Sustainable Fashion Competition, Singapore: An Update

Singapore's first sustainable fashion competition titled Fashionably Sustainable Competition is progressing well. Participating designers have undergone the required workshop on Sustainable Fashion Value Chain, and have submitted their concept to TAFF, the organizer.

I had fun, and enjoyed, conducting the workshop for the participants even though it meant working on almost all the weekends in April and May. It was worth it. Participants demonstrated amazing drive and creativity during the workshop. Going by the feedback received, participants found the workshop of immense use and gave excellent rating to the course. Very satisfying.

The sustainable fashion course, championed by the Workforce Development Agency of Singapore, TAFF and TaF.tc has put Singapore on the world map of sustainable fashion talent development. And I am happy to be part of this exciting story by helping developed the sustainable fashion competency national framework and the training programme.

The course has also been included in the fashion technology diploma programmes run by TaF.tc, fashion industry's leading school in Singapore.

Sessions run for the competition participants have been extensively filmed to produce a video which will be showcased during the final fashion show.

The final fashion show is on the 1st Sept at Singapore's gardening hub Hort Park. Twelve finalists will make it to the final cat walk.

I am on the judging panel and eagerly looking forward to the next round:)

Will keep you posted.

If you want to know more about the competition, see here.

Kraft upping sustainability goals

When Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury a couple of years ago, concerns were raised that Cadbury's ethical image would suffer. Some even said Kraft takeover would hit Cadbury's ethical rating. But nothing of that sort has happened. Kraft continues to up sustainability goals for the group, including Cadbury.

They have just announced more aggressive sustainability goals. A summary of their new goals:

From a 2010 base, by the end of 2015 Kraft Foods plans to:

·Increase sustainable sourcing of agricultural commodities by 25 percent

·Reduce energy use in manufacturing plants by 15 percent

·Reduce energy-related CO2 emissions in manufacturing plants by 15 percent

·Reduce water consumption in manufacturing plants by 15 percent

·Reduce waste at manufacturing plants by 15 percent

·Eliminate 50,000 metric tons (100 million lbs.) of packaging material

·Reduce 80 million km (50 million miles) from transportation network

See here my story in Ethical Corporation magazine on the much debated Cadbury takeover.

Young CSR Leaders Award Competition

Singapore Compact is organizing Young CSR Leaders Award competition in association with CDL, a property developer. The competition is open to students from Junior Colleges, Institute of Technical Education, Polytechnics, Universities and International Schools in Singapore.

This is a team competition with each comprising 4-6 members who all must be from the same school.Participating teams will be paired with a selected SME. Respective teams will have to come up with a CSR strategy and action plan for their assigned SME.

Each team will also be provided with a mentor. Glad to share that I will be mentoring one of the teams.

A panel of judges will decide the winners of the competition.

The top team will take home $4000 in cash prize. The first and second runners up will get $2000 and $1000 respectively. There are prizes for other participating teams as well.

Registration for the competition will close on the 31st March 2011.

The competition is a great opportunity for Singapore's SMEs to access advice on CSR. At the same time, the contest engages with students who are the future leaders, and this is an opportunity for them to get a first hand feel of CSR.

For more information please contact Ms Minju Kim (kimmj@csrsingapore.org)

Fashionably Sustainable Competition : Challenging fashion designers to create responsible fashion

Asia's first sustainable fashion competition is being organized in Singapore. Sponsored by the Workforce Development Agency of Singapore and organized by the Textile and Fashion Federation of Singapore (TAFF), the competition which is titled "Fashionably Sustainable Competition" is now open for registration.

Participating fashion designers will need to create six designs that meet the sustainable fashion criteria of being environmentally and socially friendly. WDA and TAFF will organize sustainable fashion workshops to educate the participating designers in sustainable fashion principles.

WDA is Asia's first government agency which has taken initiative to promote sustainable fashion talent to keep Singapore textile fashion industry competitive as more and more multinational retailers seek to implement sustainable fashion principles across business.

Finalists will produce three selected designs into outfits which will be showcased in a sustainable fashion show in August. The winner will get $1500 cash prize and a free trip to Paris Fashion Week!

Just to add, I am deeply associated with this event. First, I helped developed the national competency framework for sustainable fashion for Singapore. Then I developed a sustainable fashion course which will be taught to WSQ Fashion Diploma students. I will also be conducting the workshop for the participants of sustainable fashion competition. More on this here.

For those interested in participating in the Fashionably Sustainable Competition, here is more information.

Cool brands fail in climate test

A new study by responsible investment research firm EIRIS says that two-thirds of the world's top 100 brands are failing on climate change.

The report "Cool Brands versus Hot Brands?" focuses on the world's leading 100 brands, and finds that 69% of those with a high climate change impact lack adequate policies, management systems and reporting on climate change.

According to the study, those who don't get it include Porsche. And those who get, and have shown leadership, include Gillette, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Honda.

EIRIS has applied its climate change methodology to give climate score to studied companies. Here is the report. But if you are hoping to find the list of the 100 brands and their respective scores or ranking, you will be disappointed.

Palm oil company's profits double in spite of reputational disasters

CSR consultants would like you to believe that reputational disasters can hit a company's bottom line. If this was true, palm oil giant Golden Agri Resources' balance sheet should have been bleeding. But that is not the case. Golden Agri has reported that its fourth quarter net profits more than doubled to $1.17 billion.

Golden Agri, part of Indonesia's Sinar Mas, has been at the centre of Greenpeace campaigns for allegedly destroying natural forests in Indonesia to pave way for oil palm plantations. Last year, the company actually faced the most intense campaign, and also saw its shabbily designed counter-attack on Greenpeace badly backfired. Golden Agri also continued to lose multinational customers due to accusations of forest destruction.

2010 should have been the company's worst year if reputational disasters had any effect. But actually, last year has turned out to be the best year in the company's history in terms of profits.

One can still be optimistic and say that the company would have made even greater profits if it had a better sustainability reputation. Who knows?

Multinational companies such as Unilever, Kraft, Nestle, Burger King and HSBC have deserted Sinar Mas group companies, under pressure from campaigners. The question then is who is fueling the group's growth, and profits? Well, the company's profits are pouring in from large developing countries, mainly China and India. The company plans to add 1.3 million tonnes crushing capacity in China this year to meet growing demands there.

Palm oil's new pipeline: Africa

Indonesia's two year moratorium on commercial development of forests and peat lands, expected to come into effect this year, is forcing palm oil producers to look elsewhere for expansion as the demand and price of the controversial commodity soar. And Africa is the new destination for many.

Malaysia-based Sime Darby Plantation, world's largest crude palm oil producer, is said to be considering a $2.5 billion investment in Cameroon to develop 300,000 hectares of oil palm plantation. The company currently has 530,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Cameroon government may find the proposal attractive as the project promises to create 30,000 jobs in the impoverished country. But the expansion may alarm environmental groups who have been campaigning against the industry's unsustainable practices including destruction of natural forests.

Sime's expansion plans also include ventures in Liberia where the company has been granted a concession of 220,000 hectares.

Other palm oil giants which have announced plans to expand to Africa in recent months include Wilmar International, Olam International and Golden Agri. While Golden Agri has signed a $1.6 billion project in Liberia, Olam has announced a 300,000 hectares project in Gabon. UK-listed Equatorial Palm Oil already operates 169,000 hectares oil palm plantation in Liberia.

Palm oil prices have now crossed $1100 a tonne, almost doubling from the average $500 a tonne over the last decade. That explains frantic expansion plans by the industry players. The key question is: how will the industry ensure its expansion in Africa is above board, and sustainable?

Editorial ethics at Ethical Corporation

Ethical Corporation, the magazine that I write for, also has a significant conferencing business. I have been asked, on many occasions, how we maintain integrity and impartiality of what we write in the magazine and whether we can afford to embarrass the companies which are our conference clients or sponsors.
Well, here is the answer straight from Toby Webb, founder of Ethical Corporation magazine and himself a respected corporate responsibility commentator, in a podcast with Brendan May.

India's textile dyers opposing tighter environmental controls

Textile dyeing and processing industry in India is resisting the demands of zero liquid discharge system (ZLD). Environmental Campaigners want the industry to switch to zero discharge to save soil and water resources from being further polluted. The industry is responsible for releasing millions of liters of toxic wastewater which has destroyed water and soil systems in the neighborhood.

India's two largest textile manufacturing hubs are in Tirupur (South India) and Ludhiana (North India). On petitions filed by environmentalists, Madras High Court has ordered to shut down all dyeing units in Tirupur for failing to implementing ZLD.

In Ludhiana, the dyers associations are opposing similar demands from a local environmental activist. Read here.

These campaigns also expose a serious fault in multinational retailers' supply chain responsibility programmes. Retailers' current code of conduct programme does not extend to textile dyeing and processing units even though these units account for the largest environmental impact in the textile supply chain.

Court order to shut down polluting textile units in South Indian city

Hundreds of textile bleaching and dyeing mills in the South Indian city of Tirupur have been ordered to shut down by the Madras High Court in response to public petitions. Tirupur is one of the largest textile manufacturing hubs in Asia where most multinational retailers have suppliers.

Farmers groups have alleged that textile units dumped untreated effluent in the Noyyal river which farmers rely on for irrigation.

The court order also includes closing down Common Effluent Treatment Plants and Integrated Effluent Treatment Plants in the area. These plants were set up by the government agencies mostly to treat wastewater from textile mills. In a previous order in 2006, the court had directed these plants to achieve "zero liquid discharge" level. In the latest court filing, it is alleged that these units failed to comply with the court order and continued to operate and pollute the area.

Textile industry associations have banded together to put pressure on the government to allow effluent discharge until an acceptable solution is found. Farmers lobby is opposed to any leniency toward polluting textile industry.

Observers say that the industry has not taken its responsibility for wastewater treatment seriously in spite of repeated campaigns by farmers in the past. The industry is accused of destroying large tracts of farmland by contaminating water and land by dumping untreated toxic wastewater.

There have been reports in the past alleging that though textile units install wastewater treatment plants to meet retailers' code of conduct requirement, they seldom operate these plants because running treatment plants costs money! Government inspectors don't mind looking the other way as long as their palms are greased.

Tirupur is a key sourcing destination for knitted garments for a number of large and small multinational retailers. None of them has reacted publicly so far to the developments in Tirupur.

The city's textile industry also provides thousands of jobs. These jobs are now at risk as hundreds of units are now closed due to the court order. Trade unions have given a call to shut down the entire city tomorrow to put pressure on the government to find a solution so that units can be opened and jobs can be saved.

See more here

And here

Government incentive for CSR, or not

With the government's intervention, CSR debate in India has taken a perverse course.

Indian companies, and foreign companies operating in India, have by and large failed to demonstrate respect for responsible business practices. Their inaction, and often irresponsible behaviour, is a result of the fact that India lacks a robust stakeholder community. A good chunk of NGOs in India are only too happy to receive donations than to press them to adopt responsible business practices. No wonder, most companies get away with PR-ish charity in the name of CSR.

Multinational companies operating in India have also found it convenient to join the charity-CSR bandwagon rather than setting leadership examples. Many of them have respectable CR initiatives in their home country but in India their CR fails to rise above charity.

Industry's apathy prompted the government last year to introduce voluntary CSR guidelines for listed companies. Though the CSR guidelines are quite impressive in the sense that they include several key issues such as care for stakeholders, workers rights, human rights, environment and inclusive development, the industry does not seem to be obliging. The industry actually started lobbying for incentives such as tax breaks if it were to spend on CSR.

Government officials are divided. India's corporate affairs minister has been quoted saying that companies may be provided fiscal incentives for participating in CSR activities. But a senior official in his ministry recently said that companies should adopt CSR as a corporate culture rather than asking for incentives. He even indicated that if companies fail to adopt CSR, the government may even make CSR-spend mandatory.

Now the perverse piece here is that CSR is being interpreted as philanthropy. Unfortunately, India Inc needs to include larger issues that have become more pronounced with breakneck economic development. These issues include climate change/carbon emission, environmental protection, anti-pollution measures, working conditions, human rights, customer protection, privacy and bribery.

India is even pushing for a bill in parliament that would require companies to spend at least 2% of their profit on CSR activities.

Most likely, companies will have to deal with local politicians and legislators who would want companies to spend on their pet projects. The legislation will also give rise to potential accounting fraud where companies will falsely claim expenditure on CSR.

But this is what happens when the private sector does not take voluntary action. Legislative action then appears as the only alternative. But legislative CSR is compliance, not CSR. Did we not teach all these years that CSR is when companies go beyond compliance?

Manufacturers take lead on sustainable fashion

The textile and fashion industry in Singapore is playing a leadership role in promoting sustainable fashion, clearly a first in Asia. The lead is being taken by the Textile & Fashion Industry Federation of Singapore (TAFF), the apex industry body.

I recently had the privilege of developing national competency framework standards for sustainable fashion for Singapore's textile and fashion industry. Based on the competency standards then I helped develop a three-day course on sustainable fashion value chain complete with an assessment plan. The course will be run by the Textile and Fashion Industry Training Centre, the training arm of the Textile and Fashion federation of Singapore. The course will be generously subsidised by the government which is keen to build sustainable fashion capabilities for the industry.

The Singapore industry is also hosting an international conference on sustainable fashion to be held on the 24th Nov 2010. I will be one of the speakers at the conference speaking on "Establishing the Industry Standards for Sustainable Fashion." Other key speakers include Adidas, M&S, Organic Exchange, IFC / World Bank Group, and Brandix-Sri Lanka.

See here for more detailed programme, or here.

To register for the seminar, see here, or get in touch with Textile & Fashion Industry Training Centre Pte Ltd, 2 Leng Kee Road, #02-09 Thye Hong Centre, Singapore 159086, Tel +65 64759897 Fax (65) 74753583 E-mail: eric@taftc.org

What's shaping CSR in Asia

Further to my comments on what is driving CSR in Asia, types of CSR activities preferred by companies in Asia, and key challenges for CSR in Asia, here are some of the recent developments in Asia that will potentially influence the course of CSR in Asia:

• Voluntary sustainability reporting guidelines by the Singapore Stock Exchange
• Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
• Voluntary CSR guidelines by the ministry of corporate affairs in India (comprehensive, core elements include care for stakeholders, ethical functioning, workers rights, human rights, environment and social development; includes need for policy, strategy, clear goals, measurement and reporting)
• India pushing for legislation to impose CSR Tax on companies
• Philanthropy in China: Tycoons pledging their wealth for charitable causes
• Asian businesses making headlines for the wrong reasons:
  Foxconn, the Apple Computers supplier in China for working conditions and workers suicides, a bunch of palm oil companies for environmental destruction and human rights issues, Vedanta Resources, a mining company, for controversial mining projects in the state of Orissa in India.

Key challenges for CSR in Asia

In the last couple of days, I have shared some points on "What is driving CSR in Asia" and "Types of favourite CSR activities in Asia" on this blog. These are the points that I made during my speech including a the panel discussion at the International Singapore Compact CSR Conference 2010 held in Singapore on 6-7 October.

As promised, today I am sharing a few thoughts on the real and potential challenges that face corporate responsibility in Asia. Here they are:

Key challenges

• Absence of strong and mature stakeholders means companies are under no pressure or scrutiny to do the right thing.
• In fact, green-washing is going to be one of the biggest problems in the coming months as more and more companies start writing annual sustainability reports to meet government guidelines.
• In the absence of a robust stakeholder community, green-washers will more likely have a free run.
• Green-washing is also going to be a big problem for those companies which are genuinely doing good work. Their work will be undermined by the Green-washers.
• Capability is going to be a major challenge. Companies will need to hire competent sustainability experts if they are to drive a genuine sustainability programme. And such talent is in short supply.

Lack of pressure from activists is actually an opportunity for businesses here. They can formulate a well thought out sustainability plan.
Most western companies did not have the luxury of planning out a well rounded sustainability programme. For most of them, it was a knee jerk reaction. When they were hit by a crisis, they reacted by taking one small step necessary to address the crisis. So every new criticism brought a new action. Only now some of them have started to take a more holistic approach toward sustainability.

Tomorrow, will be writing about the recent developments in Asia that will potentially influence of course of CSR in the region.

Types of CSR initiatives in Asia

Further to my blog post "CSR drivers in Asia" yesterday, here are what I find three broad categories of CSR activities in being pursued by companies in Asia:

• Compliance driven initiatives, mostly in the global supply chain
• PR-led initiatives, glossy reports and tall claims but no real work on the ground, mostly philanthropy
• PR-led initiatives, some initiatives on non-threatening issues such as environment but total silence on the core issues that are really material to their business
• Companies genuinely trying to embrace sustainability or corporate responsibility; this group is in minority

Your views or suggestions to improve/expand this list are welcome! Please leave your comment.

Tomorrow, will be talking about the key challenges facing corporate responsibility in Asia.

CSR drivers in Asia

Recently, I was asked to share my views in a panel discussion on "What is driving CSR in Asia" at the International Singapore Compact CSR Summit held at the Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre on 6-7 Oct. Here are some of the points I made:

Key drivers:
Compliance was the first key driver in Asia when multinational retailers introduced social responsibility code of conduct for their suppliers. And compliance still remains a major driver.

Much of CSR in Asia is still limited to philanthropy. Last month, India’s leading industry federation Assocham published a report on CSR by Indian companies. The report said the companies’ primary focus is on community welfare.

PR is becoming an important driver. So you can expect to see more and more companies releasing glossy annual CSR reports, largely assembled by their spin doctors, low on substance and high on rhetoric and tall claims.

Reputational risk is becoming a driver in some of the sectors such as the palm oil industry.

More recently, governments have started driving sustainability. Sustainability reporting guidelines by the Singapore Stock exchange, CSR guidelines by the ministry of corporate affairs in India, and CSR reporting guidelines by Bursa Malaysia are some of the examples.

In Singapore, the Green Mark Scheme is another example where it is mandatory for property developers to achieve at least the Green Mark for all new developments.

Singapore has recently approved a national competency framework for sustainable fashion value chain which I help developed. The initiative is aimed at developing sustainable fashion and retail industry in Singapore. And Singapore will be organizing the first international sustainable fashion conference on the 24th of November this year. The sustainable fashion framework will be launched in that conference.

If you have other thoughts, will be happy to know. Please comment.

Tomorrow I will share the three broad types of of CSR initiatives in Asia, and the key challenges ahead. So, please return to this blog tomorrow!

Philanthropy is CSR in India

It's official now. CSR for Indian companies means philanthropy.

A study by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India, a top industry federation in the country, says that community welfare is the primary focus of CSR initiatives by Indian companies. Education for the underprivileged and rural development are the other CSR priorities listed by the surveyed companies.

FMCG companies are at the forefront of CSR (actually philanthropy) followed by chemicals companies and IT companies.

There is no mention of workers' rights, human rights, child labour, tribal rights, bribery and ethics, governance, responsible supply chain, fair wages, workplace health and safety, discrimination, carbon reduction, product safety, consumer rights, stakeholder engagement, protecting natural resources etc.

Though there is no talk of moving toward a low carbon economy or committing to voluntary reduction of carbon emission, the report indicates that making money through carbon credits is catching the attention of companies. "The big corporate houses are now going for the carbon credits which have been a good attempt to prevent the global warming," says the Assocham press release on the report.

In most companies, CSR is being driven by PR executives who see philanthropy as a good photo-op. Many of these companies go on to win CSR awards and get invited (ok, they buy these speaking slots by way of sponsorships) to CSR conferences to lecture on CSR.

Actually, Indian companies have no pressure to embrace corporate responsibility in their operations. An enlightened civil society is missing and media is equally illiterate about corporate responsibility.

Ironically, development NGOs love these companies which are proving to be their new source of funding for philanthropic projects and saving their own jobs.

See here for more on the Assocham report.

See you at the International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010

The two-day International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010 begins on the 6th Oct at the Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa, Singapore.

I will be speaking at the conference on Asia's Successful CSR Strategies on Day-1, Plenary Session 2 (1:30:3:00 pm). Here is the session detail:

Plenary Session 2
Asia’s Successful CSR Strategies

· What are the regional drivers for CSR?
· How significant is CSR for businesses in ASEAN and Asia?
· What are the latest developments on CSR in the region?

Panelists
Dr Filemon Uriarte,Executive Director, The ASEAN Foundation
Rajesh Chhabara, Asia Editor, Ethical Corporation Magazine
Professor Richard Welford, Co-Founder & Chairman, CSR Asia

Moderator
Mr. Tay Kay Luan, President, Business Council for Sustainable Development Malaysia
Chief Executive, Institute of Bankers Malaysia

Book launch
The conference will also see the launch of "Socially Responsible and Sustainable-Company perspectives and experiences," a book on sustainability stories from Singapore. I am one of the co-authors of the book, published by Singapore Compact.

For more information on the conference, please see here.

Now Burger King drops palm oil group Sinar Mas

Now Burger King has dropped Sinar Mas, the palm oil giant which is struggling to cope with a reputational disaster for alleged environmental damage through destroying forests.

Last month, Sinar Mas unsuccessfully tried to use an audit report to clear itself from the allegations. That attempt backfired when BSI, one of the audit firms involved, came out saying that the report was misrepresented.

We did our bit of coverage on this blog and on Ethical Corporation website and also in Ethical Corporation magazine. See here.

Now Burger King has cited the same audit report in its decision to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas group companies.

A statement by Burger King reads: "After completing a thorough review of the independent verification report conducted by Control Union Certification (CUC) and BSI Group, we believe the report has raised valid concerns about some of the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas' palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest. These practices are inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments."

"As a result, we have decided we will no longer purchase palm oil from Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries."

By the way, Sinar Mas Group walked away with no so coveted title of Greenwasher of the Year at the Ethical Corporation Responsible Business 2010 Awards earlier this year.

The problem with many of the palm oil companies is that they really don't get it. They also continue to rely on half-baked self-certified corporate responsibility consultants and incompetent PR executives to address the issue. It is not working. And will not work. It's time for them to get some sound advice from sound minded professionals.

Have you said "No" to Uzbek cotton yet?

As this year's cotton harvesting season draws near, Environmental Justice Foundation is worrying that the Uzbek regime will once again force the children to pick cotton.

EJF says "contrary to promises by Karimov’s regime not to force children into the fields to pick their billion dollar crop, it sounds like it will be business as usual, unless urgent action is taken."

EJF has long campaigned against the government practice of forced child labour on cotton fields in Uzbekistan. The NGO is seeking international support to boycott cotton from Uzbekistan and put pressure on the rulers of Uzbekistan to take corrective measures.

Should we hope that hundreds of thousands of Uzbek children will be in school this autumn and not toiling in a cotton field?

We have covered the issue in Ethical Corporation several times. See some of them here. And here. Also a podcast here.

Just to mention, EJF was awarded the Highly Commended Effective Campaigner award at Ethical Corporation 2010 Responsible Business Awards.