Rich countries to subsidise drugs for developing world

The BBC has reported that several major drugs companies have announced big cuts to the amounts they will charge for their vaccines in the developing world. For example, GlaxoSmithKline will cut the price of its vaccine for rotavirus (which kills more than half a million children per year) by 67% to $2.50 a dose in poor countries. Since GSK remains a commercial company, and nothing is ever free, this means the vaccine will be subsidised by higher prices being charged in richer countries.

I'm comfortable with this concept. As a parent, the idea that my child could die from an easily preventable bout of diahorrea is unthinkable. And I live in a country where nobody is prevented from receiving healthcare by lack of means. But since GSK has admitted that at the reduced price it will still make a profit on each dose, there has been an outcry over its "excessive profits".

The main cost in the pharmaceutical industry is not the manufacture of the drugs themselves, but the research and development that goes into developing them. And this needs to be recovered during the life of the product in order for the business to remain commercially sustainable. It seems perfectly legitimate to me that this R&D investment should be recovered from the countries which can afford to pay it, enabling those with limited means to acquite the drug for the cost of manufacture alone.

Innovative water purifier

Appropriately on World Water Day, I learned of the Midomo - a water filtration and storage system powered by the kinetic energy produced by its wheels. The device was a hit with the Dragons' Den investors three years ago but talks about funding broke down. Undeterred, inventors Amanda Jones and James Brown raised £200k of private investment and the first 50 units have now been delivered to villages in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Currently, funds for additional units are being raised through sales of a limited edition silver bracelet designed by Alex Monroe. Each £275 bracelet covers the entire cost of sending a Midomo to an African community. And they're gorgeous!

A nation's suffering in 20 pictures

National Geographic is rightly renowned for the quality of its photo-journalism and its collection of 20 photos documenting the Japanese earthquake and tsunami lives up to expectations. If you need reminding of the need to show solidarity and support for the survivors and the bereaved - especially now that events in Libya have pushed Japan off the front pages - then take a look at the photos at this link. Heartbreaking.

Responding to adversity

How nations respond to natural disasters tells us a great deal about their national psyche. The harrowing scenes from Japan following the earthquake and tsunami can only provide the smallest of insights into the hardship and distress suffered by its people, but their stoicism is truly remarkable. Most impressive of all, though, is that law and order seems to be more or less completely intact. The  queues for food and essential supplies are peaceful and orderly, and there have been no reports of looting. Yet this is not the result of an oppressive regime or heavy policing, but entirely self-directed. I wonder how many other nations would respond in such a positive way to such a devastating event?

Report evaluates 21 sustainability ratings

Thinktank and consultancy SustainAbility has evaluated 21 sustainability ratings and found significant weaknesses in terms of both methodology and transparency. It was particularly critical of ratings systems that treat their methodology like a "secret sauce", preventing the companies rated from using the data to improve their performance. Ironically some of the companies criticised for this declare their objectives as helping the rated companies to improve their own performance and disclosure. Others were singled out for relying too much on external sources and placing too little emphasis on quality control, running the risk that they recognise the companies that spend the most on promoting their sustainability achievements, rather than those that achieve the most.

As a sustainability professional, I have personal experience of this problem and would endorse SustainAbility's findings. Two specific examples spring to mind. One is the uninvited rating where an organisation relies totally on public domain information and publishes a report which fails to uncover some of your organisation's achievements. Once the unjustifiably low rating is out there it's hard to overturn perception. And secondly, the paid-for rating system which relies on a long obsolelete standard as a key criterion, thereby preventing a new candidate from achieving maximum score even though it comfortably achieves all the other criteria.

With 80% or more of contracts for IT equipment including sustainability in their supplier evaluation (in our experience, anyway), there is increasing emphasis on sustainability ratings as a quick way of benchmarking environmental credentials. But buyers understand the limitations of the various schemes to avoid being misled. The Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Research Voluntary Quality Standard aims to provide a seal of approval, which looks promising.

The schemes commended by SustainAbility for disclosure of methodology were: CDP, Climate Counts, FTSE4Good, GS Sustain, Global 100 and the Access to Medicine Index. Those showing good validation practices were CSRHub, FTSE4Good and Trucost.

Give to charities before April 2011 and they receive more

Thanks to the ever-helpful Martin Lewis at moneysavingexpert.com for spotting that a Gift Aid bonus of 3p per £1 conated ends on 5th April 2011. When the basic rate of tax was cut from 28% to 25% in 2008, the government said that Gift Aid would be maintained at the old rate until April 2011. So if you're a taxpayer making regular donations, it's worth making your payment early so maximise the benefit to your chosen charity.

If you donate to Oxfam, it's also worth noting that during February 2011 Paypal will cover all Oxfam's running costs on all donations that they transact, so 100% of your donation goes directly to support their work. There's a useful guide to charity giving here.

Return to BASE

Sustainability professionals converged on The Brewery this Wednesday for BASE (Business and A Sustainable Environment) 2011. Sub-titled “where business meets sustainability”, the conference featured a plenary programme with high profile speakers, interspersed with a varied selection of interactive workshop sessions.

Keynotes were delivered by Tom Burke CBE, the government’s advisor on sustainability, and Dame Ellen MacArthur, whose Foundation works with education and business to inspire people to re-think, re-design and build a positive future. Inspiration was provided by the CEOs of Cisco, GE, Coca-Cola, BSkyB and notably InterflaceFLOR, whose founder Ray Anderson pioneered floor coverings that are recycled and recyclable, as well as introducing the concept of flooring as a service. In keeping with the sustainable ethos of the event, Ray joined by videoconference from the States and Coca-Cola streamed the proceedings via the internet to its staff around the World.

From inspiration to perspiration, and the struggle to choose between the numerous workshop sessions: such a wide range of highly credible organisations, all offering valuable insights and know-how. To single out just a couple, there was a useful model for developing a business case for sustainability from Forum for the Future and Global Action Plan introducing a helpful tool called EMS Easy to help SMEs plan towards ISO14001 accreditation. BASE also hosted the launch of the ET UK 100 Carbon Rating scheme, which aims to highlight the leaders and laggards in the fight against climate change.

Events like these are invaluable for providing time out from the nitty gritty of daily business to ponder the bigger issues of how to combine commercial success with respect for people and planet. Plenty of food for thought here, but as always it’s putting ideas into action that will make the difference.