Social Bridges presents a round up of interviews that we conducted with Pakistani executives to know what their companies are doing for the community and what’s their environmental and social footprint. It was really heartening to know that Pakistani corporate sector has started doing good for the society and are also trying to reduce their carbon footprints. These interviews were really very helpful in learning the CSR dynamics of Pakistan.

• ENGRO is setting examples for other companies

ENGRO is very much cautious about its environmental foot print and has spent millions on reducing emissions.

• P&G Pakistan is working for a better future of Pakistani children

Proctor & Gamble has based its community efforts on children as they are the future of Pakistan.

• Tribal Monsoon joins forces with Pakistani artisans to rock the world

Pakistani artisans are great but live in very pathetic conditions and abject poverty. Tribal Monsoon is helping these artisans by paying them generously and taking their creations to international markets.

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Enrico J. Wensing is a sustainability expert who has not only founded Ecosphere Net but has also authored I Am Sustainability: How the Human Body can Save the Planet, a great book on all issues related to sustainable development. He is in the final year of his PhD at Saybrook. Social Bridges recently conducted an interview with him to know more about his ideas and theories.

How would you define sustainability - what’s your personal view about it?

As far as I can tell, my view of sustainability is pretty different than most. While most sustainability efforts are about doing more sustainable things, like being more environmentally friendly, my view is about how we can take that even further when we begin to integrate sustainability into who we are.

That’s right, actually integrate sustainability into who we each are as an individual. My view is that sustainability can actually be integrated and become a large part of a person’s personality

This goes further than most approaches to sustainability, and if a deeper more effective connection with sustainability is possible why not go for it?

While my approach is more confrontational than remembering to recycle plastics and paper, at the end of the day don’t we want to do our best to be as effective as possible toward achieving global sustainability?

Just this past July my book (my first) entitled I Am Sustainability: How the Human Body can Save the Planet was published. In it I describe in detail my view on what sustainability means and how I think we can get to global sustainability.

The book is intended to be the starting point for a growing cross-cultural global conversation, action and research to work together to define what sustainability means to all of us.

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This is to inform our readers that we’ll not publish any new posts this week due to Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. Regular posts will be resumed from Monday, Oct. 6. Happy Holidays!

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In the last post, I discussed the religious giving trends of Pakistan. Religious giving represents a major chunk of philanthropy in Pakistan - roughly around 70-80% of the total donations. Charity for social causes or natural and man made disasters comes second. Social philanthropy is not a very developed concept in Pakistan, both in the masses as well as the corporate sector. Let me remind you that the masses can’t give much as Pakistan already has abnormally high rate of those living below and just at the peripheries of poverty line.

Corporate sector, on the other hand, has the resources to help. Donations for organizations working in the field of education, health and general uplift have seen a steady increase in recent years. While many NGOs are dependent on foreign funding for their operations, some are also receiving significant corporate donations. However, many corporate entities are still reluctant to open their coffers for social causes. Read more…

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ENGRO Chemical Pakistan Ltd., is the premier fertilizer manufacturing and marketing company of Pakistan that has also ventured into chemicals, foods and energy sector. Being a highly profitable company, its involvement in the socially responsible activities is also quite significant. Social Bridges recently conducted an interview with the company’s resident manager at Islamabad, Mr. Nauman Shaikh, to know more about the company and its social values.

Social Bridges: How would you define CSR and what’s ENGRO’s vision of CSR?

Nauman: CSR in my opinion is linked with triple bottom line spectrum. In recent past, companies’ annual reports mentioned just one bottom line; profits. Now the things are changing. The thinking and philosophy of ENGRO complies with the global guidelines and initiatives. We are a signatory of UN Global Compact and have based our CSR program on its 10 principles. Our CEO says,

My vision for ENGRO is to see consistent focus on objectives and investment in a sustainable future, as the way forward.

Sustainability comes with everything. If your stakeholders are happy with you, if you are equal opportunity employer and if you are not polluting the environment then you are a sustainable company.

Social Bridges: What about the environmental footprint? I went through CSR reports as well as annual reports and some of your environmental targets especially those related to emissions were not met. Why?

Nauman: We have accepted in our reports that we have failed to achieve those targets while others don’t even care to mention that; infact they hide such facts. We actually set very high standards for ourselves. Each year we set our targets quite higher than the previous year. So what I can say is that we strive our best to reach those benchmarks and many a times we do achieve these targets. Read more…

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Social Bridges presents the weekly rundown of the best posts on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and greener options.

1. Climate change poses a major road block to MDGs

Rapid climatic changes, especially those in the poor countries, are proving to be a major bottleneck in the achievement of millennium development goals but we’ve got the solutions.

2. What is thoughtless environmentalism?

Are we heading towards a customer-friendly environmentalism where we don’t have to go through the ordeal of sorting green products out or is it just a fantasy? Quinn McKew elaborates.

3. How to be socially responsible during economic recession?

The economic downturn has become a source of major debate all over the world. Companies can maintain their social activities by acting on these tips.

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Google has come up with an excellent idea titled Project 10¹⁰⁰ which is actually an open invitation for every citizen of this planet to put forward his/her ideas for change in the form of 30-seconds videos or proposals or both. The basic theme of the project is to help people achieving their goals. This help can be in the field of environment, education, health, community or any other sector.

Google has already committed $10 million for the implementation of the proposed projects. That’s what we call social responsibility and we hope that Google will increase its commitment in future.Do participate if you want to bring your ideas to life!

Here is the official video of the project.

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Combating climate change has never been an easy task. Also it was never considered as a profession and volunteers were often looked down upon by the corporate folks. They were partially right in their approach as climate change had very little employment opportunities to offer with very low success rates.

Fortunately that’s not the case anymore. Recently ILO, UNEP, the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Organization of Employers joined hands to examine the job opportunities in the climate change sector. They have come up with a detailed report titled Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World which can prove to be a landmark for a green road map for jobs creation.

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In one of my earlier posts, I discussed India’s leap forward in microfinancing medical treatments as a pilot microcredit scheme has started disbursing loans for heart surgery. Although the CSR scene in India is not very different from that of other developing countries, at least one of their state governments is ready to adopt CSR in a more viable manner.

The Government of Karnataka is about to take a landmark decision as it’s drafting a law, which if promulgated, will result in mandatory CSR activities by companies working in the state. This is the same state which started the aforementioned microcredit scheme. The state government has rightfully sensed the double standards of these companies where they were out boasting about their CSR efforts while their employees were working in pathetic conditions.

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Corporate Social Responsibility is a much debated topic these days. This topic is so diverse and can lead to so many discussions and possibilities that one can’t even imagine. However, we have to draw some lines and set some standards. There are some unified roles for CSR activities for example. The basic one is that you have to venture out in community in the same sector which is your specialty, your industry.

Compliance with this basic pre-requisite is on the rise but there are still some glitches. Many businesses, especially those of the developing countries, generally abstain from being a good corporate citizen within their own scope of business. They might be involved in charity or education related activities but if you look at their socially responsible efforts you would find some serious discrepancies. Starting with socially responsible business, many industries are not complying with the environmental laws thus posing serious risks to lives and natural resources.

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