Global warming now a religion
I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry… Tim Nicholson was hired by Grainger plc (see LON:GRI), Britain’s biggest residential property investment company, as environmental policy officer.
So far so good (whatever your opinion of large companies trying to greenwash their brown credentials by creating ‘feel-good’ posts). Mr. Nicholson, however, had the temerity to take the post seriously (obviously not what Grainger plc were really hoping for!) and started kicking up a fuss over things like the company’s motor fleet, air travel policy (or lack of) and the fact that, generally, the environmental policy the company showed to clients was a world away from what employees actually practiced. The upshot was that Grainger plc decided that this was not what they had planned for and binned Mr. Nicholson.
Which would have been the end of it, but for the fact that Tim Nicholson, who is now employed by a green medical charity, felt (justifiably) aggrieved and took the firm to an industrial tribunal claiming unfair dismissal under the terms of the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations, 2003… and won on a point of law.
So, environmental concern is now a religion and companies had better beware. The culture of greenwash has long been challenged by customers when considering the ethical credentials of a potential supplier, but there is now precedent for employees to do the same. If you have hired someone to fulfill a role in environmental policy or anything else that can be construed to be in the same category (CSR springs to mind) and you start frustrating their efforts to fulfill that role properly because it was never your intention to take the whole global warming and resource depletion thing seriously in the first place, you could be in trouble - especially if you try to remove them for their zeal.
The point may have been won on a technicality but that does not detract from the fact that, had this case been brought a few years ago, the same decision might not have been reached, and marks a turning point in the patience that the courts, fuelled by societal influence (as it ever is), have with companies that try to grow through less than ethical means; it’s just that it’s only recently that they have been able to lean on suitable legislation and inference to make their voice heard.
So if you’re going to publish a ‘Plan A’, you’d better be prepared to execute it; if you don’t and one or more of your appointed CSR or environmental officers start challenging the company in a substantive fashion, you may not have an avenue of escape. Personally, I agree with the courts; enough is enough. It’s about time that senior executives in respected organisations stop paying lip-service to these themes, start acting their age and take the time to properly examine the issues and empower employees to develop and execute strategies that will, ultimately, only benefit the long term sustainability of the business as a whole.
It is science, but it’s not rocket science… and it is now the law!
