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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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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Andrew from Good Honest Dollar continues his discussion on socially responsible investing. This time writing from a company’s point of view.

This article is the sixth in a series on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), otherwise known as ethical investing.

In this post, I would like to discuss the consequences, from a company’s point of view, of being successful or otherwise in attracting ethical investment.

Some commentators argue that attraction of the ethical investment dollar provides an incentive for firms to adopt positive ethical behavior. But is attracting ethical investment really important to a firm? Does attracting SRI really matter?

In order to understand the consequences for a company of attracting socially responsible investment, we first need to examine two issues - the nature of these consequences and the magnitude of such consequences.

In this post, I will examine the nature of the consequences for a firm in attracting ethical investment – the question of why it matters.

The following post will deal with the magnitude of such consequences – the question of how much it matters.

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There is a lot of discussion on the vulnerability of environmental laws and the loopholes which makes it easier for the companies to deceive the authorities about their environmental footprint. Recycling of the electronic waste is a major headache as it involves a lot of bucks. The easiest way of getting rid of the e-waste is to dump it in the developing countries and this practice has been in place for many years.

A recent research by the Government Accountability Office revealed that many companies are exporting e-waste materials, including CRT monitors, to the third world countries instead of recycling at home due to relaxed regulations. In environmental reports, however, they claim that they have recycled it by themselves and in full compliance with the international standards.

What these companies have failed to comprehend is that their negligence is killing people in those countries where these parts are ‘recycled’. Pakistan along with India and China are major importers of e-waste. The recycling of these materials is done under extremely dangerous procedures without any safety measures. As a result, the workers involved in the recycling industry become victims of debilitating diseases.

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CDF Software, parent of Social Bridges, and Telenor recently issued a press release in major dailies of Pakistan announcing the launch of our blog. The PR was aimed at creating awareness about our efforts and to engage with more and more people.

Here is the statement as it appeared in The News:

By our correspondent
9/20/2008 ISLAMABAD: CDF Software and Telenor Pakistan on Thursday announced the launch of Social Bridges (socialbridges.org), a corporate social responsibility (CSR) blog on the internet.

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