1. May 2011 • Vol. XXII, No. 5
Focus Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mirel — An Antidote to High Oil Prices?
Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Environmental Defense Fund, Part 1
Corporate Reporting . . . . . . . . . 6
China Encourages CSR Reporting
Sustainability Reports in a Flash
Corporate Initiatives . . . . . . . . . 7
Taking Inventory of Forested “Hot Spots”
Federal Trade Commission Gets Tough on
Questionable Green Certifications
New Electric Cars Wow Consumers
Europe to Ban Gas-Powered Cars
From Cities
Product Stewardship and
Takeback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Medical Plastics Recycling and Reduction
Third-Party Consumer Recycling to Triple
Investing in Chinese Water: All Wet?
ISO Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Insight Into the Working Group for Social
Responsibility
Climate Change Update . . . . . . 15
Natural Gas From Shale Revs Up Global
Warming
Siberian Park Gets New Population in Climate
Change Test
Polar Ice Loss Quickens, Raising Sea Levels
INSIDE
This article provided
courtesy of
Aspen Publishing.

2. 12
ISO Update
Insight Into the Working Group for Social
Responsibility
I
n a nod to the growing social networking
portal Linked-In, our interview with
a member of the ISO Working Group
responsible for the 2010 issuance of
ISO 26000, which provides guidelines for
social responsibility, came by way of a
Linked-In introduction extended to Martin
Neureiter. In another nod to Internet
technology, BATE conducted this interview
via the Skype portal.
BATE: How did ISO 26000 come to be?
Neureiter: COPOLCO ⎯ a subgroup of
ISO ⎯ representing consumer groups, made
a request to the ISO secretariat in 2000 to
look at the issue created by a large number of
companies claiming to be socially responsible,
without any tangible way to verify that claim.
[The group wanted to know] why there
wasn’t an international standard that would
allow for such verification by independent
certification bodies. … [T]he ISO central
secretariat asked COPOLCO to come up
with a proposal for [what] such a standard
could look like. ISO gave the group
six months, and two years later, they came
back with a proposal. ISO said fine, but, in
playing devil’s advocate, asked the group
to consider whether such a proposal should
bring in other stakeholder groups that might
be interested besides consumers.
The group went back to the drawing
board, convened a [Strategic Advisory
Group], and crafted a paper in 2004 that
became the basis for ISO to decide to
look at developing a standard on social
responsibility. After a long phase of working
drafts and other logistical issues, in 2008,
in Chile, the group had elevated the drafts
to a [Committee Draft]. After additional
deliberation and review, the document was
elevated to [a Final Draft International
Group Publisher: Paul Gibson Editor: Martha Hyder
Designer: Craig Arritola Managing Editor: Vicki Dean
Contributing Editors: Gabriele Crognale, Gene Fry, Debbie Marsh, Connie Steinhaus, and Heather Wilson
Editorial offices: Editor Martha Hyder can be contacted at martha.hyder@windriverenvironmental.com.
© 2011 Aspen Publishers. All Rights Reserved.
Business and the Environment (ISSN 1089-0866) is published monthly by Aspen Publishers, 76 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10011. One-year subscription costs
$769. To subscribe, call 1-800-638-8437. For customer service, call 1-800-234-1660. Address editorial comments to Business and the Environment at vicki.dean@
wolterskluwer.com. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Business and the Environment, Aspen Publishers, 7201 McKinney Circle, Frederick, MD 21704.
Printed in the U.S.A. This material may not be used, published, broadcast, rewritten, copied, redistributed or used to create any derivative works without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Permission requests: For information on how to obtain permission to reproduce content, please go to the Aspen Publishers website at www.aspenpublishers.com/
permissions.
Business and the Environment is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the under-
standing that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required,
the services of a competent professional person should be sought. —From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar
Association and a Committee of Publishers.
http://hr.cch.com

3. 13
MAY 2011
Standard] in May 2010, and became a full
ISO standard in November 2010.
BATE: What was your role? That of the
committee?
Neureiter: The main group was the
Working Group for Social Responsibility ⎯
that was subdivided into three subgroups:
the Task Group for Writing Principles, the
Task Group for Core Subjects, and the Task
Group to Implement the Principles and Core
Subjects. I chaired the last group.
BATE: What were some of the challenges
you faced in the process?
Neureiter: First of all, the size ⎯ there
were 99 countries participating. By far, the
largest ISO exercise ever. … [W]ith English
the “official” working language, there were
language and culture issues. For example,
[some] members needed to be heard but were
not as articulate in English, and some of their
concerns were being drowned out as a result.
Second, there was also a procedural issue ⎯
work was not performed in the classical ISO
way, but was done via stakeholder groups
⎯ industry, government, [nongovernmental
organizations], trade unions, consumer
organizations, etc. … This was a particular
issue in itself because they had to define new
ways to move forward, and to make sure
all stakeholder groups were being heard, to
move to consensus in the final vote. This
aspect bore a bountiful harvest ⎯ in the final
voting, we had a 93% yes vote, which was a
remarkable feat.
BATE: What does your group feel the new
standard can accomplish?
Neureiter: [W]hat they’re looking for in the
standard is that it becomes the one unified
definition of what social responsibility
should be ⎯ that is, the definition of
choice. ISO 26000 should be viewed as
the only document in the area of social
responsibility (SR) that covers definitions,
the principles of social responsibility,
the core subjects that organizations need
to address, and the process on how to
implement SR within the organization.
[Y]ou have other related principles, like the
UN Global Compact, except that these other
principles … provide no guidance for how to
implement social responsibility. ISO 26000
gives organizations everything you need
in one document to accomplish SR/social
accountability (SA). This is a unique selling
proposition for the standard, “everything
under one roof.”
BATE: Is there a possibility that
ISO 26000 may be linked at some point with
other ISO management standards, such as
14001, or even 31000?
Neureiter: Definitely a possibility; we
already have an annex in the standard in
which related ISO standards are referenced
for additional information … For example,
in Chapter 6, one core subject relates to
handling environmental issues. ISO 14001
would be an appropriate tool to manage
this aspect.
BATE: Other issues that can be linked
to various SR core subjects deal with, for
example, mountain-top removal mining,
deforestation in Indonesia, the harvesting
of palm oil in Asia, the latest flap over

4. 14
swimwear marketed by one retailer (www.
foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/25/
abercrombie-fitch-sparks-outcry-padded-
bikini-bras-designed-8-year-olds/), or health
issues associated with a coal waste pile
(www.topix.com/city/bokoshe-ok/2011/03/
oklahoma-town-fears-cancer-asthma-may-
be-linked-to-dump-site). Each of these
instances points to where accountability
related to one or more core subjects of
ISO 26000 can come into play to mitigate
each of these issues. Right?
Neureiter: Yes, these are all issues in the
area of SR that relate directly to the financial
dimension. …[I]it makes business sense to
not only look at columns of figures to make
a management decision, but also to look at
the social and environmental impacts …
[that can result in] substantial risks on my
financial bottom line.”
BATE: Could you describe some of the
value to businesses, governments, and the
public of this standard?
Neureiter: I work with some companies
that use ISO 26000 as a framework for what
to do. Some companies were already doing
this, but doing it in different ways. What
ISO 26000 does is harmonize this for them,
and gives them a clear picture of how to do
it. … There has to be value in promoting
SR/SA. As such, both organizations and
governments need to have a clear structure
in view to allow them to understand what
they need to do to move SR forward in their
own organization.
BATE: What about the public? What
value can they get?
Neureiter: For the public, it’s a matter of
transparency, and to allow an open dialogue,
as well as being able to gauge any program’s
SR comparability as well.
BATE: Does ISO promote the marketing of
the standard?
Neureiter: I am involved in marketing
the standard in the Middle East and Africa,
organized by national standards bodies. This
effort is being sponsored by the Swedish
Development Agency (www.sida.se/English/),
which is focused on raising public awareness
of ISO 26000 and training local trainers to
educate targeted individuals and groups.
BATE: What’s next for 26000?
Neureiter: Unlike other ISO standards,
[ISO 26000] will be revised in three years,
instead of five years. … [O]ne powerful group
does not want this standard to be certifiable
⎯ the industry group ⎯ and other groups
want to see 26000 certifiable. … I personally
feel that ISO 26000 will eventually become
a certifiable standard, since the market forces
are so great nowadays. That the opponents
to certification are not individual companies,
but industry associations, like the chambers
of commerce, speaks volumes about the
potential for ISO 26000. I feel that individual
companies would like to be certified to
differentiate themselves from others. ■
CONTACTS: Martin Neureiter, CEO of the
CSR Company. Tel: +43 664 84 65 718;
E-mail: martin.neureiter@csr-company.com.
For BATE, Gabriele Crognale, PE. E-mail:
misteriso14k@aim.com.