The Sustainability Learning Forum

Institutionalizing Global Governance – The Role of the United Nations Global Compact

Prof. Andreas Rasche, Copenhagen Business School
Prof Dirk Ulrich Gilbert, University of Hamburg

The United Nations Global Compact – which is a Global Public Policy Network advocating ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption – has turned into the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative. Although the Global Compact is often characterized as a promising way to address global governance gaps, it remains largely unclear why this is the case. Andreas Rasche and Dirk Ulrich Gilbert discusses to what extent the initiative represents an institutional solution to exercise global governance. more[...]

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Environment Management Report. Focus on sustainability and its implications for CSR

Peter Laerke-Engelschmidt

This book explores what sustainability means, and especially what it means for business. It looks at the tools, techniques, standards and methodologies needed for sustainability and helps you to discover which are most appropriate for your organization and how you would implement them. The report also offers support in the preparation of a business case for moving towards sustainability. This book is not just written for experts, but aims to clarify and communicate the issues of sustainability and provide an invaluable tool for all managers. more[...] login_required

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Good Governance: A risk-based management systems approach to internal control

David Smith, iMS Risk Solutions

This guide shows how organizations can identify and manage their risks for good governance. Since the publication of PD 6668:2000, Managing Risk for Corporate Governance , upon which this book is based, there is a greater appreciation of the importance of risk management in organizations and society at large. more[...] login_required

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Global Compact International Yearbook 2010

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

A profound retrospective of the first decade of the UN Global Compact, challenges in the light of the year of biodiversity, and instruments for an adequate Corporate Citizenship are some of the issues highlighted in the new 2010 edition of the “Global Compact International Yearbook”. Among this years prominent authors are Ban Ki-moon, Bill Clinton, Joschka Fischer and Achim Steiner. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “As the Global Compact enters its second decade, it is my hope that this Yearbook will be an inspiration to bring responsible business to true scale.” Formally presented during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York, the yearbook is now for sale. more[...] login_required

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Global Compact International Yearbook 2009

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

The inaugural issue of the Global Compact International Yearbook , highlighting key sustainability issues on the international agenda and showcasing a wide array of corporate practices, has just been published. more[...] login_required

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On the Role of Human Development in the Arab Spring

Prof. Randall Kuhn, University of Denver

This essay traces the impact of human development on political change, focusing on the events of the Arab Spring. Over the past generation, most Arab States experienced rapid progress in human development outcomes, including declining child mortality, increasing schooling and increasing height of women. I posit that improvements in human development laid the foundation for mobilization against political regimes. more[...]

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Fostering CSR – Contract Seating Manufacturer Kusch+Co

Ferdinand Filusch, Kusch & Co

This Sauerland-based family business offers convincing proof that traditional values can harmoniously coexist with a modern commitment to mankind and to nature. Corporate social responsibility is an intrinsic pillar of Kusch+Co’s corporate strategy. more[...] login_required

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PUMAVision 2011

Dr. Reiner Hengstmann, Puma
Stefan D. Seidel, Puma

As part of PUMAVision – PUMA’s sustainability concept – and in line with its mission to become the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company, PUMA introduced the sustainability scorecard in 2010 to achieve its ambitious environmental targets by 2015. The scorecard lists targets for a 25 percent reduction in energy and water usage as well as climate and waste emissions by 2015 compared to 2010. more[...] login_required

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The Value of Improved Community Awareness

Sibel Bekler, AKSA

AKSA, a leading manufacturer of acrylic and carbon fibers in the world, has initiated a Community Advisory Panel comprised of about 45 representatives of municipal mayors, village elders, teachers, local authorities, and students selected from the villages in the vicinity of the facility. Since 2001, biannual or more frequent Community Advisory Panel meetings are held to assess and evaluate the coexistence of AKSA with the community, including issues of environmental, health, and safety performance of the facility as seen from the eyes of the public. more[...] login_required

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Sustaining Finance and Financing Sustainability in the Middle East

Editorial Team

Project one :In the light of its business excellence and recognition, Arab African International Bank decided to institutionalize the CSR building on its “Belief System “ and depending on a “Structural Approach”. This has produced the “We Owe it To Egypt” Foundation to be the national drive behind significant impact and sustainable development of health and education in Egypt. The Foundation’s main mission is: To pool patriotic resources and establish centers of excellence in health and education. Project two: The bank has adopted the Equator Principles as a regulatory framework for social and environmental impact assessment for projected finance that exceeds the 10 million dollars. more[...] login_required

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Corporate Responsibility Standards

Prof. Andreas Rasche, Copenhagen Business School

This paper discusses so-called corporate responsibility standards (e.g., the Global Reporting Initiative and Social Accountability 8000) from the perspective of post-structuralist philosophy, in particular Derridian thinking. I introduce these different initiatives and contrast them against each other. Next, I offer a discussion of their limits in general, and their paradoxical nature in particular. I conclude with a variety of practical recommendation suggesting that, while corporate responsibility standards can potentially offer good managerial guidance they are also flawed in a variety of ways. more[...]

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Blueprints for Change – The Sustainability Imperative

Susanne Stormer, Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk

50 – 50 – 50. By 2050 there will be 50 percent more people in the world, and we will have been responsible for reducing global carbon emissions by 50 percent. A seemingly simple equation, yet a tall challenge. It makes it painfully clear that sustainable development hinges on our ability to manage growth sustainably and not only make up for the harm we inflict on the global ecosystem, but also to effectively decouple economic value creation from environmental degradation and social inequality. more[...] login_required

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PUMAVision

Dr. Reiner Hengstmann, Puma
Stefan D. Seidel, Puma

2009 was an eventful and challenging year – not only for PUMA but also for the world economy and the Sportlifestyle industry as a whole. The impacts of the financial crisis were felt globally and did not spare PUMA. At the same time, sincere criticism toward unsustainable, short-term financial business models and serious concerns about global warming called not only for a stronger emphasis on concepts of sustainable development within our societies but also for individual industries and single corporations. more[...] login_required

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Corporate Social Responsibility – A Philosophy of Life

María del Rosario García, Mutualista Pichincha
Soledad Burbano, Mutualista Pichincha

For Mutualista Pichincha, corporate social responsibility and the Ten Principles of the Global Compact go far beyond the realm of traditional institutional and professional behavior. They constitute a way of life and a new manner of doing things in all aspects of our entrepreneurship. They must become the engine that drives all our actions at work and at home; with our children, friends, and colleagues; on the streets as well as during public events and all of our daily activities. more[...] login_required

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Big Changes Start Small

Julija Dietrich, Deutsche Telekom

Large business corporations are expected to assume ecological and social responsibility and to adopt sustainable business practices. Deutsche Telekom has been fulfilling this expectation for many years and, in September 2009, began to extend its radius of action to the environment and society and to actively involve customers through its communication campaign for sustainability. more[...]

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