Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter

The 52-page report, titled Widening the Lens, emphasizes transparency in its comprehensive look at the Vermont-based company's values and efforts to behave responsibly in its relationships with suppliers, distributors, employees and the community.
 

"We view our engagement with corporate responsibility as a never-ending journey, one that plays out in the everyday decisions and struggles we face in running our business," said Jeffrey Hollender, company president and Corporate Responsibility Officer in his opening letter in the report. "That path, for all companies that follow it, is full of mistakes, confusion, and compromise. Sometimes the journey is about making things worse before they get better. Other times, it's about walking down trails we've never followed and winding up lost.
 

But it is also about the wonderful, passionate efforts of millions of people at thousands of businesses accomplishing amazing things. Setbacks and progress are not mutually exclusive. But unless we remember and celebrate the good, the bad, and the ugly, we will fail."
 

For the first time, the report includes external stakeholders and employees in the process, and interviews with them provide an expanded and authentic picture of the company. For advice in preparing the report, Seventh Generation consulted with two environmental NGOs, a local community poverty relief organization, an association representing emerging corporate responsibility leaders, and a panel of corporate responsibility experts organized by Ceres, a coalition of investment funds, environmental organizations and public interest groups. To access a copy of the report, please go to http://www.seventhgeneration.com/corporateresponsibility
 

The report includes in-depth analysis of the company's progress toward meeting established goals pertaining to the environment, supply chain, social and economic arenas. Significant developments include the following:
 

-- Seventh Generation made improvements in products and packaging in 2004, replacing petrochemical based surfactants and fragrances with vegetable ones in several products, and moving to 25% post consumer recycled content (PCR) in all HDPE packaging, 50% PCR PET in spray bottles. That said, some of the materials used in Seventh Generation products don't yet meet the company's high standards, an issue that the company continues to address.
 

-- Changes made in product transportation reduced Seventh Generation's environmental impacts per ton of product shipped by 10% to 20%. Despite a 22% increase in the weight of products shipped in 2004 compared to 2003, the company's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2%.
 

-- Seventh Generation offset their 38.5 tons of CO2 emissions in 2004, accounting for all of their electricity emissions and 42% of emissions for heating their Burlington, Vermont offices.
 

-- Seventh Generation conducted their first supply chain survey with five of six of their largest suppliers on social and environmental issues. However, the supplier that did not complete the survey is one of their largest. The company intends to ensure that key trading partners are committed to at least a minimal agreed-upon level of corporate responsibility, and is in the process of defining what that level is.
 

-- There's work to be done in terms of diversity and inclusion at Seventh Generation, where the number of women in senior management positions decreased in 2004, and the workforce is decidedly less diverse than the surrounding community.
 

The report also outlines the company's 2005 priorities, including building a larger office facility embodying advanced environmental principles, redoubling their supply chain and product evaluation efforts and developing a detailed long-range sustainability plan.
 

Jeffrey Hollender invites readers to send direct feedback on the company's CR report via email at responsibility@seventhgeneration.com .