A major factor in risk management

Corporate social responsibility teams - the ethical 'must-have' in every large company in recent years - are now making provision for a new trend: climate change managers. Zara Maung writes in an Ethical Corporation report that according to the headhunters tasked with supplying them, many FTSE 250 companies are building separate teams to manage their climate change impacts and strategies. Maung says the power given to such teams comes from the growing importance of companies' risk management strategies. An increasing number of investors now want to see businesses calculate the climate change risks to their supply chains. Full Ethical Corporation report

A new scorecard is helping consumers factor a company's track record on climate change into their purchasing decisions. The Climate Counts Company Scorecard scores 56 major corporations across eight sectors on their commitment to reversing climate change. 'Business must play a significant role in stopping global warming, and we believe the key to influencing companies lies in the hands of the consumer. With the scorecard, consumers now have the power to make good climate decisions in their everyday purchases,' said Gary Hirshberg, chair of Climate Counts and CE of Stonyfield Farm. Full Climate Counts press release

However, its effectiveness may be blunted because nine out of 10 consumers are sceptical about the information from companies and governments, according to a new survey. The Guardian reports that more than 40% of consumers distrust what they hear about global warming from businesses while a further 50% do not know whether to believe corporate claims or not. This contrasts with 60% who trust scientists and almost half who put the same faith in environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, according to the report from Consumers International and Accountability. Full report in The Guardian

In SA, most consumers do not shop for energy-efficient products, preferring to make decisions on pricing, performance and branding. Brian Leroni, Massmart group Corporate Affairs executive, says the finding of a recent survey of consumers' environmental attitudes is that the last thing people are looking for when shopping is energy efficiency. Business Day reports that in addition, 91% of the 501 shoppers interviewed do not look for environment-friendly logos on products, and would not even know what to look for. Full Business Day report

Banks have a major role to play, according to Alex Hetherington, consultant to WWF SA, in an article in Business Day. Having historically taken comfort in a mantra of 'low environmental impact', banks are now increasingly forced to acknowledge their wider role in environmental custodianship. This is being driven by their role as both purchasers and financiers of goods and services. He says that it is indeed true that the environmental footprint of an individual bank is relatively small compared with players in other industries. It is in the wider sphere of their influence that banks are responsible for far greater environmental impact. This includes procurement where environmental criteria could be prioritised in the purchasing decisions of goods and services. Full Business Day report