Social reponsibility
April 29, 2010
Corporate governance ‘supports social investment’
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
A greater awareness of corporate governance principles could lead to more investment being channelled by South African pension funds into socially responsible investments that benefit communities. Andrew Canter, chief investment officer of Futuregrowth Asset Management, said earlier this week that “when investors and companies both start focusing on more than just the financial, we will start seeing true alignment that will have (an) exponentially beneficial effect on sustainability”.
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April 19, 2010
Making room for better corporate social responsibility in Africa
Dianna Games
Business Day
The Nigerian government is busy with legislation which, if passed, will make it mandatory for companies to pay 3,5% of their gross profit to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The proposed Corporate Social Responsibility Bill allows for a great deal of state meddling in companies’ affairs and suggests onerous punishments for noncompliance, including hefty fines. The move has not been well received by business — unsurprisingly. This is not only because of the potential for such an initiative to become just another graft opportunity...
March 19, 2010
New social investors
Carol Paton
Financial Mail
The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the biggest investor in SA, with R800bn in assets, is stepping up its investments in areas that promote social and economic development and the environment. The approach involves setting new criteria to evaluate potential investments and influence the behaviour of companies. These criteria are to be discussed at a conference with the industry next week. Secondly, the GEPF board (see Fox page 22) has adopted a new development investment agenda, which will direct the Public Investment Corp, which manages its funds, to find “return-seeking capital investments” in four specific areas:
December 18, 2009
Socially responsible index to set stricter criteria
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Changes to the JSE’s socially responsible index (SRI) in the new year will include measures to meet the more stringent sustainability and governance requirements outlined by the King 3 report, including provisions on climate change. “The primary change in King 3 is a broadening of scope regarding corporate governance with the themes of sustainability and corporate leadership highlighted,” said Corli le Roux, head of the SRI at the JSE.
September 11, 2009
Europe’s €15bn greenhouse gas aid to poor countries ‘not enough’
Foreign Staff
Business Day
The European Union (EU) yesterday proposed to offer up to ¤15bn a year in aid to poor developing countries to persuade them to sign a new global climate change agreement. However, development and environmental campaigners blasted the offer as insufficient because it assumes that poorer nations will bear most of the costs of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the promised funding was Europe’s “first meaningful proposal” to urge faster progress towards a new United Nations global climate pact at Copenhagen in December.
August 28, 2009
Cutting green projects to save money now ‘may cost more later’
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Companies will suffer in the long term if they cut clean technology projects now to save costs. “Cutting projects focused on improving environmental sustainability will only result in companies being unable to comply with future environmental regulations,” Loshni Naidoo, a manager in climate change and sustainability services at Ernst & Young, said this week. As companies felt the pinch of the economic slowdown, the focus was on increasing operational efficiency and cutting costs, Naidoo said.
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April 12, 2010
Social awareness turns into shared responsibility
Katy Chance
Business Day
It is encouraging that the biggest source of income for the Western Cape branch of Community Chest comes from family trusts, private benefactors and “about 100 000 individuals” donating money through a give-as-you-earn programme that was started in the 1940s. “As civil society and civic citizenship have grown,” says Amelia Jones, CEO of Community Chest Western Cape, “people have become more aware that they can play a role in uplifting communities. More and more people are active in making a difference.
January 13, 2010
Online auction house contributes to social responsibility
Katy Chance
Business Day
Online auction house bidorbuy helped charities and nonprofit organisations raise more than R425 000 last year. MD Andy Higgins said the company intended to actively support charity-based auctions this year as a way of “allowing social responsibility and commercial reality to find common ground”.Of the money raised last year, more than R300 000 was realised in a single auction, when the last built Volkswagen Citi Golf went under the hammer in November. All the proceeds of the sale went to the Ubuntu Education Fund, which provides health and educational resources to more than 40000 people in Port Elizabeth townships.
October 25, 2009
All well & Good
David Jackson
Business Times
Cutting back on wellness programmes to save costs in the recession could be counterproductive for companies — possibly losing years of programme implementation at the risk of denying holistic health benefits to employees. Dr Burton Shinners, head of corporate health and wellness at Alexander Forbes Health, said that in the current economic recession, some companies were stopping their wellness programmes prematurely in order to save costs before the full benefits of their programme had been realised.
August 29, 2009
Social investing is good business
Colleen Du Toit
Weekender
Tomorrow’s business will be defined by social responsibility, FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana told a business breakfast earlier this year. He is not a social activist advocating a new anti-capitalist epoch, so it is safe to believe Nxasana’s opinion is informed by sound economic foresight. Ray Hartle’s timely challenge to South African business leaders in last week’s edition of The Weekender reminded me of this prediction. Incisively rounding up prevailing socioeconomic failures, Hartle pointed out that it would take much more than lip service from business to transform the conditions that created the present economic meltdown
August 21, 2009
Very model of a dump
Prakash Naidoo
Financial Mail
Landfill and conservancy are two words not often found in the same sentence. But then the Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy in KwaZulu Natal has been breaking new ground for more than a decade now. While handling 500 t of waste a day, Mariannhill still manages to hold the title of the only landfill in the world with conservancy status. And because the project has been registered to trade carbon credits on the world market, it could earn €22m over the next three years, saving eThekwini (Durban) municipality around R50m. It is being hailed as a unique environmental model for waste management.
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MORE ARTICLES:
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Long road to Copenhagen for SA
August 07, 2009
‘Few benefit’ from social responsibility schemes of diamond companies
July 28, 2009
Bringing social returns
July 24, 2009
Renewable profit
July 24, 2009
Investment in clean energy set to surge
July 11, 2009
The greenhouse gas has gone out of the carbon credit balloon
July 07, 2009
It’s back to green courts
July 03, 2009
Green office blocks vie for top star rating
June 29, 2009
Polluters of waste face fines, prison
June 29, 2009
Companies exposed to climate change
June 29, 2009
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