General news

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 70

September 2008 

­Business and Human Rights­­­

• The UN Special Represe­ntative on Business and Human Rights (pdf)
• Red Flags: potential corpora­te liability in­ high-risk zones
• The rich traditions of the Christian Ethical Investment Group (pdf)
• More than 170 foreign companies still investing in Burma
• The serial offender

ECCR seeks new Treasurer

­­ECCR is seeking a new hands-o­n Treasurer to work with its Board and Secretariat team. Main responsibilities are to prepare and p­resent regular financial reports and end-of-year accounts, to oversee the annual audit, and to ­advise on accounting procedures, controls and budgets. The post is honorary, supported by ECCR's Administrator (finance officer); reasonable expenses will be paid.

[Read more]­

ECCR publishes new Guide to Investment and Engaging with Companies for faith communities

July 2008 ­

Church-based corporate responsibility research and advocacy group the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) this month publishes a new Guide to Investment and Engaging with Companies. The user-friendly 30-page Guide aims to support church members, faith communities and other responsible investors in influencing companies on the basis of Christian and ethical values.

­­[News release] (pdf)

­[Download the Guide] (pdf)

Shell responds to ECCR regarding proposed terminal relocation, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has replied in detail to ECCR's communication regarding the location of the Corrib gas processing plant...

[Read more] (pdf)­

Shell Corrib (Ireland) gas project: ECCR urges once-in-a-lifetime chance to resolve bitter community dispute

June 2008

ECCR is this week urging Royal Dutch Shell Plc to accept the offer from local residents in Rossport, County Mayo, Ireland, of a historic, peace-making compromise, backed by Irish church and political leaders. The offer comes after a bitter six-year dispute over the location of an onshore gas refinery for the Corrib offshore gas project. Five local residents - the 'Rossport Five' - were imprisoned for 94 days in 2005 for defying a Dublin high court order forbidding them from interfering with Shell's engineering works. The new proposal involves relocating the gas refinery to an uninhabited costal site, an alternative previously identified by Shell's consultants...

[News release] (pdf)

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 69

June 2008 

Positive Alternatives for Investment

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• Investing positively - a range of options
• Oikocredit and fair provision for the needs of all (pdf)
• ECCR's Oxford Group – the story so far (pdf)
• The launch of ECCR’s South-West Group
• Will Canada regulate its mining companies internationally? (pdf)­

New ECCR report finds mixed response from food and drinks companies on water sustainability

May 2008

Many food and drinks processing companies have much to do before they can claim to be operating sustainably in terms of water consumption, concludes a new report published by ECCR. The report analyses the water use policies and performance of fifteen leading British and Irish food and drinks businesses, including their agricultural supply chains and overseas operations. Three companies - Diageo, SAB Miller and Unilever - show greatest evidence of addressing the need to monitor, report on and reduce their water footprint. Others, on the other hand, have been slow to respond to the challenge...

[News release] (pdf)

[Read more] 

ECCR presents investor statement on Alberta tar sands at BP AGM

April 2008

Eleven long-term US and UK investors went on record at BP’s AGM in London on 17 April to raise their concerns about the company’s entry into the Canadian oil sands. Prior to BP’s announcement in December 2007, it had been understood that the company would not pursue tar sands development due to the heavy carbon footprint of both the operations and the end-product...

[Read more] (pdf)

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 68

March 2008 

Tackling climate change­

• Carbon disclosure: the need for mandatory standards
• Alberta's tar sands
• Carbon credits – ducking responsibility to reduce emissions?
• Stern Review a year on – now for a carbon council
• Nestlé's Brazilian water – corporate irresponsibility?
• ­Fair trade begins at home

ECCR welcomes members of CEIG on merger

February 2008 

The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) has opened its doors to members of the Christian Ethical Investment Group (CEIG), which voted in January 2008 to dissolve itself as an independent organisation and transfer its activities and assets to ECCR...

[Read more] (pdf)

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 67

December 2007 

Water sustainability: the challenge to business – open debate report

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• Water sustainability: the challenge to business - open debate report
• Corporate social responsibility and social improvement in the UK
• FairPensions: campaigning for investor responsibility
• The challenge of economic co-operation between the faiths
  

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 66

September 2007 

The Church and her Money: the JustShare debate

• The Church as ethical investor­
• Virtuous investment
• Caste discrimination and the private sector in India
• Pharmaceutical companies – ethical issues
• The ETI assesses its impact
• New Bench Marks Foundation report on platinum mining

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 65

June 2007

Water - stewardship and social justice

• ­Juliet Peck
• The need for effective water stewardship
• Water and privatisation
• 'Made in Eastern Europe' - the other face of fashion
• Investing - alternatives to global capitalism
• Taking stock of business and human rights
• The first step in faith

Shell's Corrib natural gas project, Ireland: ECCR visit report summary

May 2007­

In March 2007 two ECCR representatives made a fact-finding visit to Shell’s troubled Corrib natural gas project in County Mayo, Ireland, to meet a wide range of stakeholders...

[Read more] (pdf)

ECCR quarterly Bulletin, no. 64

March 2007

­Corporate responsibility in Central and  Eastern Europe  ­

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• Corporate social responsibility in post-Communist EU countries
• Tesco in Central and Eastern Europe
• ­Nigeria - cleaning up the tarnished jewel
• Executive pay
• Voluntary or mandatory corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting?