What has CSR and sustainability to offer the wellness industry, and vice versa? That was the topic addressed by Lifeworth founder Dr Jem Bendell in a keynote for the Wellness Summit in Singapore on October 14th. The talk aimed to invite wellness professionals to take sustainability to heart and integrate it in what they offer clients and how they relate... Read more
TAGS: wellness CSR Disclosure Gets HotYesterday I chaired a session of the CSR Singapore Compact Summit on measurement and disclosure of corporate responsibility. It was the type of topic I skipped at CSR conferences in the past decade, as I headed off to things seeming more exciting and new, like leadership, partnership, finance or enterprise. But now matters of measurement and disclosure... Read more
TAGS: asian csr, disclosure, Jem Bendell, reporting Study finds CSR, ESG and social enterprise overlook the publicly and commercially critical issue of economic inequalityEconomic inequality is increasingly recognised as negatively impacting on the environment, poverty, crime, peace, health and even financial stability. As such, the rates of economic inequality represent both a public issue and concern for business and investment. A study published on September 24th in the the Journal of Corporate Citizenship, finds... Read more
TAGS: Responsible finance could do more for development than MDG charityThis week the world’s leaders meet in New York to discuss progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed ten years ago as time-bound targets for achievable reductions in poverty. The spin masters of global policy have already been busy framing this milestone in the media. But aside from the spin, the reality is very different... Read more
TAGS: development, MDGs, poverty UN Report Calls for Further Standardising CSR & ESG to Promote Public Interest“In the wake of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, questions have been raised about the meaningfulness of voluntary corporate responsibility communications and the analysis of these by responsible investors,” claims the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Supachai Panitchpakdi. This has made it necessary... Read more
TAGS: responsible investment, UNCTAD From Global Compact to Global ImpactIn June the largest corporate responsibility (CR) initiative in the world, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) celebrated 10 years since its launch, with a Leader’s Summit in New York. I’ve followed the the Global Compact since correspondence in 1998 with its founder Georg Kell; we discussed how the UN could learn from how NGOs and... Read more
TAGS: Economic Goverance, Global Compact, Systemic Change, UN Will Design Thinking Save Us? The Creativity Revolution in Responsible Business.There is a shift under way in the how some executives are thinking about their relationship to society and the great challenges of our time. If you work in this field, you will have begun to hear more about social enterprise, social innovation, CSR 2.0, a sustainable enterprise economy, and design thinking. This is part of what I call a ‘creativity... Read more
TAGS: creativity revolution, design thinking, jounral of corporate citizenship ¼ of the world’s financial capital now signed up to responsible investingAccording to new figures, over a ¼ of the world’s capital assets under fund management are now signed on to responsible investing, through being signatories of the UNPRI (the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment). Happening in less than 5 years, this is an unprecedented movement in the history of world finance. Is a jobs boom in this... Read more
TAGS: Pakistan’s 1st signatory to the UNPRI would further the reach of responsible investmentLifeworth Associate Hanniah Tariq returned to her home country of Pakistan to do some pro-bono work advancing responsible investment there. We are delighted that through her efforts even challenging conditions such as those faced by Pakistan at present, need not be barriers to responsible investment and we hope, such investment strategies might support... Read more
TAGS: Hanniah Tariq, Pakistan, responsible investment, UNPRI Video Interview with Director of UNPRIIn the belly of the beast of global finance, there are people motivated not by bonuses, but by supporting a more fair and sustainable world. These people can become allies not enemies of the needed transformation of finance and investment. The new networks and projects they are creating may be crucial in the coming years, as societies call on governments... Read more
TAGS: capital accountability, James Gifford, Jem Bendell, responsible finance, responsible investment, UNPRI
