Exposed to the public

This is the first time that the Federal Chambers of Tucuman in my home country of Argentina has brought criminal charges of environmental contamination against a large mining operation, but it did recently against Bajo La Alumbrera of Catamarca and Tucuman.

At present, the company’s senior executive is free, but his possessions are impounded, and the company says it will appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeals, and possibly to the Supreme Court.

As I said earlier, this is the first-ever ruling in all of Latin America against a mining company for crimes against the environment. Mina Alumbrera is the largest, oldest and most profitable open-pit metals mine in Argentina. Located in the northwest province of Catamarca, Alumbrera moves 120 million metric tons of earth annually to produce an average of 160,000 tons of copper, 600,000 ounces of gold and other metals in the form of a mineral concentrate, or slurry.

Not only is Alumbrera on trial for contamination, but they are also under scrutiny for tax evasion, corruption and contraband.

Irresponsible practices in business are in the face of the public eyes. Indeed, the Berne Declaration, a Swiss non-government organisation, has selected the most irresponsible corporations and are attributing awards known as “The Public Eye Global Award”. The recent winner of the Private Eye Swiss Award was Novartis, the pharmaceutical company, for using patent lawsuits to limit access to affordable generic drugs in India.

This is not the only one. Some weeks ago, the United Nations Global Compact Office (UNGC Office) announced that a total of 630 companies have been removed from its list of participants for failure to communicate progress.

The delisting of companies is part of an ongoing effort by the UNGC Office to enhance the accountability and credibility of its initiative which establishes a framework for businesses that are committed to aligning their strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

Companies are required to communicate annually to their stakeholders on progress made in implementing the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. Failure to meet the Communication on Progress (COP) deadline results in a company being listed as “non-communicating” on the Global Compact website.

The delisting policy was first implemented in January 2008, when 394 companies were removed from the participant list. Since then, an additional 236 companies have been delisted -bringing this to 630 the total number of companies delisted since the policy was implemented.

The Global Compact is a purely voluntary initiative. It is not a regulatory instrument -it does not ” police,” enforce or measure the behavior or actions of companies. Rather, the Global Compact relies on public accountability, transparency and the enlightened self-interest of companies, labour and civil society to initiate and share substantive action in pursuing the principles upon which the Global Compact is based.

Transparency has become more important than eve r and certainly is a key in ethical business practices. As “social media” and the Internet continues to evolve, it’s getting easier and easier to share photos, videos, and stories with others.

One way for your company to practically guarantee that you make more money in your business is to improve the relationship with your stakeholders. And being more transparent. Business today practically demands it. Public eyes are watching your practices.