- the system just doesn’t work. The real question is: Why has Africa been left out of the business revolution?

Alien Tort Claims Act Pushes Corporate Respect for Human Rights

It’s a law that’s been on the books since 1789 — a law that has the potential to dramatically increase corporate accountability for human-rights abuses. But, amazingly, some 200 years later, we know very little about how courts will interpret the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) in cases against corporations. Is it the silver bullet human-rights activists hope for — or just a weak weapon, as some multinational corporations might want to believe?

Government-created structures help "black empowerment" take off.

With its “Project Grow” initiative, the South African paper maker Sappi Manufacturing helps subsistence farmers start self-sustaining tree farms. It provides them with free plant material, technical advice, and interest-free loans — plus it guarantees the farmers a market for their product.