What percentage of your fork-lift truck can be recycled?
"We would not function without the investment of time and money of so many businesses, schools, churches and individuals in our charity."
Consumers have never been more concerned with the provenance of products and the integrity of producers and retailers. In a special guest column for Warwickshire Means Business, Gavin Kibble MBE, Projects Director at Feed The Hungry UK, says that for businesses to support organisations that support those in need makes sense on every level.
Before I got into the world of foodbanks, food pantries and humanitarian aid, I was the Finance Director of an international forklift truck company. Sadly, in a short essay on ESG, I don’t have time to tell you how I went from materials handling equipment to handing out food.
Back in those heady counterbalance truck days, we used to deal with some really big corporates and one in particular was, as part of the tendering process, particularly driven to deep dive into how far our company was invested into Corporate Social Responsibility. Almost a green ticket to getting the business! And this question, so simple to ask and nearly impossible to answer still haunts me – 12 years after I left the company...
What percentage of your fork-lift truck can be recycled?!
In those days, for me it felt like CSR was a distraction from the more important stuff, such as running the company, and came with an inward groan at its mention. From the other side of the fence in 2023, and as a Director of Feed the Hungry, the CSR practices of many companies are expressed in a massive desire to support our work through corporate donations and volunteering. We would not function without the investment of time and money of so many businesses, schools, churches and individuals in our charity.
A quick pause then and let me introduce you to Feed the Hungry (a charity which advertises it purpose in its name – we feed hungry people!). Based in Coventry, the charity supports 430,000 children in schools and orphanages across Africa and elsewhere every day. We operate Coventry foodbank, one of the largest in the country, and we run six community supermarkets in Warwickshire and Leicestershire.
So along comes ESG (environmental, social and [corporate] governance) and the temptation for us, as a third sector organisation, is to leverage it for our benefit rather than embrace it as a positive agent for business improvement. It feels very much like ESG is picking up three areas of business risk and impact that are significant issues of the day. Turning this around, a good ESG policy should drive companies to act responsibly.
What, then, are the ESG components?
Environmental Impact: looks at practices which impact climate change, energy use, waste and pollution, conserving natural resources, sustainability of resources as examples.
Social Responsibilities: looks at the way the organisation interacts ethically and socially; areas such as diversity, inclusion, employee welfare and benefits, community focus, social justice, corporate ethics and, of course, areas such as racial, gender and sexual discrimination.
Governance: is about transparency in the way an organisation operates - financial integrity, accountability to stakeholders (eg. shareholders), regulatory compliance, corruption and bribery, board composition, risk management and how the organisation handles conflicts of interest.
Customers, individuals and investors are Increasingly looking to the corporate “conscience” of organisations when deciding to purchase, invest or otherwise interact with them. The standard financial measures of successful trading are now being enhanced with a desire to see organisations behave in a way which is sustainable to the planet and demonstrates ethical integrity. Yes, it’s an approach to risk but, far more significantly, it’s about corporate integrity. And if you want to see that played out adversely in the press then just google recent articles on Shell plc, particularly on the subject of greenwashing (alleged misrepresentation of environmentally friendly practices).
Perhaps not surprisingly, I was going to use this article as a broad invitation to connect you with the work of Feed the Hungry; perhaps undertake a day of volunteering and team building with us in Coventry or your place of work, running a food pack for the children we support overseas. Feed the Hungry is a multimillion-pound charity with the capability of developing programmes ESG orientated events for hundreds of corporate volunteers across the entire country. It’s great fun with hugely rewarding outcomes for all concerned.
Now I am convinced that Feed the Hungry cannot ignore the moral imperative to engage with ESG. I still can’t estimate how much of my counterbalance fork-lift truck is recyclable (I hope it lasts forever!) but I can do something about repurposing waste food, handling cardboard waste, energy efficiency and dealing with employees and many volunteers fairly and with integrity.
* To support the work of Feed the Hungry UK and Coventry foodbank, or discuss volunteering and team building opportunities, please contact Gavin at gavin@feedthehungry.org.uk or by telephone on 02476 993770.
To donate to the work of these charities please visit our websites; Feedthehungry.org.uk and Coventry.foodbank.org.uk