Nicky Amos

Rory Sullivan

Business of Farm Animal Welfare

Joshua Kendall

This book provides the world’s first comprehensive account of responsible investment for fixed income investors. It enables readers to understand the key characteristics of fixed income investments and the relevance of sustainability-related issues to fixed income markets. The expert contributors to this volume explain how sustainability-related issues can be taken into account in fixed income research and decision-making, in portfolio construction, and in active ownership (engagement). They provide a series of detailed case-studies from different parts of the fixed income market (corporate investment grade and high yield, emerging markets, sovereign and municipal debt), from a range of organisations with a variety of investment approaches. The contributors also provide in-depth critical analysis of key issues such as the role and influence of credit rating agencies, green bonds, data and public policy in shaping investment practice. For investors, this book provides practical guidance on how to improve the financial and the sustainability performance of their fixed income investments. For stakeholders such as companies, civil society organisations, and governments it allows them to understand the role that fixed income might play in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to understand how they might encourage fixed income investors to pay greater attention to sustainability-related issues in their investment practices and processes.

Responsible Investment in Fixed Income Markets

Michael Warner

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg clearly identified the corporate sector as one of the key actors in the delivery of national and international poverty reduction targets in developing countries. "Partnerships" between government, civil society and business were proposed as one means whereby these poverty reduction targets were to be achieved. Despite the rhetoric, there was less consideration of how such partnerships could work in practice, the outcomes that could be achieved, or the relative merits of partnerships over other, more traditional approaches to development. This book is about partnerships between the private sector, government and civil society. Its objective is to share practical experiences in establishing and implementing such partnerships and to show how partnerships work. The focus is on the oil, gas and mining industries, as these sectors have tended to be the primary drivers of foreign investment in developing countries. These corporations increasingly operate in regions characterised by poor communities and fragile environments. The more effective use of external relationships to ensure the effective contribution of these investments to poverty reduction and local environmental management is critical, for the companies, for government, and for the poor. Putting Partnerships to Work is based on the work of the Secretariat of the Natural Resources Cluster (NRC) of Business Partners for Development (BPD). This major research programme, which ran from 1998 to 2002, aimed to enhance the role of oil, gas and mining corporations in international development. The programme objective was to produce practical guidance, based on the experience of specific natural resource operations around the world, on how partnerships involving companies, government authorities and civil-society organisations can be an effective means of reducing investment risks and of promoting community and regional development. The programme encompassed partnerships in Colombia, Nigeria, India, Venezuela, Bolivia, Zambia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia and Tanzania. The specific projects that were implemented included not only "traditional" development projects such as the provision of water, healthcare or infrastructure but also themes as diverse as conflict prevention, regional development, micro-enterprise development and managing oil spill compensation. Based on the experience of establishing and implementing effective partnerships, the NRC identified good practice, and developed replicable guidelines, tools and training materials. This book is not only about good practice; it presents both the positive outcomes and lessons from the programme, as well as the risks and costs, and where things went wrong. It also provides evidence not only of the viability of partnerships (i.e. that partnerships "can work") but also evidence that partnership approaches can provide substantially better outcomes for all parties than can more traditional approaches to development or corporate social responsibility. For example, a road in India was constructed at 25% of the cost to government; it took just 11 months for a community health centre in Venezuela to become operational and with its long-term financial future assured; and primary education enrolment rates in the vicinity of a gold mine in Tanzania have jumped from a historic level of 60–80% to almost 100% (as a consequence of improved infrastructure and community awareness of the importance of education). These development and public-sector benefits have been accompanied by substantial business benefits, including significant reductions in the cost of community development initiatives and/or the leverage of additional resources, greater sustainability and viability of development projects and significant improvements to corporate reputation and their local "social licence to operate" with communities. The book argues that to achieve these benefits requires all parties to invest time and effort in first exploring the best design for the partnership, understanding the motivations of their potential partners and, once the partnership has been established, continuing to actively support the partnership and ensure its ongoing viability. Partnerships that engage the strengths of companies, government and civil society can, under the right conditions, yield better (and more sustainable) results for communities and for business than traditional approaches to development. The authors argue that, because it is built on the central idea of each partner "doing what they do best", the partnership approach offers an opportunity to rethink the way in which companies view they contributions to the livelihoods of local communities. Through partnerships it is possible that community development will be seen less as an "add-on" or "cost" to the company but more an integral part of business strategy providing significant commercial and other benefits. Perhaps most importantly, partnerships offer the potential for regional operating companies to change the perceptions of government and of civil society that the company will take the primary responsibility for local development. Rather, partnerships enable companies to locate themselves as one of (but not the only) agent of development in the local region. Partnerships enable communities to take charge of their own development needs, interacting with government to jointly design and maintain public services. They also allow government to play its proper role of fulfilling its public mandate, delivering necessary services and ensuring the quality and sustainability of development impacts. The challenges of poverty reduction in the developing world are so great that no one sector can address them on its own. Partnerships between business, government and civil society are a means of addressing this most fundamental of truths. It is hoped that this book will provide a road map for all those working towards making the elimination of poverty a reality.

Strategic Alliances for Development between Government, the Private Sector and Civil Society

Putting Partnerships to Work

Globally, nearly 70 billion animals are farmed annually for meat, milk and eggs. Two-thirds of these are farmed intensively. The views held by food companies on animal stewardship, and the management practices and processes that they adopt are, therefore, of critical importance in determining the welfare of these animals. Yet, despite the scale of the food industry’s impact, farm animal welfare remains a relatively immature management issue. There is a lack of consensus around the specific responsibilities companies have for farm animal welfare, and around how companies should treat the animals in their or in their suppliers’ care. This book, The Business of Farm Animal Welfare, provides an extensive, authoritative analysis of current corporate practice on farm animal welfare. It critically reviews and assesses the ethical and business case for action. Through a series of practitioner case-studies, it describes how companies have addressed farm animal welfare in their operations and supply chains. It analyses the key barriers to companies adopting higher standards of farm animal welfare, and offers a series of practical recommendations to companies, consumers and policy makers on the role that they might play in raising farm animal welfare standards across the food industry. As the first comprehensive account of business and farm animal welfare, this book is an essential resource for researchers, practitioners and general readers looking to understand and influence corporate practice on farm animal welfare.

Rory Sullivan

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