Insights

As leaders in our field, we regularly publish reports and commentary on emerging and established sustainability issues. We do so on our own, on behalf of our clients and with our partners.

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Carnstone's Environmental Checklist 2023 Report

Carnstone supports large companies and NGOs with their sustainability strategies. As the focus on climate change intensifies, we are speaking with increasing numbers of small and mid-sized companies looking for our advice.

As a useful first step, we have put together this short Environmental Checklist to help SMEs understand the typical environmental impacts of business, and how to measure and reduce them.

Responsible Media Forum: Media Climate Pact progress Article

As COP26 starts, the Responsible Media Forum (RMF) have published a summary of the progress the Media Climate Pact signatories have made on:

  • Setting science-based targets to reach net zero as early as possible and 2050 at the latest
  • Driving climate-friendly lifestyles through content

"The efforts of 7 leading media companies to reduce their emissions and drive behaviour change towards climate-friendly lifestyles through content are encouraging. Systematically putting climate at the heart of editorial & creative decisions would have been unthinkable 5 years ago."

PSCI Annual Report 2020 Report

The 2020 PSCI Annual Report summarises the progress and achievements the PSCI have made in advancing responsible supply chain practices within the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries over the past year.

Key developments in 2020 include:

  • Growth in membership, with over 45 member companies now committed to the initiative and having adopted the PSCI Principles
  • A new three-year strategy adopted to deliver our refreshed vision for excellence in safety, environmental, and social outcomes across the whole of the global pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chain
  • Pioneering remote audit standards aligned with the PSCI Principles, now available to members on our community platform The Link, alongside valuable resources, news, and training materials
  • Strengthened partnerships with our Indian and Chinese partners, recognizing the importance of those countries for the pharmaceutical supply chain
  • Unprecedented levels of supplier engagement through two large-scale virtual supplier conferences in China and India, reaching 700+ supplier delegates
  • Expansion of our Board to support the delivery of our ambitious strategy
  • Measured improvement in PSCI member companies’ contribution to and use of PSCI resources to address supply chain issues.

Scope 3: Guidance for the Pharmaceutical Industry Report

This guidance document was created and published by the Pharmaceutical Environment Group (PEG) and the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI) in collaboration. Both groups are convened and organised by Carnstone.

The guidance offers a consistent way for pharmaceutical companies to calculate emissions in their upstream and downstream value chains. It provides methodologies consistent with recommendations from the GHG Protocol for calculating emissions which are tailored for each different category.

The Gender Pay Gap: One Year On Report

In 2018 Carnstone analysed the first round of Gender Pay Gap reporting from the 350 largest listed UK companies. We have repeated and updated that analysis for 2019, again producing simple comparison tables for the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, and again comparing companies on a sectoral basis.

Want to know who has the largest or smallest gap in your sector? This report collates the mean and median gaps, the mandatory quartile data and boils it all down into a simple single-figure rating.

Our 2018 report was widely used by HR and Governance teams wanting to know how they compared against peers. So this year, we have expanded the basic data with an analysis of the biggest movers; those companies reporting the largest rises or falls in their data, and their quoted reasons for the change.

Lastly, the report also contains some initial modelling work to try and link data to cause, by exploring some of the most common drivers of gender pay inequality and investigating the tell-tale signatures they might leave in company data.

2018 Media Materiality Report Report

With a foreword by Dr Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at Aviva Investors, this report takes the temperature of the environmental, social and governance issues facing the media sector.

Our analysis prioritises issues - from fake news to environmental management - into three categories: material, strategic and operational, based on the financial risk posed by each issue. It replaces and builds on previous materiality assessments conducted in 2004, 2009 and 2013.

With a plethora of organisations now evaluating media companies for a living, the aim of the report is to support a conversation between the sector and its stakeholders – particularly those evaluating companies on behalf of investors – leading to more constructive discussions and ultimately better long-term planning.

The Gender Pay Gap: An initial review of the FTSE 100 and 250 Report

The new Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations produced a flood of data in April 2018. Carnstone has sifted through it to provide like-for-like comparisons for the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. Which companies have the highest gaps in their sector and which the lowest? Who has the most equal pay in the FTSE 100? Which sectors are most equal and which least? This Review sets the data out simply and comparably to form an essential reference document for this first year’s disclosures.

The Future of Responsible Media Report

Obviously, all companies have a desire to stay alive and be profitable. But above and beyond mere survival, increasingly we expect businesses to play a positive role in society or at least reduce their negative social and environmental impacts as much as possible.

How do such concerns apply to the media sector? What are the key impacts of media companies? How will society hold them to account in the future?

In our newest report, The Future of Responsible Media, we articulate four interrelated challenges, the management of which, we believe, will set ‘good’ companies apart from the ‘bad’ over the next 10 years. We summarise these four challenges as follows:

  • The future of privacy – getting serious about understanding users’ appetite for
    personalised content vs privacy;
  • Coming to grips with being movers – owning up to the fact that media content doesn’t just mirror society, it moves it;
  • Becoming organisations without walls – finding ways of managing impacts in an increasingly splintered media landscape; and
  • Managing the workplace of the future – rethinking existing notions of ‘purpose’, ‘progression’ and ‘hierarchy’ as the competition for critical talent heats up.

Further to this, we identify eight social and technological forces that are likely to transform society generally and the world of media more specifically.

The report is based on rigorous desk-research, the collective insights of the 25 companies participating in the Responsible Media Forum as well as input from some of the brightest sparks in business, politics and academia.

What's wrong with corporate giving? Article

Large companies give huge amounts to charity. Last year the FTSE 100 handed over a combined total of £2.1bn in charitable giving, approximately 1.6% of their pre-tax profits. And companies are doing great things for, and with, charities – Sainsbury’s alone has donated over £100m to Comic Relief since 1999. Lots of money flowing, professionally managed relationships and plenty of good ideas. All at a time when the charity sector is feeling the pinch. What is not to like?

Our opinion piece in Blue & Green Tomorrow argues that there is lots of room for improvement.

Green Screen: How does IT contribute to sustainability? Report

How does IT contribute to sustainability? In sustainable development, the IT sector is usually seen as a force for good. The direct impacts of the sector itself – energy, waste, pollution – are small, especially when compared with other industries. Moreover, these effects are offset by big indirect benefits as IT enables social advances, and offers routes to lower environmental impacts. This new report, supported by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and written by Carnstone, explores the extent to which the sector is delivering on that promise.

It argues that IT companies must stay on top of their direct impacts. More importantly, however, they must help their customers get the biggest possible benefits from their products. They also have a role to understand their influence on long-term societal changes which will likely make or break IT’s contribution to sustainability. The report concludes by setting out a practical agenda for how IT companies can play their part in maximising sustainability benefits.

Mirrors or Movers? II: Understanding the impacts of media content Report

This report summarises the second Mirrors or Movers? conference, hosted by the BBC in June and organised by the Media CSR Forum, a Carnstone multi-client project. The event brought together more than 100 people from 34 major media companies to discuss the role of media in society. Specifically, we looked at the impacts of media content in the areas of women, the environment and privacy. Video summaries of individual sessions are also available - follow the article link below.

On The Rights Track Report

The 2011 UN Guiding Principles turned societal expectations of the role of business in human rights into global standards which companies are expected to meet. However, many companies find it difficult to practically implement them through existing business processes. This pragmatic guide was written with business practitioners in mind to address this difficulty. It summarises Ruggie's recommendations and communicates human rights standards in an engaging and user-friendly format. It also includes case studies highlighting significant human rights issues by industry.

As a follow-up exercise, we recently analysed to what extent FTSE 100 companies meet the new reporting requirements. Our analysis demonstrated decidedly mixed progress. You can access the full findings by clicking the article link below.

Does It Matter? An analysis of sustainability issues in the media sector Report

The media sector faces many unique social and environmental challenges, setting it apart from other sectors. This report builds on previous stakeholder surveys to identify not only what those issues are, but whether they are operational, strategic or material. The research is based on input from media professionals within the industry as well as media analysts from financial institutions.

Mirrors Or Movers? Framing the debate about the impact of media content Report

Does media content, in all its forms, merely mirror society or does it move it? Should the sector actively seek to shape public debate, change behaviours and promote sustainable lifestyles as its contribution to social responsibility? This report is the first of its kind highlighting a sensitive area for most media organisations. Based on interviews and discussions with industry experts, this report provides a framework and structure for the debate.

Business impact – Wholly positive? Article

Simon Hodgson looks behind 'Net Positive', the next big topic in sustainability, and asks whether we've yet to clarify what it really means.

Inspirational Media In A Post-Water Cooler World Article

Simon Hodgson took part in a discussion, along with other senior industry professionals, about the ethical issues facing the media industry. The discussion was hosted by Ethical Performance and Lumina CR, and was summarised in Ethical Performance's magazine.

Why good companies do bad things? Article

Simon Hodgson argues that conflating morality and the responsibilities of business isn't always helpful.

Multiple Messages – the purpose and future of Sustainable Development reporting Report

Multiple Messages: sustainability reporting in transparent times - reviews the factors driving SD reporting, finding conflicting and competing pressures and some very basic unanswered questions over why companies do it. But its most significant conclusion is that discussions over the nature and practice of SD reporting are taking place in the shadow of a tidal wave of social and technological change that is fundamentally transforming the way we communicate. Social media, instant access, handheld devices, syndication, and all-powerful search engines have conditioned users to find the content that they want when they want it. At the same time the fast-rising BRICS economies are developing their own views on the role of companies in society and affecting the way global corporations think. The one-size-fits all, once-yearly SD Report is looking increasingly out of date.

Responsibility in global supply chains – how far can a company be expected to go? Report

Simon Hodgson and Richard Welford, Chairman of CSR Asia, have been exploring the changing expectations that companies face, in terms of their supply chains, both at home and a key sourcing market, China. The two companies looked at how far a company’s responsibility stretches and the latest challenges to those responsible for supply chains that involve Asia and the UK.

Home Front - executive summary Report

The case for environmental action - particularly on climate change - is clear, and a host of research demonstrates that public awareness of the problem is high. And yet the adoption of even simple solutions remains low. There is a disconnection between our knowledge and our behaviour. The 21st Century Living Project was created to look rigorously and honestly into this gap. For this research, we pooled our skills and resources with those of Homebase and The Eden Project. Close to 100 ordinary households spent 18 months finding out what they could achieve. Or - just as important - explaining frankly what got in the way. This is the executive summary.

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