may day may day may day

Spent the week in Boston, where we launched Planet 2050 to the US market with Weber Shandwick’s Boston office. We had an excellent backdrop in the form of the annual Ceres Conference, which attracted an impressive 700 delegates from large and small companies, major NGOs and, critically, the investment community. As sponsors of the summit’s awards, we released some new research on Fortune 100 companies. For more on the launch of Planet 2050 in the US, click here. I admit to being surprised at how vast a gathering the Ceres event was, and there is no doubt in my mind that if there ever was a gulf between Europe and the United States in terms of the corporate sustainability agenda, it is fast narrowing. The highlight for me was a truly inspiring panel discussion between Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of Timberland, and Gary Hirshberg, the president of Stoneyfield Farm yoghurt, a sort of Innocent Drinks of North America (albeit older), now six times the size of Kraft’s dairy business. These two New Englanders, in their casual dress, spoke with such authenticity and vision, I wondered whether we would ever hear the CEO of a traditional multinational sound like this. And how funny to see Swartz in his jeans and Red Sox cap, as environmentalists wandered around the conference hall in their suits and ties. I can honestly say I have never enjoyed listening to a business leader as much as Jeff. Ceres has been monumentally successful in building a coalition of advocates from the investment and environmental campaigning worlds - proving once again that commercial profit and environmental stewardship really can be achieved in tandem. The most encouraging thing of all? That the major economic downturn in the US does not seem to be affecting the drive for more sustainable business one iota. I will return to that next week in an article I’m finishing off over the weekend.  Here’s to a sunny bank holiday.

Loved this story in the Guardian about how a new condom making venture could help keep the Brazilian rainforest standing, as it were. Yet another example of the growing efforts to show forests can be worth more left standing than cut down.
 
More serious is this piece about the perils of planting fake activists in campaign groups to try to undermine them. I’m no fan of BAA (having again experienced their ‘customer service’ at a hopelessly chaotic London Heathrow on Sunday evening), but I’m relieved to see they weren’t behind this foolhardy strategy. It’s extraordinary that people think this kind of covert operation can still work without the risk, dare I say it, of exposure. It turns out the campaigners were a bit smarter than the mole on this one. Sad to think the chap involved couldn’t find a better use for his Oxford degree.
 
Lastly, this video clip is a good reminder about the perils of not adapting our transport systems to a fast growing population. If you thought the London tube system was bad, take a look! And then imagine our planet in 2050…

Following Unilever’s recent move to Rainforest Alliance certified tea for PG Tips, more good news for UK ethical shopping market today as Costa Coffee unveils its big plans for Rainforest Alliance coffee across the UK. As far as I’m aware this is the first time a big coffee chain has decided to convert its whole supply to Rainforest Alliance certified in the UK. It’s hard to miss Rainforest Alliance products these days. You’ll find certified coffee in an ever growing number of places, large and small, from McDonalds to Pret a Manger, in office canteens, airport lounges, and soon Costa! Factor in PG Tips’ certified tea, Innocent Drinks’ smoothies (100% of their bananas come from Rainforest Alliance certified plantations), Kenco’s ever growing range of sustainable coffees, and some more exciting plans in the pipeline, Rainforest Alliance has now gone mainstream in Britain. It’s great news for farmers, consumers, and the companies doing the right thing.  

Last week the Rainforest Alliance edged closer to stardom – and tea from sustainably farmed sources also hit the big time with the official premiere of A Tale of Two Continents at London’s Prince Charles Theatre in Leicester Square. So my girlfriend and I headed over to the red carpet with some friends and Rainforest Alliance colleagues to join in the fun.
The movie is a new 10 minute comedy from Unilever’s PG Tips, who are busy converting their tea to Rainforest Alliance certified, a first for them and indeed for the Alliance. There’s more plot in this film than any recent 2 hour romantic comedy. The sustainable tea project is a very large scale innovation, and another major milestone in the mainstreaming of sustainable produce. Just as Unilever pioneered the Marine Stewardship Council for seafood more than a decade ago, once again they lead the field with tea. The film features my friend and colleague Anita Neville, with whom I’ve worked on Rainforest Alliance issues for the past 3 years or so. She is now so grand she is no longer taking calls. I expect she’s house hunting in Bel Air…

Sadly, the other star of the show, iconic PG Tips front man Monkey couldnt join us in person as he was busy picking up awards in Hollywood but he did take a brief moment to speak to us live via satellite and introduce the movie. You can see a trailer clip here…
A 5 minute version of the film will appear before The Spiderwick Chronicles, Horton hears a Who, Hannah Montana and Gameplan for the next 3 weeks in cinemas around the UK. And then fans will be able to grab a DVD version (with added extras) and a tea towel from supermarkets during April. The film will then be available as an online download from May.
It’s hard to believe how far the Rainforest Alliance has come in the UK in recent years, but last Wednesday’s event was a timely reminder. If you want to see business-NGO collaboration at its best, then this is it.

Frightening piece by Owen Bowcott in today’s Guardian about the growing international race to snap up ownership rights to vast tracts of seabed in order to exploit its mineral, oil and gas deposits. Having ruined much of the world’s land, we now find ourselves in a dash to grab what lies beneath the surface, with all the environmental devastation that could entail. It’s reminiscent of how the European Union, having exhausted all its fishing resources through years of reckless practice, then turned to West Africa, snapping up the fishing rights of the world’s poorest people and depriving them of their main source of protein. Or how having pillaged supplies of fish that had provided for humanity for centuries, mankind turned to deep water species like the orange roughy, scooping them up before they had even had a chance to reproduce. Illegal fishing pushed this species, which can live to 100 years old, to the brink of destruction. This determination to drain every last drop of life from the earth continues to baffle and alarm in equal measure. I’ll be watching the seabed rights issue with interest, not least because it has all the ingredients campaigners dream of - beautiful nature, multinational corporations, governments, short-termism, and potential profit at the expense of developing nations. It’s a lethal cocktail all round.

Earlier this week I headed over to East London to join my friend Toby Webb for an Ethical Corporation ‘pubcast’. It’s a neat idea which, as you’ve already guessed, is a podcast done over a beer in the Gramophone pub next to Ethical Corporation’s offices.  We chatted about the state of the corporate responsibility movement, some highs and lows of 2007, and the role of the PR industry in promoting responsible business. Toby then decided he’d like to do a second one about my work with the Rainforest Alliance and the growing movement in ethical certification, so we carried on and did that too. Only two small bottles of beer were consumed, before you ask, as you need to be on your guard when Toby is armed with a microphone and recording device. Besides that, he was off to the gym later. You can listen to our pub chat by clicking here.

Every year FutureBrand works in conjunction with the Weber Shandwick travel practice in New York to produce and promote the Country Brand Index. This global study ranks countries as brands. It involves quantitative research, with over 2660 travel respondents (business and leisure) from seven countries. Additionally, 50 travel experts were polled on their perceptions of countries as brands. The survey covers all sorts of areas, including art and culture, shopping, nightlife, value for money, safety, and business friendliness.
This year, a new category was introduced, and respondents were asked to identify those countries most oriented towards environmental protection.  The results are interesting, and there are some surprises. Sweden tops the poll (OK, that’s not a surprise). Scandinavia in general fares well, with Denmark and Iceland both in the top 10. Bizarrely, Singapore appears third. When I was there in September several people told me that the small nation’s green spaces were gradually being lost to large scale construction projects. Although green initiatives are infinitely more visible in Singapore than some of its larger Asian neighbours, I wouldn’t have picked it myself. Its high ranking suggests the country is doing a good job presenting itself as eco-conscious, for sure. Interestingly, the UK, for all the political and media hype on climate change, fails to make the top ten at all. Arguably a slap in the face to all three main political parties who have tried to out green each other for the past 2 years. And a sign that no matter how much you talk about these issues, if there’s no fundamental action you won’t change perceptions. Australia squeezes in at number 9, despite the country’s refusal to adopt the Kyoto protocol. And the number 10 spot goes to the stunning Costa Rica, where my friends at the Rainforest Alliance are doing so much to promote sustainable agriculture and help farmers build better livelihoods, in harmony with nature.  But it’s still a country where major challenges remain in preventing the catastrophic loss of forests and the biodiversity they sustain.

Greenpeace is always scaling buildings with one message or another. But here’s a first - a positive message. The campaign whizzkids have today conquered a building (nothing new there), but this particular building is the all new singing and dancing St Pancras station in London. To welcome the new Eurostar route, the eco freaks have put up a huge banner on the station’s building. For once, it reads ‘YES!’, instead of ‘NO’. Very smart move. Of course, the subtext is to remind people of their campaign against airport expansion and promote rail travel. Hence the small(ish) print on the poster “P.S. Gordon, no need for that third runway”, a reference to enlarging the hideously crowded Heathrow Airport still further. Whatever your views on that, Greenpeace UK continues, in my view, to be the best NGO of all at eye-catching campaigns, always with the crucial ingredient of the unexpected thrown in. See Greenpeace.