Following an earlier inspection of its web site we attacked AMP Limited for its apparent hypocrisy in selling sustainable investment products and promoting its experts to judge the sustainability reports of others, yet failing to put its own house in order in creating a meaningful sustainability report of its own.
This time around, Cloud Citizen put to AMP Limited its standard list of opening questions in an approach to its media representative, Sarah Hudson. As fairness dictates, we've faithfully reproduced her response at the foot of this post.
To only one of our questions - "Who is your organisation's highest-ranking Australian officer with explicit responsibility for its climate-change and environmental-management undertakings?" - did we get a direct and straight reply. She named Stephen Dunne, AMP Capital Investors' managing director. We're not quite sure what his qualifications are. As for the rest, just as with anyone failing to offer a direct answer to a direct question, our concern lies in what falls between the cracks of our enquiry in her reply.
AMP, in a manner not dissimilar to many other corporations, wishes to conflate the issues of environmental responsibility with what it opts to undertake in the broader social arena under the rubric of corporate social responsibility. But there's a difference. AMP's business impacts on the environment affect us all while its public relations gestures in other areas are largely something we can all ignore if they're not targeted at us.
This is a tactic of PR puff on which Cloud Citizen, given its narrow focus on which corporations are and aren't acting to mitigate their effects on the environment, is disinclined to let any corporation off the hook. (But, check it out: at best, one might describe the cupboard as bare, anyway.)
On the first question, of how AMP intends, essentially, to change and innovate in response to climate change, Hudson, as you will see, offers no reply at all, or at least one that doesn't address the question. Can one assume, therefore, that at AMP innovation as a response to the environmental problems facing civilisation is simply not a valid response, even when one's investments (those that aren't declared "sustainable") might be among the problem's causes?
On the question of where we could view its declaration on how it is changing its Australian procurement policies in order to minimise its climate change impacts, we were given a reply that its "procurement policy includes bi-annual reviews of [its top suppliers'] corporate social responsibility commitments" [those weasel words again] and a listing of its commitments. Yet, clearly, not all suppliers (say, those which sell it pens and toilet rolls) can be "top", and would therefore be extremely unlikely to meet any of the criteria offered in the company's response.
On the question of its environmental management policies, from its sniffy response, "AMP does not use ISO certification", it is unclear whether the company considers this international standard of environmental management systems inadequate for its purposes or simply beneath it.
For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with ISO 14001 (or its European counterpart EMAS), in anticipation of 1992's 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development concluded that business needed to develop international standards on environmental performance so that organisations around the world could operate on a level playing field. It set in train the development of the ISO 14001 standard for this purpose.
Major companies sufficiently resourced and committed to showing their environmental credentials in their local community should surely use this as their baseline. Why is it not being applied at AMP?
AMP says its CSR initiatives include being a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing but it’s hard to see why it wouldn't for the veneer of international prestige this offers, while requiring no commitments in response. This is simply good for business.
Likewise, membership of the Investor Group on Climate Change is simply that of a club recognising it is in all members' interests to belong to an organisation that offers them better protection through the sharing of information that can serve to minimise any member's individual risk. Being a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project is likewise a no-risk undertaking allied to its membership of the IGCC that enables it to better understand the risks to which businesses are exposed in their carbon outputs.
Given its scale and market position, it would be hard for AMP not to be "fully committed" to the Australian government's mandatory Energy Efficiency Opportunities program as it can only benefit by becoming better aware of ways in which it can save on energy usage across its properties - as it can by participating in the local Sydney CitySwitch Progam. Why wouldn't it participate in such undertakings?
That AMP wishes to present the meagre trickle downs from its policies as a win for society leaves it no less exposed to enquiry as to its real local commitments to the environment as a Sydney city resident. It may be the biggest in its industry, but it is signalling clearly that this is one area in which it is not a leader and can be beaten for public favour.
By hoisting the figleaf of one division - AMP Capital Investors - as the symbol of its leadership, it demonstrates little but an ad hoc, opportunist response, cherry picking those things against which it can obtain favour against those that demand real commitment, courage, investment and leadership.
Perhaps what we need to identify and focus on in greater detail is where within AMP the barriers exist in its own adoption of more sustainable practices across its business.
Whatever, Cloud Citizen would appreciate help in getting under the skin of AMP to understand how it really works within. As with all city residents, if we were to pool energies to make this an item of discussion at its board table, we might really begin to see some change.
So, who in this organisation most needs to know about this, and is likely to stir up the hornets' nest within? Somewhere within AMP is an activist just itching to get this one into play.
You can view AMP’s Cloud Citizen sustainability profile here.
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Sarah Hudson's reply is here.
Where can we view your organisation's local (Australian) declaration on how it intends to respond to climate change through innovation and changes in the conduct of its business?
AMP clearly discloses its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) position on its website under About AMP in the Corporate Social Responsibility section. Many of AMP’s environmental initiatives are led by the investment manager AMP Capital Investors which uses the investment decision process to influence environmental, social and governance outcomes.
AMP’s CSR initiatives include:
- completing the FTSE4 Good and Dow Jones Sustainability surveys
- encouraging responsible investing, including;
o Signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing
o member of the Investor Group for Climate Change
o Signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project
o Publishing bi-annual Corporate Governance Reports
- energy efficiency opportunities
o AMP is fully committed to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEO) program and reports on results of energy efficiency assessments in line with the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Act which took effect on 1 July 2006,
o AMP has also a number of initiatives in place to reduce energy consumption throughout its tenancies.
- minimising environment impact including;
o Participating in Government programs at the local (CitySwitch Progam), federal (EEO program) and international level (UNPRI signatory) to minimise the environmental impact,
o increasing waste recycling, and
o purchasing carbon offsets for all air travel.
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Who is your organisation's highest-ranking Australian officer with explicit responsibility for its climate-change and environmental-management undertakings?
Stephen Dunne, AMP Capital Investors Managing Director
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Where can we view your organisation's declaration on how it is changing its Australian procurement policies in order to minimise its climate change impacts?
AMP’s procurement policy includes bi-annual reviews of the corporate social responsibility commitments of AMP’s top suppliers. The review evaluates the following:
- suppliers’ CSR stated commitment;
- measurable targets eg CO2 emission reduction;
- governance;
- internal social and environmental programs;
- staff engagement; and
- independent ratings.
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When did your organisation last certify its ISO14001 environmental management system with an accredited certifying agency in Australia, and where can we find it?
AMP does not use ISO certification.
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When was the last date on which your company issued an Australian sustainability report and where can we view it?
AMP provides information about Corporate Social Responsibility including environmental, social and governance initiatives on its website and in the annual report. It does not prepare a separate Sustainability Report.
Sarah Hudson | Senior Media Manager | AMP Limited
Level 20, 33 Alfred Street | Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9257 2700 | 0424 034 059 | sarah_hudson@amp.com.au
