Top Stories
The Truth About Sustainability Compensation.—reliability
medium.
A CSR recruiter gives facts and figures about compensation levels for
corporate sustainability professionals. "The assumption that
sustainability professionals earn less than other comparable positions
is false if you hold all the factors listed above constant. ... A CSR
professional is likely to earn a similar salary to those working in the
same department for which sustainability falls. In other words,
if the CSR Director sits within Public Affairs, their salary will be
similar to their parallel level colleagues in Public Affairs." From GreenBiz
blog. [Thus
compensation depends on where the corporation thinks sustainability
belongs. HaraBara notes that some companies put sustainability managers
in PR or communications, some in EHS, some report through facilities
management, others are C-level positions. Companies are still sorting
this out, and envision different roles, and thus different pay, for key
sustainability managers.]
Lloyd's adds its voice to dire 'peak oil'
warnings.—reliability high.
"The Lloyd's insurance market and the highly regarded Institute of
Strategic Studies (ISS, known as Chatham House) says Britain needs to
be ready for "peak oil" and disrupted energy supplies at a time of
soaring fuel demand in China and India, constraints on production
caused by the BP oil spill and political moves to cut CO2 to halt
global warming. "Companies which are able to take advantage of this new
energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness.
Failure to do so could lead to expensive and potentially catastrophic
consequences," says the Lloyd's and ISS report "Sustainable energy
security: strategic risks and opportunities for business"." See The
Guardian
story. Access the report here.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Five forces driving corporate sustainability
management.—reliability medium.
Comment piece lists driving forces. "With a nod to McKinsey's research
on how global forces will drive business strategy over the next five
years, this article explores five forces which will shape the
management of corporate sustainability in all businesses by 2015. There
is now a choice facing businesses: they can try to understand what
these forces mean for their organisation, or try and fight these market
changes that we are already experiencing." Forces include brand
competition, risk disclosure, etc. See BusinessGreen.
Indians switch to high-priced,
power-efficient air conditioners.—reliability high.
Indian consumers have started upgrading to higher priced, but less
power consuming airconditioners to snip mounting electricity bills
after the government made it mandatory for appliances to be rated on
energy efficiency. ... Five star rated ACs or products with lowest
power consumption accounted for a third of the total sales of brands
such as LG, Samsung, Voltas, Carrier and Godrej in the first half of
current year compared to just 5-10% in whole of 2009. ... Overall AC
sales shot up over 50% in India during the first half of the year,
boosted by prolonged summer and higher mercury levels in the country,
say top consumer durable firms. Products with a two-to-three star
rating that have average energy consumption, account for a majority of
the sales as they are cheaper, attracting the first time buyers. See Economic
Times story. [It sounds like
average efficiency of new air conditioners is inching up, but total
energy consumption by air conditioners is surging much faster. And of
course air conditioning doesn't work at all during power cuts, which
are common daily across most of India because generating capacity can't
keep up with demand, even before all those new AC units.]
Social funds and BP: How embarrassing!—reliability
medium.
"When BP’s oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, the
company was a major holding of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index–which
calls itself an index of 'the leading sustainability-driven companies
worldwide.' BP was also held by Pax World Funds ('sustainable investing
is a better smarter, way to invest'), by the MMA International Fund,
which is part of a fund group that is 'guided by Christian values,' and
by the Legg Mason Social Awareness Fund, which, as of March 31, had BP
as its single biggest holding." More about the paradox of socially
responsible investing and oil companies. From Marc
Gunther's blog. [They screen out
tobacco, weapons, and such but apparently offshore drilling is OK. One
such fund was long on Transocean.]
Tesla formalizes Toyota deal, to deliver 2
cars.—reliability high.
"Electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc said on Friday it signed a
memorandum of understanding with Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp
to deliver two electric vehicles to the world's largest automaker by
the end of month. ... The prototypes will combine Toyota vehicles with
Tesla electric powertrains." From Reuters.
[Toyota explores
multiple options beyond NiCd.]
Government and
Regulation
No more carpool lane perks for hybrids in
California.—reliability high.
Access to California diamond lanes for some hybrid vehicles with only
one occupant will expire at the end of 2010. "Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed a bill yesterday that extends certain HOV-Lane
Access stickers for four more years, the ones for hybrids aren't
included. Instead, the extended stickers apply only to far less common
green vehicles: Fully electric cars (including the Tesla Roadster and
2002 Toyota RAV4 EV), and those that run on natural gas (e.g. the Honda
Civic GX) or hydrogen (a la the 2010 Honda FCX Clarity). ... That
impending expiration caused howls of protest earlier this year by the
85,000 lucky hybrid owners. But hybrids‘ success may have worked
against them: Hybrids of all models are now almost 3 percent of overall
U.S. vehicle sales, but considerably more in California." Item at GreenBeat.
[Incentives
shouldn't become entitlements.]
Cap and Trade Could Weatherproof Maine.—reliability
high.
"MaineHousing had a goal to get every home and half the businesses in
Maine weatherized within the next twenty years, but like most states,
is starved for funds to help homeowners finance it. MaineHousing
Director Dale McCormick may just have found the funds to to get it
done. Putting weatherization credits on the cap and trade market. ...
So Maine has, for the first time, begun the process to link home
weatherization to carbon credits." From CleanTechnica.
