Background on KAIROS-Canada's (Formerly the Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility)
Participation in the Bench Marks Project

The Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility: Bench Marks for Measuring Business Performance (Bench Marks), is the product of a decade of work by corporate responsibility advocates on a global scale. The document originates from a long history in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to respond to the challenges that arise from the way in which transnational corporations perform their business. These challenges are environmental, social and corporate in nature.

The Bench Marks framework, as an effective instrument in the promotion of corporate accountability and shareholder advocacy, has been used in Canada by KAIROS, and its predecessor TCCR, in several major initiatives:

- As the analytical framework and basis to assess eight major Canadian corporations. Published in May 2000, Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility: Commitment, Conduct & Transparency reported on the corporate responsibility performance of Barrick Gold Corporation, Bombardier Inc., Inco Ltd., Nortel Networks, Placer Dome Inc., Shell Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Talisman Energy Inc. Notable among the conclusions were the following:

- None of the companies examined was found to have met the basic expectations for corporate social and environmental responsibility as set out in the Bench Marks framework;

- Seventy-five percent of the companies studied showed an unacceptable level of implementation;

- While some steps had been taken and some companies showed promise, corporate business enterprises in Canada have a long way to go before earning the distinction that they are socially and environmentally responsible actors in the global economy;

If corporations expect to continue to rely on voluntary initiatives, as opposed to greater state regulation, they must take seriously their social and environmental responsibilities and move beyond their commitment to words and implement meaningful codes of conduct throughout their operations. The full report can be found at http://www.web.net/%7Etccr/benchmarks/Reports.htm

Providing the baseline document for TCCR’s participation in ‘stakeholder dialogues’ with Shell Canada (including representatives from Shell International/UK), Suncor Energy Inc., Placer Dome Inc., Talisman Energy Inc. (including dialogue with PriceWaterhouse-Coopers/Ireland-UK over its assessment survey of Talisman’s activities in Sudan). In each case, the Bench Marks framework was used to assess the adequacy of company policy and practice in relation to social and environmental performance – a process referred to as ‘sustainability benchmarking’ by company officials.
Used in a textual analysis to compare and contrast the reporting expectations found in the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines on Economic, Environmental and Social Performance (the Global Reporting Initiative or GRI, June 2000) with the corporate responsibility performance expectations found in the Bench Marks. The project was done in co-operation with the U.S.-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) in the United Kingdom. The results provided the basis for a number of careful observations of the June 2000 Draft of the GRI, and were joined together with many NGOs in calling for substantial revisions to the content and process to be contained within a subsequent iteration of the GRI. Key Questions raised by TCCR-Canada re: GRI Process & Content, dated 11 November 2000, concluded that GRI Guidelines may be useful in the cause of advancing sustainability reporting for organizations operating in relatively stable social and economic contexts. However, in contexts of social unrest, pervasive and enduring economic disparity, or where persistent and systematic violations of human rights occur, GRI Guidelines need greater definitional substance. Our analyses called for improvements in social performance content, particularly in specifying comportment to international human rights and labour standards, and the inclusion of reporting considerations for social justice principles and Indigenous community expectations. The newly revised Bench Marks may be used to assess again the adequacy of the August 2002 Draft of the GRI.

Used as the basis for a presentation at a March 2001 seminar on the GRI held at the Toronto Stock Exchange Tower. TCCR critiqued the GRI from “A Report User’s Perspective in an paper entitled: Context, Complementarity, Constructive Critique: the GRI and the Bench Marks.

The Bench Marks framework, and TCCR’s long experience with Talisman Energy Inc. over its activities in Sudan, were extensively drawn from in drafting TCCR’s Comment on a Jannuary 2001 draft report of the International Council on Human Right Policy (Geneva) entitled, Business wrongs and right: human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies. The final report, Beyond Voluntarism: Human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies was released in January 2002. This version incorporated a principle claim made by TCCR that voluntary commitments made by companies to “respect international human rights standards” are insufficient when not accompanied by credible third-party monitoring and verification of corporate claims. Such “respect” is nearly impossible to realize in contexts where the state is a principle violator and all the more unattainable when that state’s agent is in a business partnership with the “committed” corporation. See www.ichrp.org/107/1.pdf

The most recent corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative in Canada, that of the Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission, acknowledged the comprehensiveness of the Bench Marks framework in elaborating CSR expectations, and urged that it be one of three reference documents used by government to develop CSR guidelines. The intent of the recommendation is that stock exchanges in Canada would establish CSR disclosure requirements similar to the Toronto Stock Exchange corporate governance guidelines. Companies, as part of their listings requirement on Canadian stock exchanges, would then be required to disclose in their annual reports or annual information circulars information regarding their corporate social responsibility practices, assess the extent to which these practices conform to “CSR Guidelines” set out in stock market listing rules, and explain any discrepancies. See Recommendation 1 at www.corporate-accountability.ca

In February 2003, KAIROS began distributing its Corporate Responsibility: A Field Action Guide, to community research groups, non-governmental organizations and labour educators. Based in large part of the Bench Marks framework, this document will assist civil society organizations with their demands for greater corporate accountability. See ‘Resources’ at www.kairoscanada.org

WORKSHOPS & PANEL PRESENTATIONS FEATURING THE BENCH MARKS
2002 Conference of the International Editorial Board

7-14 Oct Principal: Round Three Text: “Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility”Site: St. George Centre, Pretoria, South Africa

2002 SRI Forum on Environmental, Social, Faith-Based and Sustainable Investing

8-10 Sept Panelist: “Reality Check: What is the Real World Impact of SRI?”

Site: Green Mountain SRI Summit, Stowe, Vermont, USA

2002 Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network: Annual Conference

25 April Workshop Leader: “Responsible Share Ownership Strategies for Private Foundations”

Site: Delta Hotel Conference Centre, Montreal, Canada

Prepared by Daniel Gennarelli, Corporate Issues Researcher/Policy Advocate – KAIROS. Daniel is currently on a one year leave of absence. Nancy Palardy is replacing him during this period and can be reached at:

Email: npalardy@kairoscanada.org

Phone: 416.463.5312 ext. 229

Fax: 416.463.5569

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KAIROS is a coalition of Canadian churches, church based agencies and religious organizations dedicated to promoting human rights, justice and peace, viable human development and universal solidarity among the peoples of the Earth. KAIROS is a decisive and faithful response to God’s call for respect of the Earth and justice for its peoples.

KAIROS brings together 10 previously independent inter-church coalitions, including the Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility, whose concerns and work increasingly overlapped, given the realities of globalization. The new ecumenical organization provides continuity to the work of these coalitions and their more than 30-year history of highly respected research, policy development, advocacy and grassroots mobilization on a range of justice issues in Canada, Latin America, Asia and Africa. KAIROS partners with local ecumenical social justice networks across the country and provides funding to help build the capacities of partner organizations in the Global South. The name KAIROS, which refers to moment of transformation through faith, is an appropriate name in this context of continuity and change.

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