Corporate Governance Chapter 5 growing volume of solid waste that, until now, it continues to dump in the country’s only landfill, at Mare Chicose, which is now almost full to choking point. 725. 726. In the light of this disturbing situation, the NESC decided in 2008 to conduct a study of the mechanisms used for managing solid waste. It has proposed new ideas that could help the authorities to develop new policies. The NESC made recommendations on ways to reduce waste, segregate solid waste at source and increase the efficiency of compositing and incineration projects. 727. It is too soon to assess the effect of the EPA 2008 on the environment and economy of Mauritius. However, the law has imposed an Environment Protection Fee on a number of firms, like hotels and boarding houses, whose performance the parties concerned are discussing. While representatives of firms and employers’ associations see it as an additional tax burden that will increase their costs and reduce their competitiveness, other members of civil society complain about the lack of transparency concerning the amount and the actual use of the levied fee. 728. It is useful here to highlight some of the issues that the CSAR has either missed completely or addressed inadequately. The issues are: • • 260 A wide variety of waste that can be recycled or reused to generate other valuable products is being dumped into the landfill. Plastic waste from industries or corporations is not biodegradable. Dumping them in the landfill is causing irreversible damage to the environment. The growing demand for electronic products with short life cycles and electrical products containing toxic materials adds to the ecological damage within and around the site. The role of environmental innovations that have increasingly been seen as major responses to environmental problems. The CRM is not aware of any major eco-innovations in Mauritius. The absence of incentives as cheap ways of improving the quality of the environment. Subsidies for developing, using and diffusing green technologies have proved to be very effective in several countries. There are currently serious attempts in Mauritius – within the framework of the prime minister’s Maurice Ile Durable (MID) vision – to encourage the use of solar water heaters and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) as sources of clean energy.37 37 - See the 2009 speech of the prime minister: Riding Out the Global Crisis – Saving Jobs, Protecting People, Preparing for Recovery. Chapter 5 Corporate Governance 729. Taxation is an efficient way of punishing harmful environmental behaviour in Mauritius. The excise duty of Rs1.00 per polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle has been extended to aluminium cans used for soft and alcoholic drinks as from 23 May 2009. The proceeds will be credited to the MID Fund to encourage schemes to recycle aluminium cans. In addition, taxes on hybrid vehicles, excise duties, road tax and registration fees were reduced by half in 2008. These measures will be extended to electric cars according to the prime minister. 730. The introduction of a general carbon tax or the establishment of a CO2-emission market are very effective components of modern environmental policies in many countries. None of these has been seriously discussed or introduced in Mauritius. iii. Recommendations 731. The APR Panel recommends, in respect of CSR, that: • • • Standard setters in Mauritius introduce quantifiable performance indicators to measure the effect that each CSR initiative has on society. This would facilitate rational discussions about this increasingly important issue and make useful comparisons between corporations and organisations easier. Some examples of these indicators are: (i) the number and nature of employee training or support programmes; and (ii) the number of promotions, retentions and losses of employees as percentages of the total number. Some examples of philanthropic and community investment projects are: (i) the amount of philanthropic investment (in cash or in kind); (ii) the amount of social investment (in loans, equity investments or guarantees); (iii) the number of community partnerships; and (iv) the level of volunteer commitment and activity. [Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment (MLIRE)] Government and national and international organisations, like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), help to increase awareness about CSR and its contributions to the economic and social development of corporations and their communities. [MLIRE] Social responsibility issues, particularly fair competition and the environment, be regarded as important to each company and be discussed regularly with shareholders. [MOFEE] 261