Gone fishing. You coming?

When you are in the process of preparing a sustainability report, there is something you can't help but notice. It happens very frequently, with the best of intentions. It's the fact that people keep coming to you with things they did last month or last week and saying: "That would be good to put in the report." There seems to be a universal expectation that almost anything people did that was slightly "good" should be part of the sustainability report, because (a) sustainability report should contain "good" things and (b) sustainability reports should contain everything - aka - the more you can cram in, the more transparent you will appear to be and that can only be a good thing, right? 

This approach is not surprising, really. For years we have been talking about "doing good", giving back", "being nice","good business" and all the other fun phrases you can probably think of. It's not surprising that everyone in organizations thinks that sustainability reports should be a compilation of the highest number of good things an organization can muster up, irrespective of how significant they are. We held an Easter Egg hunt for a local school. We installed a recycling bin in our office. We hired a disabled person. We installed a low-flush toilet in the CEO's private office. We planted six trees in a park near our factory. We thought about carbon emissions. Four employees now carpool to the office. We donated left-over carrots from lunch to the local homeless shelter. Things can get a little ridiculous. Although these little things can actually be tremendously important for the individuals involved, in the grander scheme of things, and in the less grander scheme of sustainability reporting, they are probably not quite so mindblowing. 

Similarly, for years we have been talking about transparency. More is more, not less. More data, more transparent, more sustainable. More details, more respect. More stories, more trust. Transparency became this great megalithic everything that was more important that the substance itself. Transparency at all costs. This had everybody aiming for the iconic GRI "A", oft noted in press releases as the highest achievement or even the highest accolade for a sustainability report. 

In a culture which was rewarding maximum positive transparency, it's not surprising that every time someone thought of some small magnanimous action, it was considered eligible narrative for the sustainability report. 

But that was then. That was before G4. G4 has helped shift our mindset to relevant transparency, not maximum transparency. To the point that, as I conduct the hundreds of conversations with people in organizations that I serve as I help them prepare their forthcoming sustainability reports, I sort of consider myself to be somewhat of a fisherwoman. 

I fish for the information the report needs, I don't always catch the information the people want to give. 

Writing a sustainability report is like going fishing. You need a good rod, proper bait, some ice cream to help you pass the time while you reel in several empty rods or old shoes, and infinite amounts of patience as you wait for the prize fish to show. A sustainability report made up of prize fish is infinitely more useful than one which contains a not very discerning collection of general garbage. Haha. If this resonates, get a new fishing rod.   

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting  AND  Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices . Contact me at www.twitter.com/elainecohen   or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)

A little fish with your STPP, madam ?

I dont watch much TV. But this week I caught an investigative documentary called Kolbotek. I was rivetted, shocked and scandalized. My flabber was gasted, my ass was tounded and my over was whelmed, as they say in Manchester. Here's the story.

Fish importers have a choice betwen quality and price. If they go for (low) price, they purchase fish which is packed in China, in a packing process which first picks out  wriggling worms from the freshly caught fish by hand using tweezers, bangs holes in the fish so that it will absorb water and chemicals, immerses the fish in a water-STPP solution in order to make it look bloated and bigger than it really is, shakes it around so that everything gets properly absorbed, and finally, freezes and packs it, without any indication of the volume of water in the pack, in many cases without indicating the presence of STPP. STPP (sodium tripolyphospate) is a commonly used preservative, but in this case, it serves to ensure maximum water retention so that when frozen, what is a kilo of fish, is actually 50% or more water. So when we have bought frozen fish, we have been buying more chemically treated water than fish, and paying a high cost for this privilege.

On revelation of this irresponsible trickery in the fish industry, some Israeli grocery chains responded. Shufersal was the first to make an unconditional recall of all relevant fish products and take them off the shelves. Another private chain, Rami Levy has also removed products. Other retailers are "considering". Now, some thoughts:

So first, I want to congratulate (and thank) this fast response by Israel's largest grocery. Clearly the responsible thing to do. Beyond Compliance. An act which will give them extra  points both in my mind and on my credit card account. And I hope many others.  Shufersal is a big player, over 240 stores, over 10,000 employees and over $2.5 million in annual revenues. Despite this demonstration of responsibility, aside from financial reports, we are not treated to any additional level of transparency. The only thing that resembles Corporate Responsibility on their local language website is a Code of Ethics, though their corporate vision stresses leadership. Where is Shufersal's commitment to responsible consumerism, to greening of the retail chain, to responsible workplace and supply chain practices ? Who knows! This act of responsibility counts in their favour, but a thorough lack of transparency is a big opportunity for this chain to truly lead the Israeli grocery industry to new levels of sustainability.How about a first CSR report, Shufersal ?

Second, I want to know who trains the buyers of the retail grocery chains, and what standards, if any, they work to. This fish thing is a complete scam. A knowingly deliberate act to mislead consumers in the interest of higher profits. Who questions this? Where are the ethical purchasing training courses? My consulting business has  recently forged an alliance  with the Israel Purchasing and Logistics Managers Association, to assist the development of ethical, responsible and green purchasing practices. I think I might suggest we start with grocery retailers. 

Third, I took a look at CSR in the fish industry. There are many issues we have been aware of for years regarding the fish industry and sustainable fisheries. The Marine Stewardship CounciI was established by Unilever and the WWF in 1995 to address safeguarding seafood supply and mitigate the impact of overfishing on the marine environment. The work done by the Council since then in controlling and establishing fishery standards is applaudable. But a site search didn't bring up the issue of STPP. I found a nice CSR report by MarineHarvest for 2008 no mention of STPP there either.  Seems to me that there is a loophole of awareness here, which I suspect may be exploited in other markets at the expense of consumers everywhere. So folks, check your labels, ask questions of your retailers, and if all else fails, go off fish. At least, the STPP flavored kind.

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm based in Israel. Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en