Our parent company recently signed the United Nations Global Compact sustainability initiative. I am happy about that. My colleagues sometimes jokingly refer to me as a 'green tree hugger', and frankly there is some truth in that. I am concerned about the liveability of our planet and it is nice to work for an organisation that also cares about the world around us.
Sceptical
But we are not the only company where corporate social responsibility is on the agenda. Sustainability is an essential part of strategy and operations for many organisations. Yet I can imagine that customers and outsiders are sometimes sceptical about this. After all, is 'sustainably produced' just an empty slogan to drive sales or is corporate social responsibility really in the DNA of the organisation?
In doing so, I often hear, "Yes, we citizens have to put ourselves into climate costs from the government, but industry, as a big polluter, gets away with everything." But if you have followed the developments within the (manufacturing) industry a bit in recent years, you will have noticed that this sector is indeed working on sustainability.
Innovation
In 2015, sustainability was already among the 5 most important success factors of the Dutch manufacturing industry. And over 62% of SME entrepreneurs believe companies should pay for the CO2 they emit. A majority (58%) think that a levy, the proceeds of which would go to companies that make them more sustainable, would lead to more innovation. This is according to a poll of entrepreneurs commissioned by Natuur & Milieu.
Of course, we are far from there yet. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) calculated that industry is not going to achieve the stated CO2 savings of 14.3 megatons of CO2. At best, this sector will end up with 13.9 megatons of CO2. But everywhere, partnerships between companies, government and knowledge institutions are emerging to get innovative projects off the ground. Audrey Keukens (chairman VNO-NCW West) puts it very nicely on the website Duurzaamondernemen.nl: "Dutch business is fighting climate change in all its ferocity. This is happening in so many places that journalists cannot keep up with it, let alone interpret its strength."
More than empty words
So it is up to us, companies within the manufacturing industry and suppliers to this sector, to present all these innovative, sustainable developments to the world. And, above all, to show that we take our responsibility. In any case, our parent company will issue a Communication on Progress (CoP) every year, describing how the organisation carries out its activities in line with the agreements and what responsibility we take in this respect. The information on progress made will be published on the UN Global Compact website and is accessible to everyone. So you can see that corporate sustainability with us goes beyond a few empty words.
Astrid van Ballegoy
