High street retailer GAP released their fourth social responsibility report last week. Outlining the measures the company is taking to “make their clothes more sustainable” and to foster “a culture that supports responsible business practices”, the report is available online only and contains an impressive list of goals and progress against those goals.
GAP is to be commended for their wide-ranging initiatives in the field of social responsibility and sustainability and, encouragingly for the future of us all, it is not the only company to be making inroads into their corporate ‘footprint’.
However, what GAP is doing will not necessarily lead to a sustainable world; there is no guarantee that its actions will achieve a result that is truly sustainable quickly enough. For instance, the company will not start to examine the environmental impact of its suppliers until early next year; the suppliers of a company of GAP’s size will have a significant environmental impact but how long will it take to see any environmental improvements from any of these?
CSEM-BMP can help GAP and other global corporations to achieve genuine, economically advantageous and timely, sustainability across their entire operation. Through our range of seminars, top team training and our Masters degree, we facilitate the people who are best placed to bring about change by providing the skills and knowledge they need for the task.
Our world is facing complex challenges. What GAP is doing is a step in the right direction but all corporations need to be doing more to meet those challenges; CSEM-BMP is their partner for change.
