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The other day we received an email here at CO3 Towers, alerting us to a number of forthcoming CSR industry events that we might wish to consider attending. Nothing too unusual in that – we are a CSR consultancy after all. But the email got us thinking: what are the respective merits of these numerous [...]

The Times’ City Diary column recently hinted at a potential “hatchet job” on Michael O’Leary [Chief Executive of Ryanair], by the hand of a well-known and long-standing BBC documentary series.  This got us thinking – as we naturally do – of CSR issues, and specifically here of the question concerning a straightforward business approach to [...]

Financial reform is an area in which clear communication needs to be high on the agenda. Much of the recession, credit crunch, financial crisis, whatever you want to call it, has been attributed to people not understanding what they were buying or selling, or the risks they were taking in doing it. Now, we hope [...]

You may have forgotten but in the UK there is a registered charity called Business In The Community. It describes itself as a membership organisation that “mobilises business for good”. It has significant resources – an income in the region of £23m and around 350 employees.
Seen as something as a [...]

Primark, a discount fashion retailer that has been one of the UK’s high street success stories, recently predicted a buoyant set of results.  The company looks set to provide parent company Associated British Foods with a much needed profits injection, – like-for-like sales growth predictions at close to double digit levels, for the second half [...]

Having read in the FT that Wincanton has won a £275m contract with Marks & Spencer partly based on their ‘green outlook’, we thought it might be worth taking a closer look.
The company’s Environmental Strategy document is available here. It is clearly well thought-out, and positions Wincanton’s environmental strategy as a key part of their [...]

“Greenwash” is a term that is applied, particularly by NGOs, to describe certain public relations (PR) activities conducted by organisations they allege are “dirty” (in green or environmental terms).  A typical greenwash allegation suggests that PR actions have been undertaken to achieve improved perceptions of “green” or environmental credentials when in fact these credentials either [...]

The Norwegian government pension fund has decided to get active in respect to water management. It plans to engage with companies to improve their management of water related risk and their reporting of this aspect of their activities.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t require companies to disclose information about this issue. However, if this [...]

Both leading UK political parties have had a considerable amount to say recently about CSR related matters. This has particularly focused on the banking sector and, occasionally, matters such as climate change.
I recall that, a few years ago, the British government allocated a CSR portfolio responsibility to Stephen Timms. He, along with his [...]

Over the last few years we’ve noticed a notable lack of understanding within the media and the NGO world about the terms responsible and “ethical” investing and the strategies that should be adopted by investment managers. We thought we’d try to move this debate along with our take on the matter.
Let’s take the UK [...]