FabianPattberg.com

Poll: Does a corporation’s CSR / Sustainability activity actually influence your purchasing decisions?

Fabian — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:01:47 +0000

I have not been conducting one of polls for several weeks now so I thought it was a good time to start a new poll running all of this week.

This time on the question whether the CSR / Sustainability activities and practices of a company actually influences your decision as a consumer to buy or not to buy a certain product/ products of a company.

Please either vote below or visit http://twtpoll.com/s5rsdy to vote. As always no registration needed. Just click and vote.

My Top 5 Sustainability News this past week – 08.11.2009

Fabian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:02:45 +0000

This week has been another busy week for news relating to the Copenhagen conference in December. We can really see the gradual build-up to this event. Because of this overload of “Copenhagen News” I have tried to mix this weeks top 5 with other news of interest.

Here are my Top 5 news of the week:

Consensus grows to extend summit treaty timeframe: It seems that our leaders are getting cold feet already.

Climate friendly policies pay off, report shows: Why are we so reluctant to believe in this? This report (and it is one of many) show that is is paying of.

Aviva Investors Challenges Global Stock Exchanges to Take Action on Corporate Responsibility: This might not seem be an important news item but for me the main message here is that financial institutions are making a step into the right direction. In this case Aviva Investors.

Solar power from Sahara a step closer: Exciting news in my opinion. For the me technology is an amazing one and if this project will be as big as they are planning it to be then we could have a great solar power future.

CSR as branded content: A very interesting article on branding and CSR.

Video: The post-crisis Consumer

Fabian — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:55:10 +0000

What will the post crisis consumer want once we are back on track with economic growth? This is a big topic for marketeers at the moment.

Sustainability and a more sustainable lifestyle are key elements in the quest to move out of this crisis and into a healthy economic situation. This video is addressing this overall issue incorporating a lot of sustainability elements towards the later parts of the presentation. Enjoy!

Listening to a CSR Critic

Fabian — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:31:06 +0000

Today I listed to a radio show here in the UK with the focus on CSR and one of the guests in the station was a self declared CSR critic.

His main argument against promoting CSR best practice for organizations was that:
“CSR only costs companies money. And by following the CSR route we will make the world a poorer and over regulated place.”

What a statement. This statement really made angry and just showed me how much work we still need to do to convince skeptics but especially the public that CSR best practice is common business best practice.

Here is the link to the radio show for you to make up your own mind:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00njb1p/You_and_Yours_03_11_2009/

The show is about an hour but really worth listening too. I can only recommend it.

Picture Credit: Robert Scoble

My Twitter Lists on Sustainability and CSR

Fabian — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:31:53 +0000

Some of might have heard and seen that Twitter recently introduced a new feature with the so called “Lists”.

Here is the link to the Twitter blog including the list announcement with more information. In short: These lists enable everyone to organize their followers and whom they are following in a much better way.

I have spend some time over the last weekend to set up my lists.

These are my lists I have set up:

Sustainability and CSR People on Twitter
http://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/sustainability-csr-people
The biggest benefit of Twitter for me is that I am able to connect with likeminded people from across the world and share ideas, opinions and information. But because I already have over three thousand followers it is time consuming to always keep an overview on who is doing what. This list makes this a lot easier.

Sustainability Content
http://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/sustainability-content
The second most important benefit of being on Twitter for me is finding very interesting content and information on Sustainability and CSR I would not otherwise come across. This is the purpose of that list.

Organizations and Websites
http://twitter.com/list/FabianPattberg/organizations-websites
There are a lot of organizations and Websites with Twitter profiles. This list will be used to keep track of the ones I find of interest. Mostly on Sustainability and CSR topics.

Various Tweeps
http://twitter.com/FabianPattberg/various-tweeps
This is a list of people that I am not able to put into definite categories but still like to keep an eye on.

Other Quality Content
http://twitter.com/list/FabianPattberg/other-quality-content
Here I have included the social media people and news sites I find use

These are my current lists.

What lists do you have set up so far? Please feel free to share them with everyone here.

My Top 5 Sustainability news this past week – 01.11.2009

Fabian — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:24:38 +0000

This past week has been another interesting week in terms of Sustainability news. We can clearly see that Climate Change will feature more and more often now in the Sustainability news field as we approach the Copenhagen summit in December.

Here are my top 5 Sustainability and CSR news items for the past week:

Marks & Spencer describes its journey from corporate social responsibility to sustainability
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/948198/Marks—Spencer-describes-its-journey-corporate-social-responsibility-sustainability/
Two employees from the M&S Sustainability department describe the journey M&S has had from CSR moving to Sustainability. An interesting read.

UN climate chief downgrades hopes for post-Kyoto treaty
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/un-climate-chief-downgrades-hopes-post-kyoto-treaty/article-186855?Ref=RSS#
Bad news for the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen already.

‘Simple lifestyle tweaks’ key in climate change fight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/lf_afp/environmentusconsumer
Research confirms that is will not take you much to lower your annual emissions. So what are you waiting for?

The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions
http://www.globe-net.com/other_news/listing.cfm?type=2&newsID=4807
A very interesting article with lots of great information for all those climate change skeptics out there.

A clearer future: Why sustainability graduates are in hot demand
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/further/a-clearer-future-why-sustainability-graduates-are-in-hot-demand-1810879.html
A must read for all the students or graduates out there interesting in Sustainability and CSR.

Picture Credit: lumaxart

Using Scribd to find useful Sustainability publications

Fabian — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:15:40 +0000

Todays post is one of my weekly resources posts again.

I don’t know whether you ever got the chance to take a closer look at Scribd but there are some interesting resources and publications for free on there.

What is Scribd?
Here is what the website says: “Scribd is the largest social publishing company in the world, the Website where tens of millions of people each month publish and discover original writings and documents.” And they really have publications for everyones interest.

I have had a closer look and I believe that there is also value for the Sustainability professionals to use this platform.

Here are there interesting pieces of information on CSR and Sustainability which you might useful.

A guide to CSR in Europe
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20798847/A-Guide-to-CSR-in-Europe-oct2009

Sustainability in Coal Mining Operations
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16917184/Sustainability-in-Coal-Mining-Operations

The Seven Sins of Greenwashing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20439899/7-Sins-of-Green-Washing

Has anyone else got experience in using Scribd? Would be interesting to know what you think about it.

Video: A little reminder why it is worth saving our planet

Fabian — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:00:38 +0000

Everyone needs reminders once in a while. So if you want to relax and see beautiful pictures of our earth to remind you again what is out there that needs to be saved then sit back and relax and watch this video.

Sustainability from Peter Corbett on Vimeo.

Sustainability Activist, Influencer or Observer? What are you?

Fabian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:32:16 +0000

What kind of Sustainability person are you? The question I wanted to pose to you today is whether you believe you are an Activist, Influencer or Observer when you are looking to promote Sustainability? ( I am assuming that you care about our planet, responsible business practice i.e. Sustainability because you are reading this).

I feel that this differentiation is very important in the context of Sustainability and making a difference in this world to change it for the better. Each of these three categories imply positives and negatives in my opinion and I have outlined what I mean with each of these categories below:

Activist
Activists are people that are especially active, vigorous advocates of a sustainability cause. They do what they say in a way that is not always acceptable for the general public. They shock or break the laws in order to get attention for the cause they are support. This can be positive or negative depending of the persons viewpoint. Activism is very controversial and highly sensible. Do not get me wrong. We need activists but they have a certain extremism which many people can not relate to easily. Examples obviously include the Green NGO’s such as Greenpeace, etc in this world.

Influencer
Influencer’s are people that are a compelling force on their specific topic areas. Their actions, opinions and standpoints effect our behavior directly in the way that we have a close bonding to this person right away or after a short period of time. This is the clear difference to the the activist. Influencer are moderate and measured. I make us change behavior. For a classic example of an influencer in the Sustainability is Al Gore. He did not settle for a fancy post in an organization somewhere after we lost against Bush but traveled the world to promote his message of saving the planet and to raise awareness about Climate Change. His presentations about the progress of climate change stick in your head and you are able to take away the aspects that help you change your behavior. A true influencer.

Observer
Is someone that observes from a distance and does not really get involved and does not participate. We are all observers when we get to know a topic. But once we know about it we have a choice. Either to dive deeper into the information or to move on. I have once read (sorry no source) that 97% of the population are observers.

Question: Who are you? How do you see yourself?
I am definitely a influencer. Or at least this is what I am trying to be. But this is not about me but the message of this post is that we need more influencers in this world. We have enough activists and just to many observers. Influencers are the ones that really have the largest leverage to make change happen in this situation we are in globally.

So if you think you are an observer then please take a moment to reflect and visualize where your passion is with regards to Sustainability. Once you have figured that out then it will be a lot easier to be become an influencer. Passion empowers you to move forward and this is what an influencer and the activist need to do. They do not stand still but move forward and change it. Observing doesn’t get us anywhere so please join me to be an influencer and help us secure our future.

Picture Credit: HaPe_Gera

My Top 5 Sustainability News this Week – 23.10.2009

Fabian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:32:15 +0000

This is another edition of you Friday afternoon news of the week list. I have been reading a lot news items but these where particularly interesting this week.

Enjoy and have a great weekend everyone.

My Top 5 Sustainability News this week:

Attraction To ‘Do Good’ Brands Is Escalating – According to this global survey of 6,000 people in 10 countries, 57% say a brand has earned their business because of its works supporting social causes: From MediaPost

Two-Thirds of American New Media Users Feel They Can Influence Business Practices by Voicing Opinions Online: From CSR Wire

Copenhagen climate talks are last chance, says Gordon Brown UK’s Chancellor: From the Guardian

UK Government launches map to highlight global warming threat: From the Independent

Politics, not technology, is delaying clean-energy future: From Greenbang.com

Picture Credit: lumaxart