Dunkin' Brands, Inc. - the parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins - has made a major new commitment to incorporate sustainability as a central part of its business strategy and to hold itself publicly accountable on its sustainability progress.
By joining the Ceres network this past week - Ceres being the leading North American network of investors, environmental groups, and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges - Dunkin' Brands should follow the Ceres Principles (or adapt their own comparable code) which is a 10-point code of corporate environmental conduct to be publicly endorsed by the company as an environmental mission statement or ethic.
A quick tour of the Dunkin' Brands website shows that the company is in the early stages of its sustainability mission, although it does have a 'responsibility' tag. For example, I could not see that any CSR or Sustainability report has yet been published and sustainability initiatives to date are relatively ad hoc. The company describes these as opening its first LEED certified store in 2008; as responding to consumer interests to healthy food choices with some 'better-for-you' food offerings; and sourcing a line of hot and iced espresso beverages from 100% Fair Trade certified coffee beans.
Dunkin' Brands membership of Ceres, which has around 80 companies signed up, should see the development of some far-reaching changes to the organization with the potential to impact millions of consumers. The company, headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, has more than 14,800 points of distribution in 44 countries worldwide. At the end of 2008 there were 8,835 Dunkin' Donuts franchised restaurants and 6,013 Baskin-Robbins franchised restaurants and the company had system-wide sales of around $6.9 billion.
Companies that join Ceres must actively commit to an on-going process of continuous improvement, dialogue and comprehensive, systematic public reporting on their sustainability progress. By joining Ceres companies are in effect formalizing their dedication to environmental awareness and accountability. Ceres, in return, provide help and advice to companies to enable their sustainability activities and strategy.
Dunkin' Brands joins a few other food and beverage companies who have already joined Ceres. These are Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., Clif Bar & Company, Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, McDonald's Corporation, PepsiCo, and State Street Coffee.
Ceres works from an investor perspective to place value on a company's environmental and social performance and to identify bottom-line risks and opportunities. Ceres also pioneers honest sustainability accounting and founded the Global Reporting Initiative that has become the global standard in CSR and sustainability company reporting. Currently Ceres is directing the Network on Climate Risk, a network of 78 institutional investors and financial firms with collective assets totaling nearly $7 trillion, which focuses on the business risks and opportunities from climate change.
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