Monitoring carbon is a key corporate social
responsibility issue. Carbon management and reduction, particularly within the
built environment, construction and facilities management sector should be seen
not only within sustainability/environmental terms but also as a lens to
understanding wider CSR impact.

In ‘Taking stock of your company’s social
impact’, part of the Guardian Sustainable Business series, Alison Braybrooks
makes the comment:

‘If
you gave a leading CEO two minutes to tell you about their company’s record on
the environment, they’d probably give you a few insightful statistics on water,
carbon and waste management that would let you know they were focused on the
issues that matter and were making progress.’

I am not so sure whether this applies to
construction or facilities management CEOs. You would probably be hard
stretched to find a CEO who has that information available without calling down
to the environmental, HR, or safety departments, although I do agree with…

‘Now
ask them their about their impact on society and you’ll probably still get
their donations budget and the number of employees who volunteer – not the
interesting and relevant stuff on the difference they’ve made to their local
communities, or how they’ve been part of solving a big social problem.

‘As
with all environmental issues that need effective management like carbon, waste
and water, companies must get (CSR) specific.’

One of the powerful benefits emerging from
the use of ConstructCO2 (that may eclipse its use as a construction carbon
calculator) is as a CSR indicator, and specifically the impact on localism and
appropriate resourcing.

In this sector, which traditionally by
nature and by contract has been geographically widespread and transient, travel
and transport of materials, operatives, managers, and waste are the biggest
contributors to operational carbon emissions. Mapping a project’s geo supply
footprint visually tells us so much about the CSR impact.

Lower transport and travel CO2 emissions
for a project demonstrates a tighter, more effective project CO2 and CSR
footprint, along with all the benefits of localism. This makes issues such as
procurement and appropriate sourcing (and of course specification) key elements
not only in any carbon management strategy but also in any CSR strategy.

Back in 2006, Professor Keith Alexander and
I started a ball rolling with a Community Based Facilities Management (CbFM)
paper that explored FM within the context of its local and wider community.
Some five years later, I question how many FM organizations really understand
the ‘ripple’ impact on their community, CSR, or indeed on the environment, let
alone being able to provide ‘specific’ insights. Again, the monitoring of
travel and transport carbon emissions, mapped as a visual geo footprint, can
tell us much about the FM CSR impact.

Is it time, then, for those in the built
environment sector to widen their vision and canvas of CSR? And, in addition to
‘doing good’ aspects of CSR being seen as the only CSR indicators, give
consideration to travel and transport carbon management as an indicator of a
more specific CSR impact on local communities?

About
Martin Brown

Martin Brown is an advocate for change and
improvement in the fields of sustainability, collaborative working, and social
media. Through his Route to Zero program, Martin facilitates organizations
setting strategies for sustainability and a low carbon future. His blog,
Fairsnape, covers built environment news, views and comments.

He can also be
found on Twitter @fairsnape.

Note: This article has appeared on CSRwire