In Asia, the Singapore Stock Exchange was the first exchange to encourage listed companies to start reporting their sustainability performance, by issuing guidelines in August 2010. According to the Guide to Sustainability Reporting for Listed Companies, “The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines provides a valuable framework to assist listed companies with sustainability reporting. Companies may adopt an approach best suited to their industry and location.”

Read the Entire Release

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Get in step with your organisation’s carbon footprint

“The New York Times breaks down the cost of two home-cooked meals, relative to McDonald’s. It’s no surprise the homemade stuff is healthier, but as this graphic shows, it’s also cheaper. Sometimes a lot cheaper.

“Of course, this doesn’t factor in the cost of time. And it doesn’t really deal with the fact that the up-front costs for a cart of groceries – assuming you have transportation to get to a store and time to shop in – are a lot higher for an individual meal. (You can’t actually buy 5 cents’ worth of salt or two cups of rice.) But it’s a nice illustration of the fact that it is possible to eat well on a budget, even if challenges remain.”

From The New York Times:

Personally, I’ve been trying to get back to cooking, because it’s fun and also because I have serious issues about bad food. Don’t get me started on the “restaurants” serving food fit for no one, while charging enough to finance their bosses’ Porsche. I blame Mummy, whom I love.

ISO has just released a new brochure in preparation for the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development in 2012 on how voluntary ISO International Standards, developed through the strength of consensus among stakeholders from business, government and society, have provided tools for translating the global desire for a sustainable world expressed since the Earth Summit in 1992 into practical actions that achieve positive results.

The brochure provides a concise description of ISO and how it works, and concrete examples of achievements by the international community, who will be represented at Rio+20, working within the ISO system. The examples illustrate how ISO standards serve as tools in the three dimensions of sustainable development.

Examples include the following:

• In the environmental dimension, the ISO 14000 family of standards for environmental management which translates into action ISO’s commitment to support the objective of sustainable development discussed at the first Earth Summit
• The ISO 14064:2006 and ISO 14065:2007 standards which provide an internationally agreed framework for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and verifying claims made about them (Brief note: We provide ISO 14064 standard, and there is a grant for this for Singapore SME’s).
• More than 650 International Standards for the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water, soil and nuclear radiation. These standards are tools for providing business and government with scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic activity. They may also be used as the technical basis for environmental regulations
• Other environment-related work includes standards for designing buildings, or retrofitting existing ones, for improved energy efficiency
• In the economic dimension, ISO standards provide solutions and achieve benefits for almost all sectors of activity, including agriculture, construction, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, distribution, transport, healthcare, information and communication technologies, food, water, the environment, energy, quality management, conformity assessment and services
• In the societal dimension, ISO standards help governments, civil society and the business world to translate societal aspirations, such as for social responsibility, health, and safe food and water, into concrete realizations. In so doing, they support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

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Read the brochure in it’s entirety [.pdf]

“The insurance company Allstate uses a lot of paper – in 2009 it used approximately 3.7 billion sheets, equal to approximately 450,000 trees. So it’s not surprising that the company identified paper reduction as one of its top environmental priorities, setting a goal of reducing overall office paper use by 25 percent by 2010. In their latest CSR report, which was released earlier this week, Allstate is revealing that it actually did much better, reducing its office paper use last year by 41 percent.

“Allstate’s plan focused at first on the company’s employees. Setting 208 as the base year, their plan, which was initiated in April 2009, asked employees to make four changes in the way they used paper:

1. Eliminate separator sheets on shared printers
2. Print double-sided whenever possible
3. Not to print unless necessary
4. Recycle used paper.

“The incentive was more than just saving trees – by reducing overall office paper use by 25 percent the company estimated it will generate approximately $1 million in annual savings. By the end of 2009, Allstate already saw a reduction of 21 percent in its office paper use. Another step forward was taken in July 2009, when the Allstate Print Communication Center (APCC) received FSC and SFI certifications, so that when employees do print high-quality documents they do it using a certified paper.

“Encouraged by its in-house effort and success, Allstate turned to examine how it can reduce paper used in the communication with its customers. The company estimated it sends approximately 121 million billing-related documents through the mail annually and it set an ambitious goal of reducing customer paper 20% by 2013 using 2009 as a baseline.

“Allstate approached it by offering customers paperless options such as eBill, an electronic version of a paper bill, and automatic patment plans such as the Allstate EZPay. These electronic options combined with eliminating unnecessary customer bill documents cut customer-focused paper use by 11.8 percent in 2010, compared with their 2009 baseline. Overall, Allstate saved approximately 14 million pieces of paper and listen to this – $7.8 million dollars in print and postage costs! So Allstate is well ahead of its 20 percent reduction target, not to mention the impressive savings it generates, which is all great. On the other hand, you can see why the U.S. Postal Office is heading towards bankruptcy.”

Singapore is home to several financial institutions (including insurance companies), which isn’t a surprise given that the country is basically one giant financial institution in itself. With the money and trade that goes through Singapore (physically through our ports and virtually), financial institutions are necessary to facilitate all the activities going on locally.

A few things stood out to me:

1. They started in-house. Like we’ve always said, changes need to start from within; the ground-up if you will. Often times when we speak with organisations, we highlight the importance of educating their employees. We recommend empowering your employees with ways to make their lives at home more environmentally friendly. This will then translate into a workplace built upon sustainability.
2. This was as much a cost cutting exercise as a CSR move. While some paper – documentation of policies, etc. – is no doubt necessary, I’ve always felt that the industry is wasting way too much paper. I’ve had experience with a few financial consultants in my day, and every experience has left me cringing at the amount of paper they use – explaining the policy, doing the math, the comparisons, showing the current policies held.

While insurance companies housed in our friendly financial hub won’t be able to save the same amount of money that Allstate has achieved, you will be able to save the same percentages easily. Do your own calculations (you are financial consultants right?) and you can estimate how much savings you can expect from starting such an exercise.

Besides, there are already services that can help you with your endeavor to go paperless. I’m not even talking about your iPads and other such expensive devices, I’m talking about services that have been established in aiding companies moving away from the paper.

Take for example GreenPost! From their website (because who better to describe what they do):

“GreenPost has come up with a unique technical solution to go paperless in the most efficient way possible. With its patent pending aggregation framework, it assists billers in going paperless through complete delivery from their online portals or directly from the billing platforms.”

Again, call me. Help me, help you.

This report from IBM is entitled the Commuter Pain Survey. In the 2011 edition, IBM state that there has been an increase in “the number of respondents who said that roadway traffic has increased their levels of personal stress and anger and negatively affected their performance at work or school”. That’s right, traffic can adversely affect productivity, and it is perceived to negatively affect health in some way (69%), increases stress (42%), and anger (35%).

Angry drivers, I know of one or two.

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Read the entire press release on IBM

Check out the report [pdf]

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Related: 5 Cities, 5 Different Congestion Solutions

ah….. H&M….

Many wait in line overnight when they open a new store. If you are from Singapore, you’d probably have an impression that this was pretty big news. I also seem to get the impression that many needed a truck to get their purchases home (and maybe a self storage warehouse after that).

But after looking at these photos, I think we can now confirm, that H&M is obsession inducing.

(EDIT: There has been a line outside H&M Singapore everyday, for the past few days. I hereby declare the H&M = Obsession Inducing Hypothesis DOUBLE CONFIRMED)

Yet, despite all that uncontrollable spending going on, there are many others who hiss at H&M’s unrivaled status as chief perpetrators of fast fashion crimes that plague humanity (on that, this is a good read).

And I hear that they cause people to have awkward oh crap, that idiot is wearing the same thing as me moments (there’s a Tumblr celebrating that).

Environmentalists of course, readily pull out the “greenwasher / villain” placard, ready to tell the tales of how:

• H&M slashed brand new clothes that didn’t sell (and I’m not talking about prices)
• and how they were caught in an organic cotton fraud
• or to be more blunt, were selling fake organic cotton.

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In spite of all that, I suppose this is good news for H&M, despite their past sins.

So good on them!

(and let’s hope they don’t get caught again)

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Here’s the press release from their website:

H&M was the biggest user of organic cotton worldwide last year according to Textile Exchange, a global organisation designed to promote the growth of organic cotton and producer of the Global Sustainable Textiles Market Report each year. The report provides the organic cotton and sustainable textile market with estimates for the preceding year, while identifying trends and market leaders and providing market projections for the year to come.

In 2010 H&M used around 15 000 tonnes of organic cotton – a marked increase from previous years.

“The intention is to gradually use more organic cotton as part of our target to only use more sustainable cotton by 2020. We want to further contribute towards increased demand for organic cotton and motivate farmers for sustainable cotton cultivation” says Henrik Lampa, CSR Manager Product at H&M.

H&M has been using certified organic cotton since 2004 and since 2007 there are garments made with 100 percent organic cotton in all departments, as well as some garments made from 50 percent organic cotton and 50 percent conventional cotton. All garments made with organic cotton have a hangtag marked organic cotton.

“H&M continues to demonstrate leadership and innovation through their expansion of organic cotton utilization. In 2010, H&M took the lead this year to be the number one consumer of organic cotton. Their fun and stylish eco-collection not only resonates with their customer, but also supports H&M’s longer term commitment to create fashion more sustainably” states LaRhea Pepper, Managing Director of Textile Exchange.

As well as investing in organic cotton, H&M works to improve conventional cotton growing and to make all cotton used more sustainable. H&M has been involved with the Better Cotton Initiative (http://www.bettercotton.org/) (BCI) since its inception in 2004, and is an elected member of the organisation’s council. The BCI is a long-term initiative that develops and promotes good farm practices allowing more cotton to be grown while reducing water and chemical use. The BCI is not a labelling scheme, nor will it provide Fairtrade or organic cotton.

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Recently, Ernst & Young released a reported entitled How Sustainability has expanded the CFO’s role. In the introduction, they cite that “Investors, business customers and other stakeholders have shown a growing desire to connect a company’s financial performance to its social and environmental impact”.

As a result, “sustainability issues and financial performance have begun to intertwine. CFOs are getting involved in the management, measurement and reporting of the companies’ sustainability activities. This involvement has expanded the CFO’s role in ways that would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago.”

In more practical terms, as illustrated by Joel Makower (on Greenbiz.com):

There’s good reason for the shift. Institutional investors like pension funds, insurance companies, and university endowments increasingly are viewing sustainability issues — climate change, toxic ingredients, natural resource constraints, labor issues — as risk factors bearing on a company’s reputation and financial performance. Equity analysts — individuals who study companies and markets in order to assess a company’s future financial and stock performance — are beginning to incorporate sustainability metrics. Today, more than 300,000 Bloomberg terminals provide corporate sustainability data — on emissions, energy consumption, sustainability and governance policies, and more — to analysts and traders worldwide.

That is to say: The CFO’s principal stakeholders, both internally and externally, are tuning in to sustainability.

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3 critical areas are identified in this emerging trend (summarised by Sustainable Planet):

Investor relations

Investors are considering the sustainability rankings of the companies in which they invest. Shareholder voting patterns provide convincing evidence of investors’ belief that a company’s social and environmental policies correlate strongly with its financial performance. Credit-rating agencies, such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, now want to know about companies’ sustainability practices. So do the more specialized providers of sustainability ratings, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI).

External reporting and assurance

Customers increasingly want to know that a company’s distribution model has a low carbon footprint; that its procurement policies take “fair trade” issues into account; and that its supply chain uses alternative energy sources.

Third-party assurance mitigates the risk of misstatements associated with sustainability reporting and sends a message that reports are relevant, reliable and free from bias. This is where the CFO’s perspective becomes important. Most CFOs have vast experience in the world of third-party assurance providers.

Operational control and financial risk management

In February 2010, the SEC issued guidance to companies regarding their responsibility to disclose material risks related to climate change. The guidance notes that a company’s CEO and CFO must certify that the company has installed “controls and procedures” enabling it to discharge its climate change disclosure responsibilities. In other words, sustainability has found its way into the realm of controllership and financial risk management.

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Read the full report.

They say time is money.

But now, sustainability is money too.

Singapore, 27 August 2011 –

The National Environment Agency (NEA) announced the winner of the Eco Music Challenge 2011, 20-year old Lee Fengheng with his winning song World Without Fences today. This winning song will be the Clean and Green Singapore 2012’s official theme song, which will be launched with an exciting accompanying music video on 29 October 2011 at the Clean and Green Singapore 2012 Launch Ceremony.

One of the judges, Danny Loong, Chief Creative Director and Co-Founder of Timbre Group, said “I was very impressed not only by the creativity and quality of the finalists this year, but more so the diversity of music genres and styles presented. This goes to show that the music scene is indeed maturing and I cannot wait for what is in store next”.

Winner of Eco Music Challenge 2011, Lee Fengheng said, “This is all very surreal, I cannot believe the result because although this is actually the second song-writing competition I have entered, I did not even make it to the finals for the first one. It has been an invaluable experience with the mentors and I have made meaningful friendships with all my fellow contestants. I hope to be able to pursue my music education next and keep composing great music!”

The 13 finalists of the Eco Music Challenge wowed the crowd with their eclectic display of musical talents and melodies that inspire an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

The top winners are:

Top prize winner: Lee Fengheng (World Without Fences)

1^st runner-up: Julian Kwok (Love for Planet Earth)

2^nd runner-up: Darren Lee (早安你好! aka Good Morning!)

3^rd runner-up: Riza Hamizan Mahmod (Change of Tomorrow)

4^th runner-up: Judah Lynne (Set Her Free)

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Post Eco Music Challenge, the NEA has now launched an album design competition for the to-be-produced-by-Oct 2011 Eco Music Challenge Season 2 album. The closing date is 22 Sep.

The info on the competition can be found here.

Non-Profit Organisation OiWorld launched a Google Maps app called Carbon Footprint for Google Maps. It’s a pretty simple set up: You type in your destination address to get directions there, as per normal, and it displays the amount of CO2 equivalent you’re spewing out from your drive. You can also adjust the emissions rate, which is defaulted at the average of 217 grams / km.

Always interested in apps, I decided to give it a whirl, so I installed it from Chrome Store.

Here’s a screenshot of a drive to NTU:

(the longest ever work related drive that I’m responsible for. I hope to not repeat that ever again.)

So as you can see, according to Google Maps, I would end up saving 1kg of CO2 if I went by the AYE, as opposed to taking the PIE.  Also, if you’re feeling some carbon guilt from this, you can offset your carbon footprint from OiWorld via the Brazilian SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation.

I think I’ll start making it a habit to give this a check before I drive out from the office (I usually just start the car and drive in the general direction and figure it out as I go along).

(Hang on, this doesn’t calculate emissions associated with idling and traffic considerations – Maybe in the future!)

From Irishtimes via @slowfashioned

The infiltration of internet culture and recession related lingo into everyday life is reflected among the new entries to the latest edition of the Chambers English Dictionary.

A growing interest in environmental matters and the notion that men have gotten more in touch with their sensitive sides can also be garnered from the hundreds of new terms which make the 12th edition of the publication.

The addition of words such as tweet, defriend and paywall were a “clear indication” of the influence of the web, and social networking in particular, on how people now communicate, Chambers said, noting that “geek chic” had increasing clout and that Facebook now had some 500 million members.

Other internet related terms to make the cut include widget (single-purpose applications for computers or phones), webisodes (short programmes broadcast online) and augmented reality (a place where computer-generated elements are added to the real environment).

With the effects of the recession still being acutely felt Chambers has added a host of financial terms many hoped they would never need to know such as haircut, double-dip, quantative easing, toxic asset and overleveraged.

Banking acronyms such as CDO (collateralised debt obligation), CDS (credit default swap) and CFD (contract for difference) are also included having become part of common parlance, Chambers said.

Errors at white-collar level may have prompted the flow of financial terms into the lexicon but additions to the dictionary such as green-collar (jobs in the environmental sector) reflect a growing interest in ecological issues.

“Society’s obsession with eco-awareness and the judgment imposed on those who fail to live up to high eco-standards has led to an entire host of new green words being admitted into the latest edition,” Chambers said.

Among the additions are upcycling (converting waste products into something of a higher value), carbon offsetting, locavore (a person who will only eat locally produced food) and freegan (somebody who opposes materialism by retrieving and using discarded food or clothes).

The 12th edition of the single volume edition of Chambers Dictionary, which was first published in 1901, contains 620,000 words and definitions including a host of terms originating from Ireland.

Yoke, stocious, sleeveen, nixer, hoor, barmbrack and asthore all feature as do some of our better known acronyms such as RTÉ and CIE.