Business and Society 2.0

Enterprise 2.0 is defined by Andrew McAfee as the use of social networkings platforms like Facebook, Flickr, Linkedin and Wikipedia, in the context of companies or between companies and their partners or customers. He has just published his new book, Enterprise 2.0, New Collaborative Tools For Your Organization´s Toughest Challenges.

Sustainability and management best practices indexes and reporting We can identify some enterprises, namely in the paper and forest industry, to use some special kind of Key Indexes or Best Practices Reporting Systems integrated in their annual reporting to stakeholders. One case is Stora Enso, a Finnish company, which is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) since 2001. This DJSI assesses the economic, environmental and social aspects of some of the world´s largest companies. Stora Enso has been included also in the FTSE4 Good Index series, since 2001. FTSE4 Good Index series, focus on environmental management, human and labor rights, supply chain labour standards and efforts to counter bribery. Another wood, pulp and paper supplier, the Swedish Holmen Paper as well as Stora Enso, are also examples of using the Global Research Initiative (GRI), to transparently announce to this stakeholders the commitment to a sustainable and responsible management. GRI Indicators includ

An interesting model to increase employee´s awareness and to push for their ideas and creativity, is the scheme implemented by Holmen and reported in the last Holmen Report. Any employee can submit an idea and Holmen Paper receive more then 170 suggestions per year. The suggestions are scrutinized by management with the Unions involvement. For the suggestions that are considered useful, there is a reward in the compensation, which is calculated by the difference between investment and first year profit. This means for Holmen a one year payback of the investment and for the employee a bonus in his compensation. This is a “win-win” relation, keeps motivation high and creates a climate of transparency.

Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, that have arisen through the manufacture and distribution of a product or service. Producing 200kg of paper, the average we each use every year, creates between 130–250kg of CO2 depending on the source of energy. This is comparable to many other small scale domestic activities, and is roughly equivalent to the CO2 produced by an average family car over a distance of 600 miles.While the main raw material of paper, trees, is a vast carbon store and the prime absorber of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the precise carbon footprint of the paper cycle is difficult to pinpoint as it depends on how the paper is made and the source of energy used in production. Nuclear, hydro, biofuel and geothermal energy, heavily used by some paper making countries, are all low carbon, while fossil-fuels are carbon intensive. &quo

The paper industry is Europe’s largest recycler and is one of the greatest environmental success stories of recent years. Today, the average recycling rate across European countries is over 62%, representing more than 50 million tonnes of used paper collected each year.Paper fibres can be recycled up to six times, and recycling is certainly the best way to keep waste paper out of landfill. So paper has excellent credentials as a renewable, sustainable and recyclable product, and managed paper production has a positive environmental impact. At the same time, a responsible use of paper and attitude to recycling will have an even greater environmental benefit. "When people use more paper, suppliers plant more trees. If we want bigger commercial forests, then we should use more paper not less. Our policies should directly protect important wildlife habitats, not try to reduce our demand for paper."(1) (1) Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University © Copyright

People think paper making is a great energy consumer. In fact it was some years ago, but technology has played is role, things changes but the idea stays the same. Looking more closely, we will see some interesting facts and figures about paper making and the usage of energy. On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce 200kg of paper, the average amount of paper that each of us consume each year. "The European pulp and paper industry is strongly in favour of renewable energy and has declared an intent that commits the industry to increase the share of biomass-based energy in its total primary energy consumption from 49% in 2001 to 56% in 2010"(1). Does 500 kilowatt-hours sound a lot? Well, let´s look to other energy consumption of our day to day life. 500 kWh is equivalent to: • Powering one computer continuously for five months • Burning a 60w light bulb continuously for one year • The energy consumed by a typical household leaving its electronic e

Another prejudice is that paper destroys forests. In fact the main raw material of paper is cellulose fibre which generally comes from trees, but this doesn’t automatically equate to the destruction of forests. Papermaking and other industries that depend on trees need thriving forests. It’s in their interest. "Almost half of the timber harvested from the world’s forests is used to make paper products, so the paper industry has a huge opportunity to make sure that those forests are responsibly managed and will be here for generations to come" (1) . It is estimated that there are 25% more trees in the developed world today than there were in 1901, and in Europe alone, forests are increasing annually. Deforestation is generally occurring in the tropics but for a variety of reasons. The main cause of deforestation is either for agriculture or for domestic fuel requirements, which between them, account for almost half of the trees cut down worldwide. There have been, and continue