International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010

October 6, 2010

to

October 7, 2010

International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010

This timely summit organized by the Singapore Compact for CSR brings together experts from various sectors to discuss on how to plan, measure, and implement CSR strategies for sustainable business success.

The Inaugural International Singapore Compact CSR Summit of last year was a great success, attracting about 400 delegates from multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises, unions, government, academia and the general public.

Let’s join other business leaders, CSR professionals and many other stakeholders to hear and learn from the experts, local and overseas, to address the following challenges:-

HOW TO PLAN     |     HOW TO MEASURE     |     HOW TO IMPLEMENT

• How can my organisation make CSR an effective strategy for sustainable business success?
• How can my organisation keep pace with the ever changing energy challenge?
• How government policies shape along with the global impetus?
• How can my organisation effectively respond to the global trends which affect my organisation?
• How can I measure my organisation’s response to the climate change challenge and sustainability developments?
• How is the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) relevant to my organisation and where shall I start with?
• How can I measure the social impact of my organsiation?
• How can I start with my first sustainability report with a universally accepted standard?
• What are the cost and time-effective ways to do sustainability reporting?

*Fees reflected above are based on per delegate.

Please visit www.singaporecsrsummit.org for more information about the International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010.

For registration, please download the form from http://www.singaporecsrsummit.org/registration.php and fax the completed form to 6471 1278.

Please feel free to contact Mr Cedric Miranda or Ms Fion Tsang at 6827 6825, or email to enquiry@singaporecsrsummit.org for any enquiries or the sponsorship opportunity for the International Singapore Compact CSR Summit 2010.

NUS and University of Sydney Jointly Organise Singapore’s National Sustainability Conference 2010

Opening Ceremony: Thursday, 29 July 2010, 9.00 am, Amara Singapore Hotel, Ballroom 1 and 2, Level 3, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road Singapore 088539

Guest-of-Honour & Keynote Speaker: Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and Mayor, South West District

Government, educational institutions, not for profit organisations, business representatives and students will gather together at the 2nd National Sustainability Conference on the 29th & 30th of July to discuss the latest sustainable developments in the Asia Pacific region. The theme of this year’s conference is Sustainable Strategies for Singapore and the Asia Pacific Region with a focus on the sustainable workplace. The conference is jointly organised by The Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES), National University of Singapore and the Workplace Research Centre (WRC), University of Sydney.

The conference will be opened by the Guest-of-Honour for the event, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, and Mayor, South West District, and she will be delivering the keynote address.

What is Singapore doing to mitigate climate change and how is this filtering down to our major corporations and enterprises? These are some of the questions that will be answered at this year’s conference. Business Leaders and Policy Makers from both Asia and Australia will be presenting on topics such as Sustainable Leadership, Achieving Sustainable Business Practices, the Economics of Climate Change, Green Jobs and the Future of the Sustainable Development in the Asia Pacific Region.

Some of the prominent speakers include Mr Ong Seng Eng, Director of the Resource Conservation Department at the National Environment Agency (NEA) – the country’s major statutory board for environmental protection, Associate Professor Simon Tay, Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs and former Chair of the NEA, as well as Dr. John Buchanan, Director of the Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney and Mr. John Person, Head of the UK Regional Climate Change Network in Southeast Asia.

The National Sustainability Conference will take place in the Amara Hotel, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088539. It will be a great insight into Singapore’s present responses to Climate Change and the emerging opportunities in the area as well as an excellent platform of interaction and connection for anyone who is passionate about achieving a more sustainable Singapore.

Visit the National Sustainability Conference website for registration and details.

Singapore’s CleanTech Park to be Ready by 2030

JTC Corporation (JTC) recently unveiled the masterplan for the CleanTech Park (CTP), Singapore’s first eco-business park for companies involved in clean technologies and sustainable urban solutions. The CTP also serves as a R&D and testbedding site for early adoption of clean tech products and solutions for the urban tropics. Besides clean tech companies, the CTP could also house companies providing eco-friendly products and services, and companies with strong CSR or green practices.

The 50-hectare CTP will be developed next to the Nanyang Technological University so as to enhance the integration between the academia, research institutes and the business industry, and provide synergies for the full value chain of the clean tech industry. The development will take place in 3 phases over 20 years. Phase 1 will commence in July 2010 and will provide about 17 ha of business park land when completed in 2018. Phase 2 will be developed from 2019 to 2025, and Phase 3 from 2026 to 2030. The CTP will house a working population of 20,000 when it is fully built by 2030.

In the masterplan, the CTP will be developed as the most sustainable eco-business park in Singapore with the implementation of green strategies and its emphasis on retaining the natural environment and biodiversity. The green strategies to be implemented in the CTP include:

1. Stormwater management

Making use of the existing topography of the site to channel stormwater into the low-lying areas for storage and reuse. The stormwater within CleanTech Park will be channelled into a central wetland where the water can be treated and be reused for irrigation or toilet flushing. The pond will also reduce the ambient temperature through evaporative cooling.

2. Sky Trellis

The sky trellis will be constructed between adjacent buildings and covered with plants. By shading open spaces between buildings, it can reduce heat gain by the buildings from the environment and enhance walkability within open spaces in the area.

3. Conservation of Green Zones

Conservation zones are demarcated areas within CTP where trees and plants are conserved. Development works are planned around these conservation zones to protect the existing trees and plants.

4. Protection of biodiversity

Keeping the existing trees in the park will help to retain the biodiversity, such as the birds and butterflies to remain within CTP.

5. Designated Green Corridors

The designated Green Corridors are green areas between the buildings and land parcels within CTP. These green corridors are strategically located to provide secondary greenery between the buildings and land parcels and are aimed at promoting enhanced walkability within the Park.

6. Building a Green Community

CTP will nurture the fist green business community and environment by way of introducing and inculcating green practices such as recycling programmes and car pooling programmes.

7. Green Features that reduce demand on resource utilization

Building orientation with minimum East-West facing facades; Creating the wind tunnel effect to maximize wind-capture within the buildings; Using recycled and green materials for infrastructure development.

Source and images credit: JTC

Panasonic Achieved its ‘eco ideas’ Targets and Sets New Vision

Panasonic Asia Pacific has achieved and exceeded its ‘eco ideas’ declaration targets set in 2009, and aims to be the number one green innovation company in the electronics industry by 2018.

Panasonic first announced the following ‘eco ideas’ declaration targets in 2009, and announced yesterday that it has achieved and exceeded its targets:

‘eco ideas’ for Products

• 80% of total sales by March 2013 contributed by eco products

Increased percentage of sales contributed by eco products (energy efficiency, water efficiency and long lasting) from 24% of total product sales in March 2009 to 49% in March 2010. Panasonic uses an internal environmental assessment system for assessing the environmental impacts of its products, including energy efficiency, resource conservation and reduction of chemicals.

‘eco ideas’ for Manufacturing

• Reduce 240,000 tons in total CO2 emissions over three years from April 2007 to March 2010

Reduced CO2 emissions across its 49 manufacturing sites in Asia Pacific by 37.2% instead of the original targeted 30.8% over three years. A total of 290,000 tons of CO2 was reduced, equivalent to planting about 16 million trees.

• Create model ‘eco ideas’ factories to promote clean production

Set up three model ‘eco ideas’ factories in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand that manufacture eco-friendly products with sustainable industry practices and are utilised in outreach activities to raise the level of eco consciousness in the community. These factories place an even greater emphasis on energy efficiency, waste management and recycling.

‘eco ideas’ for Everybody, Everywhere

• Spread ‘eco ideas’ through strong partnerships with key external stakeholders and educational roadshows to raise public awareness, especially among the youth.

Organised 76 eco-related educational activities and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to raise public awareness in Asia Pacific.

Panasonic also announced its new vision to become the number one green innovation company in the electronics industry by 2018 (its 100th anniversary), and its new ‘eco ideas’ declaration. Panasonic pledges to achieve the following by March 2013:

‘eco ideas’ for Lifestyles

• Increase regional sales contributed by eco products from the current 49% to 80%.
• Develop a Panasonic Global ECO LEARNING PROGRAM, and leverage on the Environment Champions (Schools) Industry Module in Singapore to enhance awareness of environmental issues among youth and encourage them to take eco action.
• Utilise social media platforms to generate eco awareness and inculcate eco habits. It launched the ‘Make a Change‘ Campaign, an eco advertisement design competition. Three entries with the highest amount of votes stand to win eco-friendly TVs worth S$3,000 each. One winning design will be used by Panasonic in an ‘eco ideas’ advertising campaign.

‘eco ideas’ for Business-styles

• Reduce CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes vs business-as-usual level
• Develop four more model ‘eco ideas’ factories in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines

4 Simple Green Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – Part Four

Continued from Part Three.

The third step to our 4 simple green strategies is to explore the demand for green products and services, be proactive to meet this need, and gain a competitive advantage by offering greener alternatives first, thus increasing your revenue.

Here, we present our fourth and final step:

4. Enhance Brand

After adopting the previous 3 strategies, SMEs will be in a better position to build up their reputation and enhance their brand as a sustainable company.

However, in your green marketing, it is important to avoid being accused of greenwashing – a term to describe the perception of consumers being misled by a company on its environmental practices or the environmental benefits of its products or services.

To avoid being accused of greenwashing and prevent negative feedback from consumers and environmentalists, it is important to ensure that the green claims of your business are true. Acknowledge the areas of your business that are not yet green and commit to work on it.

Engage your stakeholders, both internal and external, in a dialogue on your green marketing, and gather feedback from them on whether you’re on the right track or seen to be greenwashing.

SMEs can enhance their brand as a sustainable company only after implementing the previous 3 strategies, and also have to ensure that their green marketing is free of greenwashing.

We hope that the 4 simple green strategies will give SMEs some ideas on how to be more sustainable and help them start greening their businesses.

Image credit: weatherbox via stock.xchng

4 Simple Green Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – Part Three

Continued from Part Two.

The second step to our 4 simple green strategies is to find opportunities to reduce unnecessary wastage and inefficient practices in your business.

Here, we present our third step:

3. Increase Revenue

More consumers are increasing aware of environmental issues, and some of them would even choose eco-friendly products over the normal ones, even though it costs more. The demand for green products and services present new opportunities for SMEs who are willing to explore this new green market.

SMEs can survey the needs of their existing customers (or even potential new customers) and find out whether there is a need for greener products and services. Next, look at your own products and services, and explore whether it is possible to make them more sustainable or even design new greener products.

Find ways to reduce the environmental impacts of your products throughout its life cycle. In addition, you can ensure that your products meet certified eco labels, such as the Singapore Green Label. This will enable your products to have a green premium over normal products but remember that it is still important to first meet the customer’s quality and cost needs.

By exploring the demand for green products and services and being proactive to meet this need, SMEs can gain a competitive advantage by offering greener alternatives first, and thus increasing their revenue.

To be continued in Part Four.

Image credit: mm904ut via stock.xchng

Siemens City of the Future

We visited the Siemens City of the Future recently to learn more about Siemens’ portfolio of innovative solutions for a sustainable future. City of the Future was inaugurated in March 2009 at the Siemens Center in Singapore, led by Siemens’ Center of Competence for City Management and working with other business divisions. It includes a public gallery and the City Management Solutions Center.

At the public gallery outside, visitors can use the interactive UBIQ touch screens to navigate the content using their fingers, like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. The gallery showcases Siemens’ innovative portfolio of Green, Smart, Mobile and Safe city solutions.

Inside the City Management Solutions Center, we found several interactive applications on city management:

City Game

This interactive game is to help participants understand the importance of cross-functional collaboration across city departments and agencies, when building and managing a sustainable city. They must consider aspects such as water, energy, transportation, finance and security, which is dynamic and changes according to the decisions made.

Green IT Solutions

A holistic approach towards exploiting IT across communication, energy, real estate and other platforms can help individuals and companies reduce costs and be green at the same time. One solution is the use of smart energy meters and appliances that can monitor energy and water consumption, and suggest usage during periods when the energy prices are lower.

Smart Solutions

City authorities can use information technology to help deal with the complex and growing challenges within a city. One solution is the City Cockpit, which is an integrated Management Information and Decision Support System to assist authorities in managing the growth of a city based upon key performance indicators such as traffic, environment, and finance, and to ensure that the city is sustainable for the future.

Mobile Solutions

Mobile solutions, from intelligent real-time information systems and fleet management for public transportation to traffic offence management, can help to reduce a city’s transportation and congestion problems. One solution is the Mobile Parking, which allows car users to pay for parking fees using their mobile phones, instead of using parking coupons. This solution is convenient for car users, and helps the authorities to reduce the infrastructure and maintenance costs.

After touring the Siemens City of the Future, we gained new and better insights on how cities can manage their challenges and growth, and plan for a sustainable future through the use of innovative IT solutions across different industries and platforms. We look forward to seeing some of those solutions being implemented in Singapore in the near future.

Source and images credit: Siemens Pte Ltd

Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet

Authors: Jay Conrad Levinson and Shel Horowitz

ISBN: 978-0-470-40951-0

Paperback; 236 pages

Published in Jan 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Recommended Retail Price: S$38.47 incl. GST

Available at all major bookstores

Book Review

Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green is a practical book on marketing strategies for companies that wish to be green and ethical. The authors emphasise that success in business is based on ethics, social and environmental responsibility, providing value to others, and people-centered marketing.

The book discusses the new marketing mindset, which includes:

• The effectiveness of marketing messages depends on relevance and quality (and not only on frequency)
• Think in terms of abundance (the pie is infinite and helping others is helping yourself)
• Build alliances with competitors, customers, suppliers, non-profits, and businesses in different markets
• Be the early movers in green marketing and make the message believable and genuine (avoid greenwashing)

The authors also offer some hands-on marketing tools using a range of traditional and social media (including social media press releases and social networking), developing creative partnerships with retailers, and being a writer and speaker.

Promotion for Green Business Times Readers

Readers in Singapore can now buy the book from John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd at a 20% discount from 6 Apr 2010 to 6 May 2010.

1. Place your order to this email address: csd_ord@wiley.com or call: +65 6463 4604

2. Quote the ISBN of the book title

3. Quote the 4 digit promotion code to be entitled to the 20% discount – Promo Code 2479

4 Simple Green Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – Part Two

Continued from Part One.

The first step to our 4 simple green strategies is to keep track of the relevant risks and take immediate actions to reduce them. Here, we present our second step:

2. Reduce Costs

Look at your business operations and the use of resources such as electricity, water, fuel, materials and chemicals. Monitor regularly on your fuel, material and chemical usage, water and electricity consumption, and waste disposed.

Find ways to increase the efficiency and productivity of your operations so as to reduce the use of fuel, materials and chemicals. Find ways to reduce the consumption and disposal so that your business can save on utilities bills and waste disposal fees.

For example, you could conduct an energy survey by taking a walk around the offices, building and facilities to observe what is happening on the ground, identify bad and wasteful energy use and habits, and identify opportunities for energy saving.

Or you could find out how your business manages waste, water and transport in your daily operations, and take steps to reduce the impact of these activities. You could also adopt energy efficient office equipment and energy saving tips.

Or you could start a recycling programme to minimise waste and start recycling at work.

There are many opportunities to reduce unnecessary wastage and inefficient practices in your business. Engage your employees and get them to give suggestions and help improve the use of resources and reduce costs.

To be continued in Part Three.

Image credit: lusi via stock.xchng.

Co-opportunity: Join Up for a Sustainable, Resilient, Prosperous World

Author: John Grant

ISBN: 978-0-470-68436-8

Hardcover; 350 pages

Published in March 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Recommended Retail Price: US$27.95 / S$49.17 including GST

Available at all major bookstores

Book Review

John Grant, the award winning author of The Green Marketing Manifesto, is back with his latest book called Co-opportunity, which explores “what co-operative solutions to sustainability challenges could look like.” He explains that the possibility to “co-operate may lead to a better human society”.

The book tackles five key sustainability challenges, introduces co-operative solutions through case examples in practice, and suggests tactics for application:

1. Creating a climate for change: Engaging the public to recognise the problems and take action together

… ideas about new forms of social organisation and campaigning, beyond passive media audiences.

2. Relocating the dreams: Going beyond consumerism and exploring a better future

… ideas about creating desire for brands, campaigns, movements that heal the world.

3. Making organisations accountable (and hence responsible for wellbeing): Being more transparent and taking responsibility

… ideas about new kinds of eco-label, social change campaigns or consumer co-operatives to create change through what they buy.

4. Economic resilience: Rethinking economic growth and switching to co-operative economic systems

… ideas for anything from restoring trust in banking, to a community scheme to support renewable energy.

5. Abundance rather than ‘lean and mean’: Shifting from productivity to wellbeing return on resources

… new ways of organising for service or supply systems – or equally use it to think differently about the design of the organisations themselves.

Promotion for Green Business Times Readers

Readers in Singapore can now buy the book from John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd at a 20% discount from 23 Mar 2010 to 23 Apr 2010.

1. Place your order to this email address: csd_ord@wiley.com or call: +65 6463 4604

2. Quote the ISBN of the book title

3. Quote the 4 digit promotion code to be entitled to the 20% discount – Promo Code 2478

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