Research by Reed Employment, a recruiter, indicates that 83 per cent of employers think that it is important to have socially and ethically responsible business partners. However, only 35 per cent of the companies questioned had their own CSR policies.

Good at the simple stuff but not so flash at making more difficult changes: that’s the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s assessment of UK employers’ green credentials. While a majority encourage recycling and energy reduction (91 per cent and 83 per cent respectively), far fewer have green transport policies. Less than half (45 per cent) encourage staff to car-share while only 30 per cent suggest that employees reduce their travel footprint by working from home.

The Impax ET50, an index that measures the performance of companies who have as their core business the development and deployment of environmental technology, has grown 11.8 per cent in the past quarter. Six of the top ten companies – and more than a third of the list overall – operate in the solar sector.

Four international companies received the maximum possible score in this year’s Climate Disclosure Leadership Index: Iberdrola, an energy company; Rio Tinto, a mining company; Westpac Banking; and Hewlett-Packard, a computer equipment company. The index, organised by the Carbon Disclosure Project, is made up of 68 FT500 companies that have developed comprehensive climate-change disclosure practices and have effective programmes in place to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The training initiative of the year award at the Retail Industry Awards 2007 was won by Morrisons, the supermarket chain, for its “switching on to switching off” initiative. Each store has an energy-training scheme in which a dedicated staff member trains his or her colleagues in how to reduce the amount of energy each uses, for example, by reprogramming oven timers so that they don’t turn on until bakers start production. The scheme has saved the company more than £2.6 million on its energy bill in its first nine months.

Times Recommends

• Inspirational leadership
• How to get a new job
• The reluctant CEO