Beware imaginary friends

An interesting trend that Im seeing emerge is companies developing their own little catch phrases or fancy names for their environmental activities.

Samsung has PlanetFirst (more like profit first), and FedEx has EarthSmart, Tesco has GreenLiving.

This is a dangerous progression. There is no external audit to prove any of the claims. Indeed a recent study by Which? in the EU indicated that Samsung PlanetFirst devices use only slighly less resources that the main stream ones... but cost more.

Companies need to stop making things up. They need to engage with real third parties like UNEP, Icharter or UNESCO and meet real standards.

Where BP went wrong

BP's reputation is in shreds. During the Gulf oil leak the company staggered from one PR disaster to another (interestingly their head of PR is the former head of PR for Lehman brothers!).

It failed to accept the magnitude of the situation, but even worse it failed to understand how its responses would be perceived.

The company is actually one of the better oil companies when it comes to the environment, but it does underline a growing problem. These companies place profit before all else, including the environment.

Sure they issue fancy sustainability reports, and sponsor all sorts of things, BP even went so far as to brand itself as Beyond Petroleum. The problem is that it didn't change deep down. it was still the same company, willing to do anything to make a dollar.

Companies need to release that change needs to be deep deep thing, it needs to be something that comes from within. Companies need to re-engineer their processes, their need to look at what they are doing and ask how they can do it better. A great example of this is FedEx, just today I read about how they are slowly phasing in hybrid vehicles and in some places non carbon emitting tricycles. Change is slow and sometimes painful, but necessary.

That probably why FedEx was awarded Committed to the Environment by the international charter, and BP isnt.

Mazda releases sustainability info

Mazda Motor Corporation today issued the Mazda Sustainability Report 2010 in Japanese. It outlines Mazda's corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies as well as achievements for the fiscal year ended March 2010 (April 2009 to March 2010). The English version of the Sustainability Report 2010 will be published at the end of September.

Mazda announced its Framework for Medium- and Long-Term Initiatives in April 2010. A special section in the Annual Report 2010 explains this framework and its five pillars: Brand Value, Monotsukuri Innovation, Environmental and Safety Technologies, Emerging Markets and Ford Synergies

FedEx using electric tricycles

An electric, non-carbon tricycle for adults is way more exciting than it sounds, especially when an international company like FedEx Corp. uses the bikes to deliver packages across the city of Paris.FedEx now has four tricycles making mail deliveries in Paris – 12 by the end of the summer – that run on a 250-watt electric motor supplemented with pedal power. The company partnered with Urban Cab, a transportation service with 22 pedal-powered “rickshaws” around the city.The tricycles require manual pedaling to start the motor. Although slightly bulky, there’s a tall, removable storage container that sits between the back two wheels. The vehicles can travel at a speed of around 20 kilometers per hour and are welcome traffic in Paris’ pedestrian-only areas and many bike lanes.

Buckeye releases sustainability report

Buckeye today announced the release of its 2010 Sustainability Report. The 2010 report details the companys efforts on reducing fossil fuels, water, solid waste, and air emissions. Buckeye has reduced its carbon emissions by 20% per ton of production since 2005, while generating 82% of its total energy needs from renewable biomass.

Coca-Cola rolls out energy saving vending machines

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has begun the roll out of a new energy saving device, named ELSAT EMS-55. The device monitors the usage trends of a vending machine and then automatically reduces energy consumption during times of low use.

Sky Rainforest Rescue

If you are a Sky subscriber in the UK you will no doubt have seen the promotions for Rain Forest rescue. Sky are one of the main sponsors behind this project.

GlaxoSmithKline

GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) has released its latest sustainability report. Unfortunately they have hidden the PDF version away, and have obviously tried to do something cutting edge by incorporating a PDF builder.. which is very very slow!

Electric cars = bad for the environment?

A new report by the Swiss government has indicated that electric cars might actually be bad for the environment. The claims center around the processes used to mine the litium for the batteries, and the eventual disposal of them.

FedEx cuts aircraft fuel consumption

The FedEx corporate blog detailed information on the company's continued move towards reducing the amount of fuel consumed by its Boeing aircraft fleet. Unfortunately the graph detailed on the website appears to give the impression of more progress than has been made.