Una nuova H&M ecosostenibile

Scritto da Federica Guerra

Qualche tempo fa sfogliando una rivista ho trovato un articolo su quanto H&M si stesse impegnando a diventare più ecosostenibile. Il colosso del fast fashion, l’azienda che più di tutte spinge i suoi clienti a dimenticare il più velocemente possibile quello che hanno appena comprato e punta ad un consumismo che più disperato non si può, cerca ora di farci credere di seguire una strategia che punta a valori ben più alti? Ho dovuto indagare.

Andiamo in ordine di fatti. Nel Marzo 2013 parte la prima iniziativa denominata “Conscious collection”, un’intera collezione di abiti prodotti con tessuti riciclati e materiali sostenibili come il cotone organico, il poliestere riciclato e il Tencel. Nel Febbraio 2014 H&M lancia la campagna su scala mondiale “Don’t let fashion go to waste” per riciclare i vestiti usati. Qualsiasi persona si presenti con una borsa di vestiti che non usa più, ha diritto a un buono sconto sui futuri acquisti (fossimo acidi penseremmo immediatamente che noi già li ricicliamo portandoli alla Caritas o mettendoli nei bidoni gialli, ma noi non lo siamo).

A questo punto la domanda sorge spontanea: ma se invece di trovare un modo per riciclare i tessuti, semplicemente ne producessimo di meno? Perché comprare un golf di scarsa qualità ogni tre mesi quando è possibile prenderne uno l’anno che sì costa di più, ma durerà anche più tempo?

Alla mia domanda ha risposto il CEO di H&M Karl-Johan Persson durante un incontro tenutosi a Stoccolma il mese scorso. A sua detta, aiutare l’ambiente non può avvenire attraverso una limitazione dei consumi perché questo provocherebbe una catastrofe sociale che si abbatterebbe maggiormente sui paesi poveri, riducendo i posti di lavoro in cui è attualmente impiegata la maggior parte della popolazione. Quello che ogni compagnia dovrebbe cercare di perseguire è invece una crescita del business affiancata da investimenti in ricerca e sviluppo in ambito ambientale. Il colosso dell’industria tessile si dice veramente impegnato in questa battaglia tanto da pubblicare ogni anno dal 2010 un report annuale in cui mostra i risultati raggiunti in questa direzione dalla sua compagnia. Guardando al report del 2013 si scopre come H&M sia riuscita a utilizzare 340 milioni di litri in meno nella produzione di jeans rispetto all’anno precedente; abbia ottenuto accordi riguardanti un salario minimo più alto ed abbia implementato la sicurezza sul lavoro in Bangladesh, il paese in cui ha sede la maggior parte della sua produzione; il 14% in meno di elettricità è stata utilizzata nei negozi di tutto il mondo e infine 3.047 tonnellate di vestiti non più utilizzati sono stati raccolti. Insomma tutta una serie d’iniziative che porterebbero l’industria più vicina al concetto di “circular economy” ovvero invece del classico produco-uso-getto via, un più armonico produco-uso-riciclo.

Quanto basta insomma per far entrare H&M tra i ranghi delle compagnie ecosostenibili.

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Can a bank go green?

Written by Lucrezia Zito

As a consequence of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis, the topic of responsibility of banks towards society has received significant attention. Decisions driven by short-term profit maximization, risky lending practices and even more risky derivatives have dented the confidence in the financial sector. So it’s no surprise that according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, the financial service continue to be the least trusted industry globally. This is what all of us know, but there is much more going on in the financial sector and great examples come from a continent that has still a huge unexpressed potential: Africa.

Few weeks ago I was leafing through my favourite magazine, Internazionale, when I found an article about a South Africa’s bank called Nedbank. What caught my attention was a picture showing a billboard saying: “Only one bank can truly call itself the Green Bank”. I started reading the article and I found out it was the first example of solar powered billboard and it was providing the energy for a local school. Definitely it was a brilliant idea, but at the same time, I was wondering if it was just a marketing strategy. I discovered that the bank has found itself on the winners’ podium for more than one time at the annual Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards. That’s not just about a billboard. The bank is trying to achieve carbon neutrality opening bank branches powered entirely by renewable energy, a move that is the first of this kind in Africa. Its branches use a hybrid power installation of solar and wind energy that should lower the total emission of CO 2 in South Africa by 71 tonnes per year (per branch).

So give a look to their website and understand that their engagement in CSR is far more than a marketing tool, it’s part of their core strategy.

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The Green competition among companies

Written by Fei Fei

The Newsweek, in partnership with Corporate Knights Capital, has released its Newsweek Green Ranking, which shows the standing out companies on corporate sustainability and environment impact. "The ranking offers unique insights about how the world's largest companies are positioned around a wide variety of material themes, including climate change, rising energy costs and water scarcity." Said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights Capital.

Vivendi, a French leading telecommunication firm, was elected as the greenest company in the world followed by the American Allergan and Adobe Systems.

Europe was well represented by other two French out performing companies (Kering and Schneider Electric), Compass Group based in UK and the Swedish Atlas Copco.

The following table shows the global top 10.

What made Vivendi be the most sustainable company, according to this ranking, is its effort in implementing its renewable energy strategy, which among other things has led the French Giant to invest hugely in solar energy for one of its subsidiary in Morocco. Moreover, Vivendi has tied the executive ‘salary to environmental and social performance of the company. Incentives have been given to workers who use public transportation and even suppliers have been forced to be consistent with corporate social responsibility and sustainability principles.

The American Adobe Systems has more than 70% of workplaces that are LEED certificated , effective waste reduction plan and energy management projects.

As every ranking the Newsweek Green Ranking is subject to imperfection in measurement or method ( here the link for the ranking methodology), nevertheless the main aim of this kind of investigation is not to segregate the virtuous and the bad firms but to enhance the pressure for companies’ environmental data disclosure and incentivize better performance.

“What we're seeing more and more is a direct link between corporate sustainability, reputation, and financial success”, said Elijah Wolfson, senior editor at Newsweek. “Many of the world's largest public companies have begun to recognize that in order to be successful moving forward, they need to openly account for their environmental impact.”

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Climate change deniers, get out of the way

Written by Carlotta Werth

Founder of more than 400 of companies, billionaire, lover of fun and extreme sports, Sir Richard Branson is even more than one of the most successful, admired, and inspiring entrepreneurs of our times.

"What are people running a business doing?". He answers: "They are trying to make a difference in people's lives. And if you make a positive difference, then you are going to have a successful business". The more areas you manage to make a positive difference in, the better.

An area he regards as particularly relevant is the environment.

Why is it so important to him? Some people state there is an absence of compelling data on climate change. Branson answers back: "If 97% of climate scientists agreeing that climate-warming trends over the past century are due to human activities isn't compelling data, I don't know what is". He referred to a survey of papers in scientific journals, where 97.1% agreed climate change is man-made.

Virgin, his company, is involved in a series of sectors emitting a lot of carbon. Branson is not trying to deny it, but he is taking action, heavily investing in cleaner aviation fuel and solar panels. On top of that, he founded the Virgin Green Fund, a private equity firm investing in renewable energy and energy-efficiency companies.

Branson has showed heavy support for setting up a marine park around Australia, and he is involved in protecting the African wildlife.

Right now, he is trying to set up a marine zone in the Caribbean. He wants to make the Caribbean-currently heavily dependent on fuel- a greener complex of islands. This year, he hosted a summit of politicians, financiers, lawyers, energy companies and other influential people to talk about the issue.

There is also a downside, unfortunately. Branson lost millions of pounds in green investments that have failed. Despite that, he shows no sign to giving up: "We are still standing, and investing.” The reason is that "such projects interest him "a lot more than making a few more bucks."

Tom Bower, who wrote a book about Richard Branson, has another theory. The author states "He embraced environmentalism and aligned himself with Clinton and Gore, to get on the top table of US and British politics".

Branson is left untouched by these criticisms. The entrepreneur replies that, rather than him using the environment to get to politicians, it is more a case of politicians using him.

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Already developed strategies to fight climate change consequences

Written by Costanza Gabbrielli

It's increasingly common nowadays to hear about companies which are trying to adjust their organisation, structures and production in order to be more sustainable. This is due both to the image of the company itself and to the emerging advantages of green investments.

But what is of my personal concern is what seems a new and - in my opinion - terrible phenomenon: companies are now studying new remedies and developing techniques to deal with the future expected consequences of climate change. For example, I have recently heard about an architecture studio, Tredje Natur, which is redesigning a Copenhagen neighbourhood to better handle the floods expected as climate change leads to fewer but heavier rainstorms. When heavy rainfall strike Saint Kjeld's quarter, the water will be collected above ground in parks and squares to simultaneously relieve the sewer systems and create new recreational areas around the pools.

This is all very nice and remarkable, but isn't it shocking that we are already working at remedies and not only at ways of fighting climate change in order to put an end to it? Is climate change really taking over our planet, without any possibility left to stop it? Is there any hope at all that more politicians, industries, lobbies and people in general become finally aware of this and start changing their conducts?

It seems that we have entered the "adaptation and mitigation" era , where changes on climate are already in place and they will be more and more serious, that serious that we need to reorganize our ways of living. One example among others: our infrastructures.

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