A pioneer in CSR initiatives
As part of the Energy Chamber’s strategic thrust, promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), energy efficiency and energy services continue to be main areas on our advocacy agenda. We encourage good governance practices and strategic social investment for more resilient and competitive business organisations, people and communities. The Energy Chamber has committed to promoting and developing the energy services sector – one of the most dynamic, highly skilled and internationally competitive sectors in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).
The Energy Chamber celebrated its 60th Anniversary in March 2016. Formerly the South Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Energy Chamber’s focus over the last 60 years has been on development and fostering positive changes at a national level. This focus involves encouraging our member companies to get involved in social responsibility initiatives.
CSR Initiatives
In 2007 the Energy Chamber in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a detailed report into the CSR programmes in T&T. The CSR Mapping Report highlighted the fact that well- structured CSR programmes were only being implemented by relatively few large multinationals without any coordination among companies. This led to the saturation of certain issues and a focus on a particular geographical area while other issues and areas received comparatively less attention.
Annual Awards
Based on the report, the Chamber launched its CSR Leadership Awards in 2008 aimed at recognising and celebrating companies engaged in good CSR practice, while sharing lessons amongst the membership. There were four (4) award categories and the judging criteria were based on the results and gaps highlighted in the 2007 CSR Mapping Project. It was designed to move companies forward at a national level and not just at an individual company level.
Member companies participated in categories which emphasised CSR activities in the areas of internal CSR practice, environmental stability, corporate governance, CSR in business development and CSR activities by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that promoted business sustainability.
In 2009 two (2) new award categories were introduced: -strengthening communities through social investment, and recognising the commitment to local business development. Again in 2012, the Energy Chamber introduced two additional award categories recognising the success and contribution of member companies in exporting energy services – (i) New Energy Service Exporter of the year and (ii) Energy Service Exporter of the year.
Over the years, this award programme has: evolved to include new categories for energy services, focused on strategies to increase participation from the small and medium enterprises, opened up to non-members, and became branded as the Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards. 2015 was no different as the awards programme saw the introduction of a new CSR category – the NGO Award for Good Governance. This category was introduced based on the many requests received for corporate governance training from NGOs and civil society organisations and their attendance at our corporate governance workshops. The Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards is held in conjunction with the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference, as one of its main events.
Volunteerism
One of our key objectives has been to show smaller member companies how CSR programmes can be implemented without a big budget. To this end we placed a strong emphasis on volunteerism and worked alongside the Heroes’ Foundation on this issue. Since 2010, we have taken a leading role in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal clean-up (ICC) as part of the global initiative to clean up beaches and collect data on marine pollution. We received overwhelming support for this initiative from our members, NGOs, schools and community groups.
CSR Initiatives
Our very active CSR committee places emphasis not just on external social investment programmes but also on the ethics and business practices of member companies. Particular emphasis was therefore placed on improving corporate governance among our member companies, and nationally. With support and funding from the IADB multilateral investment fund, we were able to hire a strong consulting team who developed a series of extremely useful tools including online tutorials and a self- assessment tool. These tools were extensively used throughout a series of workshops aimed at private and public organisations and NGOs. These tools are available on the Energy Chamber’s website and we continue to provide training and support to organisations on corporate governance.
The Energy Chamber remains committed to CSR initiatives both internal and external and continues to advocate among our membership and at a national level to foster volunteerism, promote sustainability and reduce our overall impact on the environment.