Later this year, the Government will launch a package to help SMEs better understand and respond to the opportunities and risks posed by the move to the low carbon economy as part of their UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy. The package will consist of four key elements. One of which will be a guide for business, by business, on the uptake, development and marketing of low carbon solutions, to be produced this autumn, by Tomorrow’s Company, in partnership with businesses, Government and other organisations.  The guide is being supported by Halcrow, HSBC, Ogilvy & Mather, Marks & Spencer and the Carbon Trust, among others. This is laid out on page 74 of the document.

Among the questions this Tomorrow's Company report asks is if companies are prepared for the scale of the energy revolution in prospect whether the system should be updated to take more account of emerging risks of runaway climate change as well as the widely accepted evidence of global warming - and if so, whether business should be proactive in driving reform? It also looks at what policy frameworks business should work with government to prioritise, so that business can play its full role in building tomorrow's green and clean economy and what the transition to the low-carbon world might cost.

Tomorrow’s Owners – defining, differentiating and rewarding stewardship is a report on work in progress since our first report last year. We describe in this document The Tomorrow’s Company Stewardship Principles. These are intended to provide a foundation for differentiating between good and bad stewardship.The report also describes how changes in shareholder and board practice could be encouraged by the development of a kite mark for stewardship investment, and how government could act to promote improved stewardship.In parallel, we are studying the Swedish approach to nomination committees and considering the potential for this approach to improve the stewardship of companies in the UK.   

   “A lack of long-term stewardship by company heads and shareholders is at the heart of the current financial crisis, an influential think-tank says in a report published on Wednesday. Tomorrow’s Company, whose previous research has helped shape UK company law, urges the government to understand better the effects of the growing “casino economy”, where activities such as derivatives trading are often far removed from the real economy activity to which they theoretically relate. The report warns against the search for scapegoats for the current crisis and says that it is wrong to attack private equity, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds for irresponsibility, noting that different shareholders perform different functions. However, it condemns the practice of borrowing shares for voting purposes and asks if investors need to toughen up their engagement to change company behaviour or divest holdings in companies with particular shortcomings. Mark Goyder, Tomorrow’s Company...

Carsten Ingerslev, Head of Division, The Danish Government Centre for CSR Danish Commerce and Companies Agency, presentation at Tomorrow's Company launch event 'Beyond Accounting'.