Google changed its home page to “strongly support the Earth Hour campaign”, which is a global event designed to spread awareness of global climate change and save energy.
What a nice try!
Not only did this increase the search giant’s CSR performance, but it also increased the power of World Wildlife Fund’s global Earth Hour campaign.
In addition to this, Google released the following statement:
“Why did Google choose this specific organization?”
Although we can't guarantee either a placement on the Google homepage or even a response to every query, we do read every email we receive and welcome your ideas of organizations that you believe we should feature. ”
This confirms that Google is willing to be more socially and environmentally responsible, driving innovation in every aspect of society.
Last week, during our group exercise for choosing dissertation topics, the CSR group came up with a topic of how environmentally unfriendly China is, although they didn’t have any Chinese students in their group.
How did they come up with this topic then?
Every day, the Western media reports comment on how China is the 2nd most polluting country after the USA and that it is using more and more resources.
If we look at China as a corporation, its CSR should be focused on improving its reputation with people and improving their understanding of environmental issues.
How can they improve their PR? Like Google, they should use their global influence to establish their ethical image at home as well as abroad, helping to drive projects.
Recently, there was a project launched by the Mayor of London to give out free energy-saving light bulbs to London. They claimed that it would save up to 700,000 tons of CO2 a year. I believe that projects like these can be easily replicated in countries such as China, not only increasing its reputation, but also doing a great deal for the environment.
Recently, our guest lecturer Adam Garfunkel talked about the reasons why companies are reluctant to embrace CSR.
5 things companies say when talking about CSR:
- “I can’t believe that lot are getting so much credit for what they’re doing.”
- “We’ve been doing this stuff for ages, it’s just that nobody knows about it.”
- “People don’t understand how difficult this stuff is…”
- “We’d rather not talk about the bad stuff.”
- “Ooh we can’t say that, that’s commercially confidential.”
These are all true with the Chinese government and as a whole, it lacks “ambition, vision, courage and communication skills” in this area.
But, we’re improving…
Recently, China banned the use of plastic bags, something that the British government is planning to consider in the near future.
According to Reuters Beijing:
“China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday, banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1.”
It has long been known that plastic bags are not only being wasted most of the time, but they are also incredibly hard to recycle.
A saleswoman shows a cany shopping basket at a supermarket in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug.31, 2006. The supermarket invited the customers to use the cany baskets instead of the plastic bags for shopping. The customer could bring one renewable and refundable cany basket home by paying 15 yuan deposit. Source:People Daily online
In order to save resources and try to improve its environmental image, the Chinese government has passed legislation that:
- Forbids supermarkets and shops from giving out free plastic carriers.
- Discourage the production of plastic bags
A few points from the public announcement were:
- "Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic bags every year. While providing convenience to consumers, they have also caused serious pollution, and waste of energy and resources, because of excessive use and inadequate recycling," the announcement said
- The finance authorities should consider adjusting taxes to discourage the production and sale of plastic bags and to provide incentives to the recycling industry.
- Chinese people use up to three billion plastic bags daily.
My take: What does the third party say about it?
- “A surprise crackdown” (Reuters)
- That surprise move - which went further than anything done by the US, the UK and many other developed nations - was hailed by Greenpeace, Earthwatch and other green groups as a sign of growing environmental awareness in China.(Guardian)
As with any story there are two sides to it. Although the ban has helped to reduce the use of plastic bags, 20,000 factory workers will have an uncertain future.
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