Comments for CO3 - CSR consultancy specialising in strategy, reporting and communications

Comment on Video communications, distilled by Tom Lauria -- IBWA

Tom Lauria -- IBWA — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:27:54 +0000

This is Tom Lauria of the International Bottled Water Association. The video you find almost too painful to watch is NOT a rebuttal to Annie Leonard’s misleading and facually incorrect video. Our video, “Good Stewards ofthe Environment” was produced to contribute more understanding about the environmental initiatives of water bottlers. We were addressing “World Water Day,” not Leonard. Ultimately, what good is slick animation if the content is flat-out wrong? Forgive us our hand-held cameras and our teen presenter — all are key elements of the You Tube era of video communication. Our video may “backfired” in your eyes, but then you viewed it through the wrong lens. Why would professed environmentalists put down our efforts to re-plant forests, protect shoreline, aggressively recycle and protect groundwater?

Comment on Have a (Fair Trade) break. Have a Kit Kat! by Tim Purcell

Tim Purcell — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:05:22 +0000

The Fair Trade Foundation website has a lively debate on this subject. See here.

Comment on Have a (Fair Trade) break. Have a Kit Kat! by Tim Murray

Tim Murray — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:07:23 +0000

While Nestle should still come under scrutiny for all areas of their business practice, it is hard to argue that increasing and stabilizing producers’ incomes is a bad thing. However, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the market price of cocoa is actually higher than the Fair Trade price at the moment. The real test of Nestle’s and Cadbury’s commitment to the principles of Fair Trade (not just its branding potential) will be when the the market price for cocoa drops.

Furthermore, as Tim mentions, a danger of Fair Trade branding is that there is no distinction made between Fair Trade certified products, like Nestle’s, and producer owned brands such as Divine. The vast majority of profits from Nestle’s products are still held by the brand, whereas as in the case of Divine all profits are received by the producers. This distinction should be made clear to consumers by a Fair Trade Producer Owned Certificate or the like.

Comment on Have a (Fair Trade) break. Have a Kit Kat! by Can Fair Trade be unethical? | CO3 - CSR consultancy specialising in strategy, reporting and communications

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:42:07 +0000

[...] to coat a proportion of their Kit Kats in Fair Trade chocolate, discussed a few days ago in the CO3 blog, has raised an interesting point. It is clear that opponents of the company, such as the Baby Milk [...]

Comment on New Impact Launch Event at Leeds University Business School by Jo Pestel

Jo Pestel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:59:17 +0000

Hi Tim,
Some of the ideas relating to environmental business development being the norm in the future were interesting and I’m sure that attention on business continuity and risk management in supply chains will certainly rise as uncertainties over climate change develop. I hope that businesses will continue to support academic developments in this area – I certainly believe that the Net Impact Chapter at Leeds University Business School will be invaluable in bringing together approaches from academia and business.

Comment on Join forces with your peers to avoid being labelled a greenwasher! by Wincanton's own Plan A | CO3 - CSR consultancy specialising in strategy, reporting and communications

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:58:32 +0000

[...] Skip to content HomeServicesOur WorkBlogCO3dAboutContact Blog « Join forces with your peers to avoid being labelled a greenwasher! [...]

Comment on Long-haul levy – towards a carbon tax? by Stories from the stores » Louis Blériot crossed the Channel a century ago

Stories from the stores » Louis Blériot crossed the Channel a century ago — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:19:33 +0000

[...] We must also now ask questions about the sustainability of aviation as it is currently fuelled and as it is currently expanding worldwide. Is it time we came back down to Earth a little bit? Here’s Adam Becker at the CO3 blog talking about a possible long-haul levy. [...]

Comment on Long-haul levy – towards a carbon tax? by Louis Blériot crossed the Channel a century ago « Stories from the stores

Louis Blériot crossed the Channel a century ago « Stories from the stores — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:48:24 +0000

Comment on Charity begins at home by William Haviland

William Haviland — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:53:19 +0000

Rick, your statement implies falsely that there is no need for campaign organisations to publish some clear evidence of actual ‘policy’. Rather, you propose that they ought to focus merely on action/implementation. Surely it would make more sense to advocate both a policy framework in all cases (which of course includes corporations, – the point here was to simply proffer that NGOs follow a similar line) and then follow this up with appropriate action, based on the stated framework. Companies that ‘talk a good talk’ but do not deliver on their promises should rightly be accused of some sort of corporate cover-up/spin. However, equally, campaign groups that take charitable donations from the public in good faith, but do not readily make accessible their respective policy frameworks are, to a large extent, guilty of the same lack of honesty/transparency that their day-to-day working attempts to expose.

Comment on Charity begins at home by Rick Elstam

Rick Elstam — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:45:20 +0000

We all know these kinds of policies really aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. We judge companies by their actions, not their policies – so why should NGOs be any different? If any the human rights charities I give to spent my money on producing a ‘human rights’ policy, I’d be mighty annoyed. We should judge them instead by how they behave.