Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

Discussions on CSR and Social Innovation at Volvo Trucks

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Yesterday was an interesting day! By invitation from Eva Engquist and Hanna Sigsjö from “Mötesplatsen för Social Innovation och Samhällsentreprenörskap“, CSR and sustainability managers from 5 companies, coming from very different industries, gathered at Volvo Trucks in Gothenburg. The topic to discuss was “social innovation” - what it is, the connection to CSR and sustainability initiatives, and how to integrate it successfully in business development strategies. Participating companies were Volvo, IBM, Skanska, pwc, and Pfizer of course. So very interesting to see that regardless of industry branch, similar challenges and opportunities are identified. There are definitely a lot to learn from colleagues in other industries.

I started the presentation of industry cases by discussing social innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. Not surprising to anyone of you who follows my blog, the case included discussions upon wellness and prevention initiatives, such as the ”more-than-medication” initiative. The pharmaceutical industry has a great possibility to not only provide medication for different illnesses but also be a partner to society when it comes to prevent illnesses and create wellness. And I am convinced that this presents a great business opportunity as well. I have discussed this in several blog posts previosuly, so if you want more details please read these posts for instance: October 4, 2011, April 8, 2011, and February 8, 2011.

After my presentation we listened to Andreas Lundgren from IBM. Extremely interesting, and fascinating, to see IBM’s ideas around intelligent information systems and “IT-logistics”. There are so many interesting uses of more intelligent IT-solutions in a sustainable society. Just think of areas such as public transportation and logistics and information to citizens, including patients and carers. And of course the use of such systems in buildings and houses to optimize energy use etc. Which brings us over to the presentation from Skanska, given to us by Eva-Lena Carlén-Johansson and Ulrika Nordeborg. Eva-Lena had the corporate Skanska focus, and Ulrika had the “BoKlok“-fokus. The BoKlok-experience on residential houses, is a perfect example of social innovation in construction industry, but of course similar examples can be found when it comes to roads, bridges, and all other infrastructure solutions in society. We were all in agreement that the concept of “a sustainable society” (including all aspects from “sustainable cities”) is crucial to continue working upon. It is also a perfect example upon issues where the collaboration between industry and public and governmental organizations, such as County Councils and municipalities, is very important for success!

From “infrastructure”, the step is not very far to transports, and hence trucks. Martin Bramsved and Lars Mårtensson from Volvo Trucks gave their views upon sustainable transport and logistics solutions. We had good discussions upon issues such as alternative fuels and upon enhanced transport effeciency. Especially in the latter case, there are of course several interesting connections to “intelligent IT-solutions”. It is clear from discussions such as these, that companies gain a lot from sharing challenges and opportunities with one another!

Yet another area where both intelligent IT-solutions are important, and collaboration between private and public actors are crucial for success, is energy supply. Well functioning energy networks are crucial for today’s society. We got several interesting views upon what can be done, and things that have been done, when it comes to social innovations in the energy area. Katarina Skalare from pwc, has a lot of experiences from E.ON. One obvious area is of course increased energy efficiency in sustainable cities.

Discussions were good, and I am convinced that future discussions within this small network, will help to develop the area of “social innovation and entrepreneurship” and create new collaborations across industry branches. This will build new business opportunities for us, on the same time as we are “doing good for society”.

Many thanks to Eva and Hanna for taking the initiative, and to Martin for hosting the meeting!

CSR - the Responsibility of Enterprises for their Societal Impacts

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I have briefly discussed the European Commission’s new CSR Strategy (which was finally launched on Oct 25 last year) here at the blog previously. See for instance the blog post from Aug 23, 2011 about an Enterprise 2020 Company.

The objectives of European Commission CSR the strategy is:

- To support the European 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive Growth

- To reaffirm the EU’s global influence in CSR

- To guide and coordinate EU Member State policies on CSR and so reduce the risk of divergent approaches that could create additional costs for enterprises operating in more than one Member State.

The Commission gives us a new definition of CSR:

“CSR - The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”
CSR is a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical and human rights concerns into the operations and core strategy of an enterprise, in close collaboration with their stakeholders.

I have to say that I really like the new definition: “CSR - the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society” and that the process has to be managed in close collaboration with stakeholders. If you have followed my blog over the years you know that I strongly beleive in the great value of a stakeholder dialogue. Some examples of blog posts discussing the value of stakeholder engagement are Nov 24, 2010, Dec 17, 2010, May 24, 2011, and Aug 17, 2011. Whereas the first three examples include the stakeholder perspectives “patients” and “students” among others, the latter example focus our own employees or colleagues. The “internal perspective”, i.e. your own colleagues, is sometimes forgotten in stakeholder dialogues. And that’s a shame. It is extremely important to listen to your colleagues, they usually have a lot of valuable comments to share about the “CSR initiatives”. Both what is found to be good and what is not… And it is important to remember that in the end of the day, a more important ambassador for your CSR program and your core values than an employee is hard to find. Hence, from both the perspective of developing your CSR initiatives as well as from  the “employer branding” perspective you need to work closely with your colleagues.

Perhaps not very surprising to anyone of you I think Pfizer is a very good employer. Pfizer always pays great attention to colleagues’ perspectives, well aligned with the commitment expressed in our so called Blue Book about “Our Colleagues”: Colleagues are Pfizer’s greatest asset, and Pfizer is committed to treating all employees and applicants with fairness and respect. We believe in cooperation, teamwork, and trust.

And let me take the opportunity to say thanks for the support from Pfizer and from all great colleagues through the tough times I have experienced since my mother passed away in January. It has been tough from time to time, and then it is extremely important that you have a supporting and understanding employer. Thanks! My mom’s funeral was yesterday and if you want, you could see and listen to me and my older brother Anders playing “Min levnadsafton” and “Prästpolska” at the funeral on YouTube (uploaded by my younger brother Christer).

Sustainability - something for all students at KTH

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It is with pleasure and appreciation that I read KTH’s (Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden) information about their investment in sustainability.

“KTH’s focus on environmental issues — underlined in 2011 with the appointment of a vice-president for sustainability — is gaining momentum with new targeted investments in education. The university’s administration has approved SEK 6.5 million ($964,000) for courses in environment and sustainable development studies.”

Being a KTH alumni (I began my MSc-studies in chemical engineering back in 1984 and left KTH in 1993 with a PhD-degree in Polymer Chemistry) it makes me happy to see that KTH understands the importance of teaching our future MSc and PhD-graduates sustainability. Sustainable development is such an important key to solving several of the challenges society meets today, both locally as well as globally. During my roughly ten years at KTH in the 80-ies and 90-ies I have to admit that sustainability was not on KTH’s agenda, and not on my own either… I have learned a lot since then!

Within the pharmaceutical sector, sustainability matters are an integrated part in everything we do today. I have discussed the integration of sustainability in our strategic development several times here at the blog. For instance, read about social sustainability and business develoment in my blog post from March 29, 2010, and the discussions on envrionmental sustainability exemplified with green products and green economic incentives in the blog post from Sept 28, 2011.

Sustainable development - integrated in everything in society today, from primary school, through university courses, into our professional life as well as our private life. It has to be that way if we want to succeed in the longterm…

More on public procurement

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I have written about Public Procurement and green perspectives of that several times here at the blog. See for instance my blog post from Dec 1. The ongoing Public Procurement Committee (in Swedish: Upphandlingsutredningen) is very interesting to follow when it comes to the issues I have discussed over the years. And earlier today in the daily newsletter MiljöRapporten Direkt, Anders Wijkman from the Public Procurement Committee gave some very interesting comments on some gaps he feels exist in today’s processes. One of the things he stresses is follow-up of green requirements. This is well in line with the comments the industry have had over the years. As you know, the official LIF position is that industry welcomes green and social requirements but they have to be followed up!

 From MiljöRapporten Direkt:

“… Enligt Anders Wijkman som leder upphandlingsutredningen handlar problemet även om uppföljning.
– Det är helt centralt att tuffa miljökrav ställs. Lika viktigt är dock att följa upp kraven och kunna verifiera att man fått vad man efterfrågat. Där har det brustit mycket hittills. Jag är övertygad om att vi kommer med ett vasst betänkande när utredningen är klar till slutet av året…”

More on the new Swedish PiE data…

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On January 10, I gave some comments here at the blog to the press release and report regarding IVL’s, Umeå University’s, and Swedish EPA’s new data regarding pharmaceutical residues in incoming waste water to waste water treatment facilities, in the effluent from those facilities, and in receving water bodies as well as in some cases also in fish. The study is “breaking news” in today’s issue of one of Sweden’s most influencal science and engineering weekly news magazines, NyTeknik. Ny Teknik presents, in addition to a very similar discussion as was found in the original press release, also an interesting article on new waste water treatment technology experiments at Sjöstadsverket performed by scientists from IVL and KTH.

One thing that I also want to comment is that both on the front page of the NyTeknik newspaper that arrived in my mailbox this morning as well as on their website, another news article regarding pharmaceuticals is highlighted just next to the worrying news about presence of pharmaceutical residues in the environment. But this article is presented in a very “positive” way: “Take a pill - and skip your work-out training”. “The work-out pill is soon a reality“…

I do often find it somewhat disturbing that reports about pharmaceuticals are either “scary alarms” or “magical innovative news”. It has however rarely been as clearly shown as on the front page of today’s NyTeknik… I would prefer a more balanced discussion, both regarding the worrying reports as well as the promising innovations. Life is very rarely completely black or white!