Tantalum and Section 1052: these two very obscure terms are getting a lot of attention from over 6,000 U.S. and global companies these days, especially from those in the electronics sector. Section 1052 is the clause of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires the SEC to issue disclosure and audit requirements for publicly traded companies that manufacture products containing (more…)

The group Oxfam has published an online scorecard assessing the agricultural sourcing of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies, rating them on factors that include water resource management, climate awareness, and transparency.

Using publicly available information, the “Behind the (more…)

In a world where billions of people go hungry every day, the very idea that a good chunk of our global food production goes to waste sounds outrageous. But this is what happens. The problem is so serious that it has prompted the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to launch a campaign to reduce food (more…)

Articles on corporate strategy from traditional sources—that is, from the major consulting and accounting firms—offer plenty of valuable advice on everything from organizational design to reaching new markets to creating innovative products. Unfortunately, they usually miss a major factor that can make or break a corporate strategy: sustainability. (more…)

A company’s supply chain is one of its top levers for addressing climate change. However, as the Carbon Disclosure Project’s latest supply chain report shows, it is challenging in practice to reduce supplier greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the report, which describes the actions of more than 2,300 suppliers, there remains a significant gap in efforts to reduce GHG (more…)

Lean concepts popularized the supply chain and took procurement and operations to a new level of supply chain management understanding. Characterized by the efficient movement of materials with minimal work in process and inventory, these integrated process flows were dependent on aligned supplier/customer incentives. But in 2008 when times became tough and (more…)

A reader sent me this article on the metrics we need to determine how “green” certain of our actions are. Specifically, how do we measure our success at contributing to the “triple bottom line,” where investments pay returns financially, socially, and environmentally?

Yes, it would be terrific, for example, if a business had (more…)

Timberland is emerging as a leading model of a socially responsible company as it demonstrates what it is doing to help provide a better quality of life for the children whose parents work in its factories. One of the impacts of supply chains like Timberland’s is that children are separated from their parents for long stretches of time and distance. Besides the (more…)

“I think the internal combustion engine will disappear from the streets of our cities in the next thirty years because transportation will be mass transportation, or probably electrical power.” — Gaylord Nelson, April 1990[1]

Unless something really amazing happens in the next (more…)

Corporate social responsibility has quickly evolved over the years, from changing light bulbs to strategically embedding sustainability into business operations. CSR has not been part of the boardroom conversation for very long – at least not in Canada – and so progress made among a growing number of companies is encouraging. That being said, business (more…)