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CSR-i-praktiken.se (one of my favorite CSR-newsletters and web pages) presents the results today from a discussion regarding solutions to societal problems held at Veckans Affärer’s Social Capatalist Day. Ten problems are highlighted in the summary presented at csr-i-praktiken.se. It is an interesting read. Very concrete suggestions for solutions to issues such as poverty, youth unemployment, labor discrimination of immigrants, corruption etc. are being presented. You may not agree to all suggested solutions, and some may not be applicable to your organization, but in general it is really thought-provoking material.
Read it and forward it to your friends!
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I have today participated in a meeting jointly organized by LIF (the research based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden) and patient associations in Gävleborg (HSO Gävleborg) up in Gävle. A very good and interesting meeting where we discussed issues ranging from the work tasks for the pharmaceutical committee in Gävleborg, consequences of the pharmacy de-/re-regulation in Sweden, the Swedish drug insurance scheme, the product of the month (and other aspects of the generic reform), and pharmaceuticals and the environment. The latter topic was of course my contribution to the agenda of today.
The discussion was intense, and the issue of mandatory generic substitution at the pharmacy desk – to the “product of the month”, potentially from a company not participating in the Swedish drug insurance scheme, and/or a pharmaceutical product being anything but “green” – is no doubt a hot topic!
When will there be green pharmaceuticals...
The title of my presentation was “Pharmaceuticals and the Environment – when will we be able to choose green pharmaceuticals?” You know that I have great hopes for the coming year regarding the development of a pricing and reimbursement system allowing for green economic incentives to green pharmaceuticals. If you like to dig into some details on the topic of green pharmaceuticals and green incentives (including discussions on Sofia Wallström’s review, on the All Party Committee on Environmental Objectives, and on MPA’s proposal to add environmental requirements to GMP) just follow the links…
Thanks to LIF and HSO Gävleborg for arranging the meeting today. I really like it when the debate is intense! It was both interesting and fun!
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CSR Sweden arranged a breakfast meeting today regarding communication of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in general, and the usage of social media for communication purposes specifically. I have written about social media use, especially within the pharmaceutical sector, several times here at the blog. See for instance the blog posts from Oct 6 2011, Aug 24 2010, April 5 2010, and Nov 24 2010 for details and my views.
The meeting started with an initial discussion around the table where CSR Sweden’s different member companies shared some of their experiences with social media (from the Pfizer perspective those experiences were this blog of course (www.ansvarsblogg.se), the “Can you feel my pain initiative” (on e.g. facebook and flickr), and the Dizza Tobak project). The floor was then given to Daniel Liljendahl and Andreas Brodecki from Worldfavor.com.
Andreas and Daniel presents Worldfavor
I must say that the Worldfavor platform is very interesting, and it could be a very useful tool for both a company and its different stakeholders. The idea is that companies should present their sustainability efforts on the platform and stakeholders commenting upon the information given or commenting on gaps in the information. But of course also ask direct questions to companies and being able to compare and benchmark different companies to one another. Anyone who has used facebook would feel home. High interactivity and extremely transparent. The platform uses the requirements (the “shall sentences”) in ISO 26000 as the expected CSR performance. This of course enables direct comparisons to be made between companies, within a sector as well as between sectors.
As I said, a very interesting initiative, and it will be exciting to see if Worldfavor manages to bring companies as well as all different stakeholders to the platform. It seems to be powerful and it is free of charge, so the possibility for success should definitely be there!
And you have to like the ambition/vision presented by Daniel and Andreas:
“By the year 2020, all companies will communicate their CSR programs via Worldfavor.com, and the public will be able to influence those programs and thereby contributing to a better world”
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As you most likely know, Sofia Wallström has been appointed to review whether environmental considerations can be, and should be, taken within the framework of the pricing and reimbursement system. Due to the discussions that have been undertaken so far among the stakeholders in the sector, I do find the way Riksdag & Departement (a very official Swedish newspaper presenting news from “parliament” and “ministries”) presents Sofia’s work task surprising: “Läkemedel ska kunna väljas bort av miljöskäl” (in English roughly “Medicinal products should be possible to deselect due to environmental reasons”). The article continues: “Government wants to know if pharmaceutical products can be deselected when coming from companies that do not take environmental matters into account”.
The reason why I am surprised is that the article talks about “negative selection” (i.e. deselection) and nothing about potential green incentives to products that have been shown to meet environmental criteria. You can read more on the discussions on green economic incentives that have been ongoing for several months among the sector’s stakeholders via this link for instance. In addition to that, it surprises me also that Riksdag & Departement talks about “deselection of products from companies that do not take…”. The discussions among the stakeholders, and also the way I have understood the commission to Sofia Wallström, have a product focus and not a company focus. The discussions concern defining green product criteria that should be met by a product from cradle-to-grave perspective, i.e. from active ingredient manufacturing operations, via formulation and packaging operations, to distribution, use and final disposal. It will be very interesting to see if Sofia Wallström also will evaluate if a company as such is green, and what impact such an evaluation should have.
As I said, surprising for me to see this way of presenting Sofia’s work task…
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I have been a member of NMC (Näringslivets Miljöchefer, or in English “the Swedish Association of Environmental Managers”) for several years. Participation in NMC’s meetings is a good opportunity to learn more within the field of sustainability, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and environmental matters. It also presents a brilliant way to build your network.
Today I participated in an NMC full-day training course on CSR. Roughly 20 environmental managers from several different companies and organizations gathered together at the ÅF (Ångpanneföreningen) office at Frösundaleden 2. Mattis Bergquist from OnlyR guided them through the day.
Mattis Bergquist, OnlyR
Mattis had invited me to discuss for an hour with him and the course participants on CSR in general, on green pharmaceuticals and green economic incentives specifically, and on this blog as a novel, interesting interactive communication tool.
I am talking about CSR-issues
I used my blog post from yesterday to described different parts of a CSR-platform for the pharmaceutical industry. We had a good discussion on possible reasons why the pharmaceutical industry has not been very successful in telling their CSR story to its stakeholders. One reason of course being the fact that we are not allowed to talk about our products (i.e. the prescription medicines) with the general public. Nevertheless the industry seems to have stronger product brand names than corporate brand names. Personally you may know if you follow this blog, that I feel that the industry have been a poor communicator. We have been very slow in adopting modern communication tools, e.g. social media, and to me it is very surprising that there are still recommendations to stay away from social media… Does not feel like 2011, does it? For more on the issue please read my blog post from Nov 24 last year.
We also had a good discussion on potential negative environmental consequences of the Swedish generic reform, where the pharmacy is forced to substitute the prescribed pharmaceutical with the “product of the month” (in Swedish “periodens vara”), i.e. the cheapest generic. And this regardless of any environmental profiles. This of course took us to the discussion on green pharmaceuticals and green economic incentives, that you know I am very engaged in. To read more on the topic, read my blog post from Oct 3, 2011, and follow the links within that blog post for details.
Thanks NMC, Mattis, and all very engaged course participants for very good and intense discussions. I enjoyed it very much!
Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg kommer att ta upp aktiviteter som vi själva gör inom ramen för det vi kallar ”ansvarsfullt företagande” men som i den vardagliga debatten ofta benämns CSR. Jag som bloggar heter Bengt Mattson och arbetar som CSR- och miljöchef på Pfizer AB. 