Corporate Responsibility

Hundreds of investors, businesses, and governments have recently announced major new commitments to tackle climate change, adding a fresh boost to efforts to expand investment in clean energy by an additional $1 trillion per year – the Clean Trillion.

CSX employee Raghu Chatrathi today received the 2015 North American Environmental Employee Excellence Award from the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the highest honor for industry environmental professionals. Chatrathi, the director of environmental remediation, engineering and advanced technology, is the seventh CSX employee to receive this honor in the last 14 years.

In India, where over 12 million young people join the labor force every year, an even more acute skills gap has far reaching socio-economic implications; just two percent of the nearly 500 million-person workforce can be classified as skilled. Although India has world-renowned educational institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Technology, the vast majority of students are ill-prepared for the demands of the modern labor market due to outdated curriculum and a lack of qualified instructors. A 2012 study by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and EY noted that to meet vocational training needs, the country will require 70,000 additional instructors. Currently qualified instructors are entering the market at a rate of only 1,600 per year.

Republic Services proudly thanks the men and women Veterans for their service and sacrifice to our Nation.

What if that swamp could naturally convert waste water from a nearby manufacturing site at a cost far cheaper than building and maintaining a water treatment plant? Suddenly, the interests of the accountant, the environmentalist, the politician, and the corporate engineer coalesce around the same goal: protecting the wetland.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has made a US$2.2 million grant to Plan Netherlands to help the nonprofit deliver digital, technical and life skills training to more than 6,000 disadvantaged youth in Tanzania and Zambia.

Corporate responsibility is nothing new to Northern Trust. A commitment to the well-being of our people, clients, and communities is central to our culture of caring. But our accomplishments stem not only from our efforts around diversity, community affairs, and environmental efforts, they are rooted in the way we conduct business. High standards of integrity, ethics, and socially responsible investing are also our hallmarks. During challenging economic times, Northern Trust has proven that we understand how to balance risk with reward. And these values will continue to guide us, regardless of the economic environment.

Broadening board compositions, reduced focus on quarterly returns and stronger sustainability/compensation linkages are just a few of the ways that board directors can elevate sustainability concerns more effectively at the companies they serve on. So concludes a new Ceres report highlighting the generally weak performance of U.S. corporate boards in prioritizing environmental and social issues and recommendations for boosting their effectiveness on such issues.

Mars Food, in partnership with the Sustainable Rice Platform, (SRP), a global alliance of agricultural research institutions, agri-food businesses, public sector and civil society organizations convened by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), today announced the first global standard for sustainable rice at the 5th Annual Plenary Meeting and Assembly here.

The AA1000AS Nominations Committee and AA1000 Standards Board are pleased to announce the members of the newly constituted AA1000AS Working Group. This collective body of global experts from industry, governmental, and non-governmental organisations from around the world is charged with all aspects of development and promulgation of the next release of the AA1000 Assurance Standard.