Newsletter – Insights for CSR Workshops – Forum China-Europa – #1

6 avril 2010 - Forum China-Europa

 

#1 – 6 April 2010

To FCE 2010 CSR Workshops Organisers:

Please find herewith the 1st newsletter of the CSR Information Project which will provide you with information for FCE 2010 Workshops.

Please do not hesitate to give me your feedback, as well as indicate possible items or topics for the next newsletter which will be sent out in 2 weeks.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to other participants to your workshops.

Thank you in advance,

Joelle Brohier – ANAKOUT


 China  Europe
Public action

China’s labour dispute court cases up by over 10 percent in 2009 China Supreme Court says. Most cases are probably wage arrears, non-payment of overtime, economic contributions and insurance contributions.

The Shanghai Environment Bureau has published in January 2010 a list of 721 companies accused of having violated environmental rules and procedures

43 enterprises were shut down in 2009 by Kunming (Yunnan) government for illegal sewage – 10 citizens received financial awards for reporting on these cases

Yiwu city, in Zheziang province, has successfully tested a CSR standard in  Beiyuan Industrial Park. 57 companies have been awarded, in which 14 in the best category. See also this

 

 

The European Commission has released « Europe 2020 – A European Strategy for a Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth ». It is stated that the European Commission commits to renew its CSR strategy for « ensuring long terme employee and consumer trust »  

The European Commission held multistakeholder workshops on CSR disclosure in 2009-2010. Many documents related to these workshops have been made available.

The French National Assembly (lower House of Parliament) has passed a law requiring listed companies that at least 40 percent of their boardmembers are women within 6 years

Report of Parliament Committee on Human Rights: « Any of your business? Human Rights & the UK Private Sector » – An international agreement should be the « ultimate goal ». Response by the Government – It does not agree on the need for an international convention neither on the creation of a UK Commission on this matter.

Norway has released new Guidelines for Responsible Investment Practices in the Government Pension Global Fund. These Guidelines allow for observation and active ownership before excluding a company from the fund

Initiatives

Wuhan: foreign-funded companies sign CSR proposal

CBCSD (Chinese Business Council for Sustainable Development) is developing carbon emissions norms by industry to help companies to move to a low-carbon economy

Partnership between AFD (Agence française de développement and China Merchants Bank, Huaxia Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank for funding green projects of Chinese businesses

Sinohydro says it is keen to bring more support to Angola for post-war reconstruction

Alcatel-Lucent, Sharp Solar, Q.Cells are among the winners of the European Commission 2010 Sustainable Energy Awards. Alcatel winning programme is its « Alternative Energy Programme for Global Green Telecommunications ». This programme allows to bring access to telecoms and broadband services to 1 billion people off the grid, thanks to telecommunications’ stations powered by renewable energy.

Schneider Electric supports the European Union Code of Conduct for Datacenters. This code aims at reducing the environmental and economic impacts of energy consumption from datacenters, through recommendations and good practices.

  

SRI (Socially Responsible Investment)

Sumitomo Trust & Banking (Japan) is launching China Good Company, a SRI fund

Report « Water in China – Issues for Responsible Investors »

Guide Climate Disclosure Framework for Oil & Gas Companies (for institutional investors) and Guide on Climate Change for Private Equity Investors – from the European Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.
Challenges for CSR

Only a third of migrant workers have a labour contract, according to a law firm survey on 581 migrant workers. According to the National People’s Congress, 93% of all workers now have a labour contract as required by the 2008 Labour Contract Law. Discrepancy may come from SMEs, which are said to hire large numbers of migrants without contract.

 

 

Women account for only 11 percent of board members of European largest listed companies. Norway, which passed a law in 2006, is the only exception with 42 percent of women sitting in boards.

France: Annual Discrimination Barometer from ILO/HALDE – Discrimination is on the rise in the private sector – 36 percent of employees say they have faced discrimination – most often on race, pregnancy or age grounds. The most current steps taken by companies against discrimination are training, awareness raising and partnerships for fair opportunities.
However, diversity agreements, internal whistle blowing, diversity criteria for managers’ personal appraisals are lagging behind. The HALDE is the French independent body against discrimination.

Agenda

Business Opportunities & Low-carbon Economy – Asia-Pacific Business Forum – Kunming (Yunnan), 28-30 April 2010, co-organised by ESCAP (UN) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Attendance is free (see website for registration), travel expenses must be self-funded.

 

 

Report Overviews

Overview #1 – China Top 100 Firms CSR Appraisal – Huang Qunhui, Peng Huahang, Zhong Hongwu, Zhang En (2009) – This recent CSR appraisal analyses the 100 Top Chinese firms, on the basis of companies’ communications. Three of the authors are from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and one is from the SASAC (State Assets Supervision and Administration, State Council)…See overview
Overview #2 – The CSR Navigator – Public Policies in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe – GTZ & Bertelsmannm Stiftung (2007) – This research assesses the state of CSR public policies in 13 countries, including China, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom and can provides a useful framework for CSR Public Policy analysis…See overview

 

 

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