The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for January, 2011

Investors Press Companies on U.S. Chamber Board Roles

A group of investment organizations with about $43 billion in assets under management has sent letters to 35 major companies represented on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urging company managements “to evaluate their role and to assess the risks and benefits of Board membership.”

Compliance Professionals Ask Justice Department for Data

Corporate compliance officers want the U.S. Department of Justice to provide data “that identifies how often an effective ethics and compliance program yields a direct return in enforcement decisions,” according to three leading professional organizations. They said the information is needed to help educate boards and management on the value of ethics and compliance programs.

The Health Aspects of Environmental Issues

The realization that the pesticide-laced foods we eat, the smokestack-befouled air we breathe and the petrochemical-based products we use negatively affect our quality of life is a big part of the reason so many people have “gone green” in recent years.

Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency in 2011

Some federal tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades expired at the end of 2010, but there is legislative effort afoot to extend some of those credits—and there are plenty of other ways to defray the costs of turning over a new green leaf or two this year and beyond.

Walmart Launches Healthier Food Initiative

The giant low-cost retailer announced plans to offer healthier food and to push its suppliers to do the same. The company said it would reformulate “thousands of everyday packaged foods” by 2015 by reducing sodium 25 percent and added sugars 10 percent, and by removing all remaining industrially-produced trans fats.

Goldman’s Self-Help: Eat, Pay, Trade

Reporter Jesse Eisinger suggests that Goldman Sachs’ announcement last week of a plan to increase transparency and disclosure does not resolve some big questions about the investment banks’ role in financial markets. “Could there be an argument that Goldman should break up into three smaller, more focused companies?” he asks. “It would be better for the financial system, and just might lead to the self-improvement that Goldman is searching for.”

As Citizens United Turns 1, Supreme Court Considers Corporate Personhood Again

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a case between AT&T and the Federal Communications Commission, revisiting the legal concept of “corporate personhood” last strengthened under the court’s Citizen United ruling on corporate campaign spending. (That controversial ruling has its first anniversary this week.)

What’s Being Done to “Green Up” Professional Sports?

The last two Olympics were greener than any before, but environmental awareness isn’t limited to the realm of international amateur competition. In fact, in just the last few years all of the major professional North American sports leagues have made strides in greening their operations.

The Campaign to Combat Over-Fishing

There is no overarching international agreement to limit overfishing globally, but a few governments have been able to implement and enforce restrictions at regional levels that have resulted in rebounding fish stocks. The success of these isolated examples gives environmentalists and marine biologists hope that protecting marine hotspots from overfishing can save the biodiversity of the world’s oceans.

50 Cent Touts Stock on Twitter

Over the weekend, the popular rapper 50 Cent urged his 3.8 million Twitter followers to buy the stock of a microscopic company in Florida. The penny stock jumped 290 percent on Monday. As a result, 50 Cent had a paper profit that was briefly worth almost $5.2 million on paper.