CSCLeaders is an annual gathering of 100 of the brightest minds in business, government and civil society. Drawn from across the Commonwealth, participants reflect on solutions to real-life complex challenges while learning and networking with peers.

Those attending last month’s conference in London and Oxford were asked the question: “How do people from communities across the world become bridge-makers in the global networks of the future?” Find out more here and watch video highlights here.

The application round for next year’s event opens on 1 May 2013. If you operate at a senior, strategic level in your organisation you can apply here.

This just in from Oxfam’s media team… It feels like the Behind the Brands campaign is having an impact..

In response to an announcement from Mars and Nestle to take steps to improve their practices by tackling inequality, hunger and poverty faced by women in cocoa supply chains, Oxfam’s Campaigns Director Ben Phillips said: 

“The announcements by Mars and Nestle are an encouraging first step to improve their policies to address the discrimination that women face in their supply chains. This follows a global campaign by Oxfam for major companies to address the impact of their operations on the women who produce their ingredients but who often face discrimination at the same time. 

“We hope that these initial steps will develop into concrete changes and that other chocolate companies, like Mondelez International, will urgently follow suit.”

Consumer demand is the most influential force shaping the sustainability of farming, according to a third of British farmers (31%) followed by changing agri-environmental financial incentives (22%). Research by industry body Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) shows that just 17% of the farming community believe change will come from within.

Published today, the Driving Sustainability report reveals:

• Eight-two percent of farmers believe sustainability is fundamental to their business (perhaps all the more startling is that 18% do not!).
• Yet, just two out of five (19%) measure or monitor the sustainability of the food products they source.

More here at Farming UK.

Too many people in developing countries go hungry today while supermarkets and consumers in industrialised economies fret, rightly, about the integrity of supply chains. The Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign, formed in the run-up to the G8 summit in June in Lough Erne, is holding a debate to discuss how to reform the global food system. The event is on 26 March at the Frontline Club in London. More here.

Taipei plays host next week to Acer’s annual Corporate Social Responsibility forum. The conference will see executives debate issues such as carbon emissions reduction, green product innovation, supply chain management and CSR transparency.

What’s the laptop maker’s own credentials in this area, I hear you say? Well, you can expect Jim Wong, corporate president, to mention the following:

• Acer was the first company in Taiwan to conduct a greenhouse gas inventory.
• It has eyeballed a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from global operations by 2015, and a 60% reduction by 2020
• It is ranked fourth in Greenpeace’s 2012 Global Guide to Greener Electronics Companies.
• It is rated no.1 in Asia for avoiding the use of conflict minerals by the Enough Project.

Speakers at the CSR Forum on 22 March include Peter Bakker, president of World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Mervyn King, chairman of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) – no relation to the Bank of England governor.

Barack Obama has proposed an Energy Security Trust to drive investment in new green technologies. The President is calling on Congress to back the trust, which he hopes will help make petroleum based products redundant. The ten-year $2 billion EST would be paid for by a surcharge on oil and gas development revenues. Read this blog about the trust by Colleen Curtis, the White House’s director of digital content.

A list of the top 100 thought leaders in “trustworthy business” has been revealed by US non-profit Trust Across America. It’s the third successive year the list has been published by the organisation, whose self-declared mission is to restore faith in the corporate sector. View it here in alphabetical format.

The fall of Greenland’s government following intense debate over the rights of foreign mining companies is likely to send shockwaves through the resources industry. Projects by London Mining and Cairn Energy caused uproar among the 57,000 population and are touted as a cause of the collapse in support for prime minister Kuupik Kleist.

Upon her victory, Aleqa Hammond of the social democratic Siumut party insisted that Greenland will still welcome investors, but added: “We are not giving up our values for investors’ sake.” Hammond has vowed to raise royalties on mining companies and raised the issue of human rights. More here.

photo credit: wili_hybrid via photopin cc

A new tool to help companies identify sustainability risks and opportunities and adapt their business strategy accordingly has been launched today by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board and non-profit Forum for the Future.

The open access Horizons site, still only in beta, claims to help firms understand the future operating environment when it comes to issues such as water scarcity, access to information, pollution, public trust and energy security.

Celebrity businesswoman Deborah Meaden, from BBC’s ‘Dragon’s Den’, has leant her backing to the initiative. “Despite the challenges of these difficult economic times, I believe there is a genuine desire amongst UK businesses to embrace sustainability,” she says in the press release.

“Growing numbers are seeing the business case of understanding the big trends coming their way and working for the long term, and Horizons is a great resource to help them do that.”

Watch a video about Horizons here:

Global water chemistry firm Kemira, based in Helsinki, has published online its annual Sustainability Report for 2012. The company, which estimates its products treated over 11,400 million cubic metres of water last year, saved up to 47,000 megawatt hours of energy. Production emissions have over the past 15 years been reduced by 60%, it says.

In the report foreword, chief executive Wolfgang Buchele says he sees Kemira’s role as one of helping companies and municipalities to either reduce the water consumption or improve the energy and raw material efficiency in water intensive processes. He adds:

Sustainability is increasingly important to global companies: failing to meet environmental requirements and a lack of clear sustainability targets is not acceptable anymore.