Anti-globalisation - US circles the wagons While a way out of the current financial malaise remains distant, fears that the US will turn inward and rail against globalisation loom large

Oil sands - Shell's sustainability gamble A third of Shell’s oil reserves are in Alberta’s oil sands, but extracting them will be highly controversial

Transparency - Drug payments disclosure Eli Lilly’s transparency push could boost its brand and build trust with patients

Apartheid claims - A paper victory A legal victory by victims of apartheid may create more questions than answers about the Alien Tort Claims Act

Chiquita - Voluntary disclosure's banana skin Coming clean on bribes doesn’t seem to really pay off for US companies

Clean technology - Ah yes, that other crisis Bailing out Wall Street may turn funding and attention away from alternative energy projects in the US

Finance - Consumer trust overdrawn Trust in US banks is at an all-time low, and rebuilding it is a task for which the finance sector may be unprepared

Retrenchment - Responsible downsizing There is a lot that US companies, facing some of the toughest economic times in a generation, can do to ensure that in shedding staff they do not shred their reputations

Child exploitation - Shining light into tourism's dark corner Carlson Hotels Worldwide is leading the tourism industry by example with its work to curb child sex exploitation and trafficking

North America special report: workplace rights - Supplier labour conditions - Giving workers a voice US companies’ historically strained relations with domestic trade unions are hindering freedom of association in their supply chains in developing nations

Canada and the environment - Gored on climate change The world`s media missed Al Gore’s recent lambasting of Canada`s plan to reduce its soaring greenhouse gas emissions

Wal-Mart's ethical sourcing - Green does not mean ethical Despite what Wal-Mart says are some marked improvements at its supplier factories, the retailer’s recent ethical sourcing report is being met with scepticism

Ethics officers - Positions that need power For a responsible company, ethics and compliance are inseparable from business decision-making. But the roles of ethics and compliance officers are undervalued

News in brief - North America Ethical Corporation’s new regular roundup of North American business ethics news

Carbon emissions - A clean cut carbon ruling, almost The Supreme Court’s ruling on the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions has implications for business, the Bush administration and the next US president

Supply chain - Forcing a tomato wages catch-up McDonald’s pledge to pay Florida tomato pickers an extra cent per pound puts pressure on the whole industry

Business and terrorism - Pedalling backwards An SEC `terror list’ was designed to answer investor fears about funding terrorism. But there is a strong case for keeping foreign policy out of capital markets

Chrysler buyout - Deliverance or demise for US auto workers Markets cheered the news of Cerberus’s buyout of Chrysler, but the rise of private equity could prove traumatic for middle America and its workers

Product safety - (Poorly) made in China American consumers are demanding to know the products they buy from China are safe, after a spate of health scares has put corporate sourcing policies in the spotlight

News in brief September 2007 - North America Our pick of the big stories from the US and Canada

Nuclear in my ethical portfolio, please The role nuclear energy can and will play in a carbon constrained future is being hotly debated - particularly by socially responsible investors

News in brief July 2007 - North America A round-up of the biggest stories to hit the continent this month

News in brief - North America October 2007 This month’s business and society stories from the US and Canada

Mattel - Epiphany at Christmas The toy industry is taking greater responsibility for product safety - and learning some hard lessons

Climate risk - Acts of God on the books Some investors want US companies to treat climate change as a financial risk in their annual reports. But it is not as simple as it may sound

Employee relations - Prove your case, Starbucks Claims of "union busting" are a drag on Starbucks’ good name

Electronics in Mexico - IT errors south of the border Electronics giants are being taken to task in Mexico for failing to protect workers in assembly plants, but one industry giant is setting an example of leadership

News in brief - North America December 2007 Exxon still in court, Yahoo settles in China and Tesco hits California

Supply chains - Indian child labour slips through the Gap Gap is working hard to win back public trust after shocking child labour revelations tarnished its brand

Exxon Valdez - Pouring trouble on oiled waters Are plaintiffs out of rope to hang Exxon for the Valdez disaster?

News in brief - North America November 2007 This month’s business and society stories from the US and Canada

McDonald's - Reading, writing and junk food advertising Is it corporate giving or advertising? The battle over junk food ads at school rages on

News in brief - North America February 2008 Wackenhut employees’ caught napping, better benefits at IBM and watch what you say at Starbucks

US elections - Change the economy, stupid Whoever wins the US presidential race, major reforms are in store for America’s largest companies

North America - news in brief May 2008 Nike admits supplier failures in China, Countrywide is investigated for fraud and GE lobbies for clean technology

Chiquita - Paying the price of honesty Chiquita’s former links to Colombian terrorist groups still dog the company

News in brief - North America January 2008 Wal-Mart’s better healthcare, BP fined again and Google backs renewables

North America - news in brief - March 2008 Lee Scott trumpets Wal-Mart’s power for good, Mattel faces fresh recall rows and IBM offers up patents for technologies to help conservation

Climate change - Principled banking Leading US banks have pledged to strengthen climate change risk management

Climate change - Exxon pulls the plug on climate flat-earthers Reports that Exxon has stopped funding some groups that lobby against action on climate change have had a guarded welcome from environmentalists

Sick claims - Some actions lack class BNSF has won what could be a precedent-setting first fight in a long line of lawsuits trying to connect its operations in Somerville, Texas, with ill health

Runaway Ecomagination is not enough for GE GE’s revenues from clean technology products continue to grow, but they look unlikely to solve the company’s financial problems

US cars - End of the road for SUVs Plummeting sales of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles in the US is welcome news to greens but has little to do with climate change concerns

Activist investors - Shareholders ready for a scrap US proxy season 2008 is nearly here and it promises to be an active and contentious one

North America - news in brief April 2008 Nike admits supplier failures in China, Countrywide is investigated for fraud and GE lobbies for clean technology

Climate change: the contrarian - How green hysteria will hit home If the `progressives’ get their way on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it will be ordinary Americans who suffer

US election 2008 - Candidates face coal conundrum Barack Obama and John McCain will struggle to please both the coal industry and the greens

Carbon capture - Alberta's smokescreen Plans to fund carbon capture and storage projects will not win over Alberta’s green critics

Ethical sourcing - Wal-Mart's pure gold transparency scheme Wal-Mart is breaking new ground in the jewellery industry by enabling customers to trace products to their source

Hollywood - Dirty films Hollywood is making some strides on addressing its impact on the environment, but it’s largely hit or miss