On November 12 and 13th, the 2010 edition of the Goodenough College‘s yearly conference series ended by dedicating 2 tightly scheduled days, where qualified speakers followed one another, to the topic of ethical trade.
A total of 7 sessions, spread over the course of 2 days, featured each experts from business, development and not-for-profit organisation:
- Session 1: Introduction: Ethical Trading. Focus: supply chain auditing, transparency and accountability of – mainly – larger brands, predominantly in the textile sector.
- Session 2: Hungry for Change?. Focus: Fair Trade certification and food products.
- Session 3: Finance for the Future. Focus: Compliance.
- Session 4: Are Ethical Energy Markets Utopian?. Focus: Energy diversity, energy accessibility on a local level.
- Session 5: Patents in the Pharmaceutical Industry – Patent Safety or Profit Protection. Focus: Drug patents and their (negative) long-term effects on society.
- Session 6: Ethical Trading and Fashion – Reality or Faux Pas?. Focus: Sweat shop conditions overseas, the need for change bottom up in the industry.
- Session 7: The International Arms Trade. Focus: The problematic outset and consequences the – on the surface – entirely legal arms trade between nations have.
Hereafter, in summary, my conclusions on the arguments brought forward by the panel and the attendees in the different sessions.
- Nearly all the sessions laid a near exclusive focus on what happens abroad, be it human rights infringements, abominable labour conditions or compliance in banking, and what to do about it. The direct impact actions in the UK have onto the global situation, or how the situation in fact looks like within our borders, was hardly mentioned at all.
With two notable exceptions: First, Symon Hill not only lined out the UK weapon industry’s heavy involvement and lobbying with the government, but also how the government in fact benevolently accepts that national weapon manufacturers do business with not-quite-so-legitimate, and often brutal, governments abroad. And second, David Lynch explained how and why not only the elderly need be talked about when the impact of energy prices affects those in need, but pointed out that in fact, the younger generations may potentially even be worse off. Citing examples of children and unemployed in their 20s, he lined out the research data illustrating the impact the lack of warmth has concretely on their achievement potential. - For the world of finance, the topics very much at the top of their ‘CSR’ agenda is compliance, but beyond that there does not seem to be an overly strong awareness what ‘doing the right thing’ actually means for them specifically.
Little was heard about how irresponsible actions of few individuals – observed by the benevolent eyes of their superiors while they were making massive profits – have repeatedly brought entire banks close to ruin, and had a deep impact on society at large. Not once, for instance, were lessons mentioned that may have been learned in the aftermaths of the 1995 Nick Leeson affair or latest after the 2008 Jerome Kerviel disaster, or other then regulatory reasons for the state our economies currently find themselves in. Nothing of this type could be heard unfortunatelly. Neither, of course, in what way some brokers’ and traders’ high salary could ethically be justified. Instead, the value and importance of compliance was highly praised, and the difficulties when dealing and lobbying with now risk averse European and national politicians. - I have learned that over a long time period, the amount of money spent on energy roughly remains the same, but that the amount of energy we consume varies with its price.
This, interestingly, is the case because we humans save more energy the more expensive it gets (makes sense, doesn’t it!). Hence, as energy prices increase, our consumption decreases.This leads though to a dilemma for those trapped in poverty: Without any funds to invest in comfort to start with, they’re energy consumption is already relatively low when compared to high income households. With increasing energy prices, them too, need to reduce energy consumption – and quite realistically end up accepting to live in flats where temperatures are only marginally higher than outside their 4 walls.
My possibly biggest surprise for the whole conference was the data brought forward about what type of energy is still the most prevalent. With a whooping 80% of the world wide generate energy, coal-fired power plants are still the most wide spread. Only then, and far behind, follow nuclear power plants. Renewable energies have barely any relevance at all in these statistics.
The conclusion is equally surprising: The next big step head in energy generation is not as commonly assumed the shift towards renewable energy sources such as wind or water, but rather away from coal and towards nuclear energy. This, in fact, was a rather shocking insight for me! - The session on arms trade made it clear, that what we have to fear most about it is – that it is a largely uncontrolled trade, practiced by legitimize, often publicly listed, companies, but entirely taking place away from the public eye.
We have gotten used to associating the term ‘arms trade’ with guerrillas, terrorism, military coups or violent juntas. None of it comes close to the real image of reality however.
No doubt, all of these rather sleazy characters do have to play their part in the grand scheme of things, but theirs is only a supporting role. The main characters have their homes in the UK, the US, Israel, Russia, China … And while our part of the story is as legal as legal entities can be in the developed world, the same may not apply to the transaction partners. Or for the strategies employed if matters get desperate (bribing bureaucrats in Nigeria? Not quite unheard of … ) - The one session I was looking forward to most – the one on ethical fashion – turned out to be a disappointment throughout. The only point that came across was, that sweat shops remain across the world – not the least also in the UK – and an urgent need to educate young designers to be different, to better, to be more innovative than their seasoned peers.
