Welcome to the CSR news from 05 to 09 August 2024.
This week, we will talk about living wages for a positive social impact, greenwashing in Australia, the reuse of materials in construction, 2024, which is probably the hottest year in history, etc.
In short, find all the CSR news in our article.
Management dissonance with CSR reporting
The co-directors of the B Side communication agency, Marion Andro and Ingrid Berthe, question the sometimes too marketing and too unstrategic use that companies make of CSR reporting.
They point to discourses that are “disconnected from reality” that welcome sustainability relationships that ultimately have very little impact on reality.
They maintain that stakeholders, by being confronted with speeches that are out of step with the urgency of transforming business models, will lose confidence in CSR approaches.
A counterproductive attitude that will end up weakening the legitimacy of the entire sector. Thus, they plead for a precise, honest discourse, which does not consider certifications and sustainability reports as ends in themselves, but as levers for action to make things change.
Living wages: the crux of the positive social impact
The Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Sanda Ojiambo, publishes an article for Carenews where she defends the critical importance of living wages in improving the social impact of businesses.
According to her, this is the real way to fight against the increase in inequalities. His diagnosis is that “too few companies pay their employees a living wage”, despite multiple studies that demonstrate its benefits in favor of more dignified living conditions.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), it is a salary that allows you to provide yourself with essential goods such as food, health, education, housing.
A situation that is difficult to achieve despite strong and constant economic growth that enriches shareholders, but excludes the working poor from the fair distribution of a “fair share of the productivity they generate.”
AI and CSR: a good marriage overlooked by the company
While most professionals recognize the potential of AI for sustainable development, there is an underexploitation of the benefits of such an association.
To account for this, simply compare the following data: “Almost 80% of IT managers in Europe believe that AI has a positive or neutral impact on sustainable development” “Only 9% of companies consider ethical use of AI to be a priority”.
Thus, key issues such as the impact (positive and negative) of AI on the climate are being left behind.
Companies must therefore seize the subject and train professionals capable of evaluating, measuring and adapting CSR policies in the field of AI.
Is night work a false good idea to adapt to heatwaves?
At first analysis, night work appears to be an effective solution to adapt to the hot weather in the most exposed jobs (workers and farmers for example).
Reduction of heat-related risks, maintenance of productivity, lower energy costs, flexibility...
However, researchers are speaking out against this type of initiative.
In addition to an “often unsuitable nocturnal environment” at work, significant harmful consequences for the health of workers are to be anticipated.
Indeed, working at night disrupts the biological clock and sleep, thus increasing the “risk of cardiovascular metabolism disorders.”
Finally, without prolonged exposure to daylight and out of step with the usual rhythms of society, strong risks to the mental health and well-being of workers should be considered.
Legal departments lagging behind on CSR issues
The ESG-RSE PwC 2024 barometer published by the law firm of the same name focuses on the level of maturity of corporate lawyers in terms of CSR.
Based on their results from a consultation with a panel of 100 corporate lawyers, they conclude that they estimate “their average level of maturity” on ESG-CSR issues at 4.9/10.
In recent years, there has been an increase in normative innovations. CSDDD, Sapin II Act, CSRD etc. This regulatory inflation is not without significant effects on businesses on the one hand, and on their legal departments on the other.
The turnover and size of the company are entirely uncorrelated with this level of CSR maturity of lawyers. In other words, their responsibility is very strong to take up these challenges in order to integrate them legally into business strategy.
Law at the service of sustainable business transformation
With his book Social Law with an Environmental Purpose, the lecturer Arnaud Casado reflects on the ways in which law can be a decisive tool for the transformation of business models.
Through the identification and study of all laws relating to the social, ethical and environmental impact of businesses, this publication aims to fill the “ignorance of certain devices” by companies.
Through a very practical and directly applicable approach, he intends to continue a dynamic of “environmentalization of social law”.
For example, it explores the margin of manoeuvre left to elected staff representatives through the CSE. According to him, he is in a position to reorient his social and cultural activities in favor of a redesign of internal company practices and habits.
In Australia, sentence of 6.7 million euros for greenwashing
Australian retirement savings giant Mercer Superannuation has been fined a record 11.3 million Australian dollars for misleading statements about the ethical and sustainable impact of its investment products.
Through this condemnation, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) highlights the challenge of greenwashing in finance.
These are investment options called “Sustainable Plus” by the Trust that have been criminalized. While he publicly assured their ethical and sustainable value, they were in fact investing in oil and alcohol giants.
This is further proof that businesses must comply with authentic marketing, in order not to devalue the value of the most honest CSR approaches.
2024 predicted to be the hottest year in history
The European Copernicus Observatory, which documents climate change, admits the very high probability that this year 2024 will be the hottest in the history of climate records.
While the month of July puts an end to the unprecedented series of 13 consecutive months of record heat, there are unusually high temperatures all around the world.
Since the start of the year, the global temperature has been 0.27°C higher than in 2023. Without a sudden drop, there is a good chance that 2024 will be warmer than last year.
As a result of these temperatures, extreme weather events have increased recently. Sometimes fatal heat waves, floods, megafires, landslides... no part of the globe is spared from “the devastating effects of climate change”.
The puzzle of reusing materials in construction
The Industrial Technical Center for Metal Construction (CTIM) is an organization whose ambition is to deepen the technical expertise of the construction sector in terms of the use of metals, in compliance with regulatory and environmental constraints.
He supports the need for the reuse of metallic materials, stressing the difficulties that this systematically involves. For example, the CTIM states that in the absence of clearly established standards on the reuse of metals, it is difficult to get a building insured.
This is a central challenge when you know that, all sectors combined, only 1% of materials are reused. The CTIM aims for a reuse rate of “10 to 15% of dismantled scrap metal”.
However, the cost of carefully dismantling a building provides metal that is still more expensive than new. Thus, it is necessary “to massify reuse, to lower prices” indicates Amor Ben Larbi, research project director at CTIM.
Does air pollution have an impact on the 2024 Olympics?
We know that air pollution is becoming a major problem on a global scale, with a lethality of 8.1 million deaths in 2023.
However, the Paris 2024 Olympics are taking place in a city known for its frequent pollution peaks. In particular, this raises the question of the influence of air quality on the performance and health of athletes.
Airparif, the organization responsible for monitoring air pollution in real time in Île-de-France, explains that high temperatures promote a chemical reaction between exhaust gases and volatile organic compounds. “This pollutant, which can cause asthma attacks and affect the respiratory system, kills around 1,700 people every year in Île-de-France.”
Thus, the level of oxygen present in the atmosphere would be reduced, which would have an effect on athletes' sports performance, especially during pollution peaks.
The sources
- Les Echos “CSR reporting: how to get out of schizophrenia?”
- Carenews “Why do businesses that offer a living wage generate greater societal benefits?”
- RSE Magazine “Is AI an underexploited ally of sustainable development?”
- Le Monde “Heat wave: “The benefits of night work mask negative effects on health””
- Novethic “Corporate lawyers still lack maturity on ESG and CSR”
- Le Monde “Social law with an environmental vocation: regulation at the service of a just ecological transition”
- RSE Magazine “Mercer Superannuation sanctioned for greenwashing: a record fine of 6.7 billion euros”
- Le Monde “The year 2024 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded, according to the European Copernicus Observatory”
- Sustainable news “The metal industry supports the reuse of materials”
- Green “Paris 2024: what role does air pollution play in athletes' performance?”
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