Dianne Ashton Smith | Call to action for businesses, communities and the state to work coherently

There was a time when the prevailing opinion was that businesses cared only about generating revenue and not enough about the people they served or the environments in which they operated. Intentional or not, it created the narrative that corporates refuse to acknowledge the ethical and moral accountability brought on by their actions.

This debate on perceived corporate amorality has not died, but it is fading in the national discourse because of the recognised benefits of increased employment, diverse resources and community development initiatives, among others, which have allowed the system to function at higher levels.

There is much attention given to the role of civil society and the business sector, and to good governance in the sense of better procedures. The simplest summation of the experienced difficulties of running a business is the balancing act between the necessity and the effect of the various associated processes. Like any ecosystem, equilibrium must be consistently maintained to ensure its viability and growth. Businesses have always been integral in provoking change within the community, often stimulating collective response and action to the socio-economic challenges faced by many Jamaicans.

Yet, the role and connectedness of corporates with government is often not featured explicitly in the debate. These machinations can be convoluted, seen as separate and distinct from state goals, and, as a result, discussions about improving its efficiency can get stalled within the details and discreteness. One implicit example of this interconnectedness of a corporate response to a national dilemma is ‘Recycle Now Jamaica’, which was unveiled in 2014 as an attempt to address environmental issues in the communities, inspiring Jamaicans to take an active role.

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) and leaders in the manufacturing industry spearheaded the initiative, which had as its primary objective post-consumer collection of plastic bottles. Since then, we have made strides in manifesting our environmental consciousness into eco-friendly actions, evidenced by the ban on single-use plastic bags, straws and polystyrene, which forced us to modify our way of life.

GONE A STEP FURTHER

Jamaica has gone a step further in its adoption in 2015 of a new climate change policy framework that is a direct response to a 2013 USAID sector-by-sector dissection of greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector was the guiltiest perpetrator, being responsible for 72.8 per cent of the 10.3 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent released into the atmosphere. The framework commits the country to reducing its carbon emissions by 7.8 per cent as a part of Vision 2030. The comprehensive national development and sustainability action plan is a clear path to a reduced carbon footprint.

Realising that the transition to more environmentally conscious industrial processes not only drives national progress, but registers global benefits as well, Red Stripe launched the Red-Cycling initiative, a programme that prioritises the collection of glass bottles of products in its portfolio. The programme not only incentivises consumers to return these bottles [economic impact], it also isolates a problem that is unique in its specificity related to the environmental impact of glass bottles. Glass takes an inordinate amount of time to decompose and remains in landfills for decades, creating a significant increase in the amount of garbage and waste present in depositories.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) noted that glass produced from recycled glass reduces the related air pollution by 20 per cent, and related water pollution by as much as 50 per cent. This environmental benefit is seamlessly interwoven into the economic benefit in that, to recycle glass, it is broken down into small pieces, allowing it to be melted at a lower temperature, thereby cutting costs associated with energy emission.

The Red-Cycling initiative is a natural and simple solution to the problem of energy efficiency, landfill diversion and environmental sustainability. It is yet another example of what the convergence of corporate good, economic and social welfare for civil society, progressive economic and social policies and sustainable development principles could look like. It affords a practicable and sustainable link of tripartite benefits:

1. Individual remuneration, which can serve as a feasible mitigation for some against the financial fallout that has resulted from the pandemic, and an avenue for new income streams through ‘bottle-preneurship’. Many have embraced the bottle-return trend and can testify to the viability of the programme.

2. Delivering the set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that is oriented to the economy and the environment – it brings in the role of the productive sector and merges it with the challenge of sustainability. Relevant SDGs here include the goals on industrialisation and innovation; safe cities and human settlements; climate change; oceans, seas and marine resources; and terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity.

3. Availability of returnable packaging material and reduction on costs of production that deliver end-to-end efficiency in supply chain productivity.

RE-POLITICISING CORPORATIONS

This example therefore belies the misnomer that there is a sharp distinction between corporations and the State, whereby economic and corporate interests operate in their own sphere with their own logics and principles, and distinct and separate from the State. The task for social movements is not, therefore, to confine corporations to their imagined proper sphere, which does not exist. Imagining the State as being made up of corporate bodies helps to highlight other ways to organise socio-economic life. Re-politicising corporations means working out how to democratise them and economic life as a whole, so that citizens, employees and a multiplicity of stakeholders are involved in determining the relations of production, political constructs and accountability to economy, social welfare and environment.

Businesses, along with a functioning, responsive, accountable, and properly resourced State, are uniquely poised as the nexus between the political, the economic, the social and the environmental aspects of human development and social justice. Together, they present a tripartite cocktail of solutions – one that will improve operations and industries, another that will deliver aspects of the state agenda, and the other that will help improve the standard of living for members of the community. As such, we must seriously reflect on our business framework and evaluate the efficacy of its current structure within the context of public scrutiny and the role of the State. This will allow for much more efficient operational practices from which Jamaica can holistically benefit.

Dianne Ashton Smith is head of corporate affairs, Red Stripe. Send feedback to dianne.ashton-smith@heineken.com or onita.patterson@heineken.com.