Author: Bernie Walsh Position: Organisation: Environment, Business and Consumers Division, Department of Environment, Transport and Regions Keywords: Sustainable Development MACC2 Make A Corporate Commitment An important element of the sustainable development challenge is to find ways of achieving greater prosperity whilst minimising environmental damage. The recent re-launch of Make a Corporate Commitment forms part of the Government’s promotional drive for improving resource efficiency, doing more with less. Introduction As with the earlier energy efficiency commitment campaign, “MACC2” again seeks top-level commitment. Accordingly the promotion is being aimed at named company directors. But this time round the spotlight is squarely on performance requiring participants to set specific, quantified targets and to report on progress. Performance, performance, performance MACC2 seeks commitments from industry, commerce and the public sector to set improvement targets in greenhouse gas emissions, waste production or water use. These are commonly identified as key measures of resource efficiency and which can be readily quantified. But, importantly, they also link business with environmental performance on issues of significant national and international concern. That is why the commitment must be to improve performance in at least one but preferably more of these areas. But it need not stop there. There is the option for commitments to additionally cover other important areas, notably in setting targets in the use of raw materials, for implementing green travel plans, on biodiversity and for emissions of other gases. There are no set levels of performance. It is for participants to determine what they can realistically achieve. But their attention is drawn both to the corresponding national targets, to provide the context in setting their own, as is the public nature of making such commitments, which will be recorded on a publicly available database. Performance by design What is achieved must properly and fairly reflect effort made to improve performance and not just the result of an upturn or downturn in business or due to selling off or closing parts of the operation. So in order to provide a more complete picture, MACC2 requires that progress be recorded using not only absolute numbers (e.g. change in total amount of waste produced) but also expressed as an efficiency ratio (eg waste per unit of production). Making Connections MACC2 is one of a number of initiatives stemming from the Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy – a better quality of life – published in May 1999 and the Climate Change Programme. Indicators often provide a very good starting point as a focus for action. MACC2 also links with sustainability indicators in Quality of Life Counts and the Government’s published reporting guides on greenhouse gas emissions and waste and the forthcoming reporting guide on water to be published in the autumn. MACC2 has been designed to sit alongside and complement other tools currently available within the environmental management model. It is just as relevant for those that have formal environmental management systems - ISO 14001, EMAS and “Acorn” (being developed for smaller businesses) – as it is for those that do not. The following diagram illustrates how it fits in. For those needing help in meeting commitments in these areas the Government’s Best Practice Programmes and others are geared up to provide practical advice and support. Shape of things to come There are many strong reasons for doing MACC2. There is already growing concern for greater corporate responsibility and for implementing the sort of internal controls of the kind advocated in the Turnbull Report. Corporate behaviour will also be strongly influenced by new elements in the Pensions Act requiring fund managers to report the extent to which, amongst other things, environmental considerations are taken into account in their investments. They, and others, will increasingly be looking to invest and to do business with environmentally responsible companies. Greater openness is now more widely demanded. The consultation paper on the Company Law Review proposes greater disclosure about environmental performance. Supply chain and peer pressures are also adding to the demand to know the record of their trading partners. Those with good track records have nothing to fear. Interest in performance is also grabbing headlines. There is now a growing array of indices, ratings and measures of one form or another being developed and which are increasingly attracting attention. MACC2 provides another means of establishing and publicising the organisation’s record. The immediacy and transparency of committing to quantified targets and to reporting publicly is proving popular judging from the positive feedback from different sections of the business community and investment fund managers. Win, Win, Win Against this backdrop MACC2 provides a very practical way of encouraging better performance that, as well as having wider benefits for all, has clear benefits for the bottom line. It provides participants with the opportunity to demonstrate publicly their commitment to improve performance. Just as you need to measure to manage, so improving performance is about setting and hitting targets. MACC2 is about demonstrating a commitment to achieve something meaningful for the business that also addresses wider concerns. Ultimately, this is all about top-level commitment and an opportunity to demonstrate vision, leadership and responsibility in facing up to one of the important challenges of sustainable development. It also means displaying a corporate sense of direction and focus and of valuing reputation. Note Further details about MACC2 - how it works, your Government contacts, sources of advice and support in meeting commitments – are all on the web www.macc2.org.uk This article first appeared in the July 2000 issue of the IEMA's magazine