September Green Leaders Forum (GLF8) Event Report
CSR & Sustainability Communications
Monday September 6, 2010 @ British Council from 7pm to 9pm
Presented by the British Council and eQualC Sustainability Communications, the September Green Leaders Forum (GLF) saw five panelists come and speak to a crowd of over 120 green leaders at the British Council in Iidabashi, Tokyo, about the past, present and future of CSR and sustainability communications in Japan. They discussed the way CSR strategy in Asia is shaped by the unique challenges facing this region of the world, and the extent to which the concept of CSR is entering into corporate thinking and sustainable development to shape the very core of business philosophy.
What is CSR though? What are Sustainability Communications? CSR usually stands for corporate social responsibility, although more recently you will also hear the term corporate sustainability and responsibility (as in, for example, The World Guide to CSR, available through Greenleaf Publishing). On the level of individual companies, CSR involves taking responsibility for social and environmental impacts on surrounding communities and creating a vision and strategy for how business practices will become more sustainable towards the environment and the long-term viability of the company itself. Ideally, this vision is to be internalized into the core values of the company. It positions the company to be a steward of the environment, accountable and transparent to the public, and responsible and active in the communities it operates in.
Along the road to more sustainable and responsible operations, the company will want to communicate its CSR activities and strategy to the public, its own employees, shareholders, customers, the stock exchanges it is listed on, and the communities affected by its operations to name a few. These groups are known as “stakeholders” in the affairs of the company and the various ways a company gets its CSR news out to these stakeholders falls under the umbrella of “sustainability communications.”
The five panelists for the event were Makiko Akabane, Director of Japan CSR Asia (www.csr-asia.com), Masayuki Ando, Senior Manager, Cre-en (www.cre-en.jp), Setsu Mori, President of Alterna Magazine (www.alterna.co.jp), and Dr. Dave Mateo, Ph.D., Verifier for the Japan Green House Gas (GHG) Team’s technical group and Verifier with LRQA Climate Change and CSR Unit (www.lrqa.or.jp). The panel discussion was moderated by Luke Poliszcuk, CEO/Chief Sustainability Officer of eQualC Sustainability Communications (www.equalc.com).
First to speak was Makiko Akabane, who discussed how she came to be director of CSR Asia, one of the world’s most recognized and well established CSR and sustainability communications organizations. The Tokyo office is the eighth office in Asia. The first office was established in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Bangkok, Guam, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney. Each office specializes in different areas such as procurement, manufacturing support, or supply chain management. Akabane’s office was involved in developing the CSR strategy and materials for Starbucks in Japan. A detailed pamphlet (Japanese only) of the coffee chain’s CSR activities and vision are available at most Starbucks locations.
The next speaker was Masayuki Ando of Cre-en, one of the first companies in Japan to promote the disclosure of CSR information. Ando’s own background and training is in environmental economics and information disclosure. “The name ‘Cre-en’,” Ando explained, “comes from the french words créer, to create, and entrepreneur.” Cre-en was first established in 1988 as a marketing company and by 1990 expanded into the field of environmental information disclosure. At that time, few companies anywhere in the world were disclosing information about their environmental impacts. Now, thanks to the efforts of leading companies like Cre-en, more top Japanese companies produce CSR reports than any other country in the world.
Ando believes “the best way to promote CSR in Japan is through effective, creative communication.” To this end, Cre-en created the well-known My Hashi project (“my chopsticks” in English) for the convenience store chain Mini-Stop. The project encourages customers to bring their own re-usable chopsticks rather than continually consuming disposable wooden ones on a daily basis.
Setsu Mori spoke in English about alterna, a Japanese magazine he founded. The main themes of the magazine are environmental issues, CSR, social issues, lifestyles, culture, and food. The focus of the magazine is to change the nature of business, society, lifestyles and culture to ones that are more sustainable. In a nutshell, it strives to show people sustainable alternatives to our current modes of doing things.
Dave Mateo of LRQA spoke at length in English about the state of CSR in Asia and the main issues currently driving CSR in Asia as a whole. “CSR is not a strategy, but business strategy should take CSR into account,” he said. “CSR is many things in many countries, but it’s always about the impact of your business in the present moment.” LRQA’s report CSR in Asia – The Real Picture (available in English at http://www.lrqa.com.hk/) outlines several drivers of CSR in the region such as financial institutions, the growing power and sophistication of social media, the battle to retain talented staff, complex supply chain requirements, and strong government as opposed to strong NGOs - as is the case in the west. “Do people trust CSR reports?” Mateo asked. “The answer is ‘no’. Right now, there is little trust in business from the public. Independent assurance of CSR reporting is key. The Edelmen Trust Barometer 2010 stated that people now believe social networking media more than corporate reports and advertising.” Mateo went on to mention that Stock exchanges are starting to require externally verified CSR Reports; however, globally, less than 30% of CSR reporting is externally verified.
Although each of the speakers covered different ground, there were many common points. For one, the common CSR frameworks developed in the Western world often don’t work well in Asia because they don’t take into account the unique challenges to business here. As a result, the western models may either be altered to fit the situation in Asia, or ignored in favour of a “homegrown” Asian version. There is also a lot of misinformation in Asia about CSR, just as in the rest of the world. It was noted that some companies think CSR simply involves donating money to charity, or the adoption of cause-based marketing strategies while others believe that doing beneficial work in the community without tackling the negative impacts on those communities from their core business activities is suitable enough. However, the panelists all agreed that CSR should be incorporated into core business activities and those efforts and results communicated to stakeholders through interesting and engaging sustainability communications. As Akabane pointed out, “CSR is the best methodology for realizing sustainable activities in business.”
About the Green Leaders Forum @ British Council
The Green Leaders Forum @ British Council is a free monthly learning and networking event for leading thinkers and practitioners from business, NGOs and government, as well as entrepreneurs, media, students, and those with a general interest in the fields of sustainability, cleantech, the environment and society, energy and climate change, corporate social responsibility (CSR), socially responsible investment (SRI), and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. The British Council was established in the UK in 1934 and has been in Japan since 1953. It operates in over 100 countries worldwide and welcomes over 8.5 million visitors every year.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan.htm
About eQualC Sustainability Communications
eQualC Sustainability Communications is a Tokyo-based company specializing in corporate communications in the fields of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), socially responsible investment (SRI), environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and investor relations (IR). Services include event management and promotion, public relations and marketing, consulting, translation, editing, proofreading, and training.