Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Cause Marketing News.

GRI’s new ‘Focal Point USA’ aims to boost the number of US companies reporting on sustainability in a consistent manner, to improve the quality of those reports, and to increase US organizations’ input into developing new guidelines for sustainability reporting.

Each of the ‘Big Four’ accounting and professional services firms in the United States – Deloitte, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG and PwC U.S. – has agreed to provide donations to sponsor GRI’s new Focal Point USA for the first two years.

The Conference Board has agreed to host the GRI Focal Point USA on a pro-bono basis during that same period of time. The Conference Board has a Center for Corporate Citizenship & Sustainability and sees its relationship with GRI as an asset to the Center objective of helping make sustainability integral to core business strategies.

Many organizations around the world already produce reports on different aspects of their sustainability performance. These reports provide stakeholders with insight into key performance indicators such as energy and water use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and social performance indicators related to human rights issues. This information is critical for helping investors, customers, employees, NGO’s and other stakeholders understand a company’s ability to manage sustainability risk and compete in an increasingly resource- constrained world.

Approximately 80 percent of both the Global Fortune 250 companies and the 100 largest firms in the US produced ESG reports in 2008/9, according to recent research. However, the prevalence of reporting amongst the Forbes Global 2000 – the top 2000 companies as judged by Forbes – is much lower, at just over 30 percent.

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Today we launched our seventh sustainability report. It’s chock full of information about our environmental programs, philanthropy, products and services, and economic performance. Much of the information that appears here can’t be found anywhere else.

My view is that credible annual sustainability reports are essential for companies that want to be seen as leaders in corporate responsibility. That thought is echoed in the video by Bob Stoffel, the senior vice president who oversees sustainability at UPS.

Reflective of our engineering culture, we report not only anecdotal information but also quantifiable achievements, operational and management data, goals and key performance indicators.

We do all this work to meet the growing expectations of stakeholders who expect companies to measure and report their impact. Hundreds of groups, researchers, investors and NGOs contact us annually and each of them is looking for data relevant to his or her interests. We write this report based on that stakeholder feedback.

But the informational needs of those stakeholders vary significantly. For some stakeholders, the shorter the better. They want to find specific details quickly. For others, they want technical data that helps them analyze our actions through their prism. This report was designed to be usable for both types of stakeholders.

The first 24 pages present a quick summary of our sustainability story. The back section, distinctive with its shaded background, is designed to satisfy readers who need in depth information around technical issues, data and the “how” of our programs. If you like charts and graphs, footnotes and statistics, this is the section for you!

Both sections reflect the reporting standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is the recommended international format for sustainability reports.

And for the first time, the contents were reviewed by Deloitte & Touche LLP and GRI, which we believe gives us important credentials and accountability for the content in this report.

Our sustainability report represents the collective actions of thousands of UPSers who consistently operate our business in a transparent and responsible manner. While we believe in the importance of this report, it’s more important that our actions speak at least as loud as our words.

We welcome feedback on the report and aim to make it better every year.

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(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) June 29, 2010 - This year’s Global Reporting Initiative Readers’ Choice Awards gave tribute to creative and effective Sustainability Reports and their authors. Awards were given to entries from a multitude of categories, ranging from the “Best Overall Report” to the “Most Effective Report”. A myriad of registrants competed for each category of awards, representing all sectors of the global economy. Finalists of the GRI Readers Choice Awards included Alpha Bank - a client of CSE- who is also a successful participant of CSE’s IEMA Accredited Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Workshops. 

The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) is proud to have influenced the CSR and Sustainability leaders of Alpha Bank in publishing Reports and formulating its Strategy by applying knowledge gained through the accredited training workshop.
 
This uniquely accredited workshop organized by CSE has gradually received wide popularity around the globe. It is certified by IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) and acts as a stepping-stone for organizations and professionals that wish to progressively implement sustainability into core business operations.  At present, more than 110 professionals have been certified as Sustainability (CSR) Practitioners, and workshops have been successfully hosted in Chicago, Brussels, Athens and Dubai.
 
CSE is hosting its next North American training workshop - Accredited Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Workshop - in Washington D.C., September 14 -15, 2010. It is a unique 2-day intensive program hosted by world-renowned sustainability pioneers and experts where participants will acquire the skills and competencies necessary to become Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioners, earning them an internationally recognized business qualification.
 
The Accredited Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Workshop is designed for professionals within the following fields: General Management, Environmental Services, Public Relations, Human Resources, Marketing and Communications.  Participants will gain an advanced understanding of Sustainability (CSR) where they can then add value and authenticity within their area of practice and organizations. 
 
Comments by previous IEMA Workshops participants:
 
"CSE puts sustainability issues and solutions in one place, providing increased clarity to the CSR executive.  I found the course both informative and highly interactive." 
- Cortney McDermott, Head of CSR and Sustainability, The North Face EMEA - VF Corporation
 
“I appreciated the teamwork, collaborative approach, and availability of the instructors for questions and discussions. It was great!”
-Grant Buma, Green Team Leader, Sara Lee Corporation
 
“The interactive nature of the training, with lots of time dedicated to discussion rather than listening to a presenter, is what I liked the most”
-Ms. Melanie Brooke-Lander, HS&E Director, Programs & Sustainability, Baker Hughes

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) Washington, D.C. - June 25, 2010 - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) today announced the launch of a joint publication that aims to make it easier and more profitable for companies in emerging markets to adopt sustainability reporting.

Entitled “Getting More Value out of Sustainability Reporting”, the Good Practice Note links GRI’s internationally recognized Framework for Sustainability Reporting and IFC’s Sustainability Framework, which includes Environmental and Social Performance Standards for private sector investment. The current version of the Good Practice Note is being released as a “Road Test” draft to solicit feedback from companies and stakeholders. The publication is available for download here.
 
The Good Practice Note emphasizes the value of integrating sustainability into core business strategy and management; a trend which is emerging as the new frontier for business competitiveness. It also responds to the pressing need for improvements in corporate transparency, both to restore trust in the private sector and to attract investment that is increasingly guided by environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
 
A more strategic approach to sustainability and transparency will help companies in emerging markets improve their relationships with stakeholders and attract investors. It is also viewed as a management tool that can help companies identify operational efficiency improvements and innovation opportunities in their products and services.
 
Rachel Kyte, IFC Vice President for Business Advisory Services, said, “Good reporting is linked to corporate strategy. Deciding how to report and what to report helps focus a company’s efforts and resourceson tackling the most important sustainability issues affecting its business.”
 
Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, said “Sustainability reporting is important for companies in emerging markets, where credibility, transparency and the trust of stakeholders are so crucial to business success. The GRI Guidelines offer a consolidated framework, one international reporting language as it were, referencing the most important international standards of performance.”
 
The publication is aimed at:
•           Corporate leaders seeking to promote an innovative and strategic approach to sustainability at the corporate level.
 
•           Senior executives and managers looking to establish an effective internal system for the sustainability reporting process
 
•           Corporate reporting teams that want to understand the links and alignment between the GRI and IFC frameworks, thereby structuring information more efficiently.
 
A final version of the Good Practice Note will be published in 2011, following completion of the current review and update of IFC’s Sustainability Framework (see www.ifc.org/policyreview) and the latest update of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework.
 
For more information or to participate in the road-test process for the Good Practice Note on Sustainability Reporting, contact Louise Gardiner (IFC), lgardiner@ifc.org or Sean Gilbert (GRI), gilbert@globalreporting.org

This blog is the second in a series that captures a conversation I had with Greg Van Kirk, Ashoka-Lemolson Fellow and author of “The Microconsignment Model – Bridging the “Last Mile” of Access to Products and Services for the Rural Poor. You are encouraged to click the previous hyperlink to get a sense of the profound difference Greg makes in his work.  As a teaser, consider the following excerpt that begins to portray the value of the MicroConsignment model.

Until recently, Carolina Amesquita, the principal at La Escuela Ramona Jil primary school in Chimeltenango, Guatemala lamented daily the her students were drinking contaminated water directly from the tap, often contracting gastrointestinal illnesses that kept them out of school. Others in the community were suffering too. Juana Ramirez, an expert weaver in the village of San Mateo, could no longer see well enough to sort her threads by color.  Her productivity had plummeted, further stressing her already struggling family. While preparing meals over an open-pit fire in her home, as Guatemalan women had done for generations, Alva Rios was inhaling harmful smoke for hours each day. Julia Garcia was spending more and more of her family income on electricity bills, while Benito Ramirez had no electricity in his home and at night had to study by candlelight.

These and similar problems confronting thousands of rural Guatemalans have now been solved through the hard work of two Guatemalan women. Yoly Acajabon and Clara Luz de Montezuma, local homemakers in their mid-40’s, started their own enterprises in 2004 with no entrepreneurial experience of start-up capital. Working within the MicroConsignment Model (MCM), these extraordinary women are providing low –income villagers with essential products and services that help improve their health, nutrition and economic situations – and they are earning incomes for their own families while they doing so.

La Escuela Ramona now owns a water-purification device. Juan Ramirez got a free eye-exam and bought low-cost reading glasses. Alva Rios now cooks on fuel-efficient stove with a chimney. Julia Garcia has installed energy-efficient light bulbs in her home, and Benito Ramirez owns a solar panel and LED light that brightens and entire room.

By providing access to needed but previously unavailable products, Yoly and Clara are “bridging the last mile” in the supply chain of products needed by the rural poor in an appropriate and sustainable way. In the beginning they simply sold reading glasses, but over time their “basket of solutions” has become a growing enterprise…….

With support from university students, recent graduates and a permanent field staff, Social Entrepreneur Corps ( SEC) provides training in business skills, access to products and seed funding.  To date they have provided training to over 200 women entrepreneurs and broker organizations such as community libraries who can also then provide business support and skills to the ranks of entrepreneurs.

DH - Greg, you have indicated that you don’t see yourself as a volunteer program per se, but as a development program.

GVK – That’s right. We see our role as creating something that is sustainable, that creates a scenario whereby if Social Entrepreneur Corps were to disappear overnight that the program could still run. Skills and resources are created that we contribute to but we don’t own them. They would still survive. It is just smart business to create sustainable infrastructure – to create strong development work.

DH – I know we are all guarding against the creation of dependency and a neo-colonial approach to development, how do you avoid this?

GVK - We work best when we all work together – we bring strengths and weaknesses, and we are constantly curious about our role and we interact with beneficiaries.  Ultimately we  will leave when we don’t add value anymore. We want to create self-sustainability, we are constantly looking at driving costs out of the equation, but having said that we need to do everything from development to departure at the right pace, a timing agenda creates an urgency and – velocity of our interaction should introduced as a factor.  We build trust – this takes time, but creates a sense of cooperation and achievement. If we insist on a transactional relationship only, then there will be no trust and true sustainability becomes elusive if not impossible.

The final section of the interview will run next week and Greg will discuss how young learners experience the program as interns, and what the future holds for him and this model.

As the subtitle of this blog indicates, there is a real connection to Greg’s work, the work of Yoly and Clara and the Millennium Development Goals.  This week and next the G8 and G20 will meet in Ontario, Canada to discuss their way in the world and featured on the agenda are the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).  While leaders and bureaucrats pontificate and navel gaze about actions to support already agreed upon commitments, now and again in September in New York, Greg, his team of interns and Yoly and Clara using their “basket of solutions” are already taking a bite out the MDG.  Moving to eliminate poverty, creating a better, cleaner and sustainable environment, achieving primary universal education, and promoting gender equality and empowering women are tangible products of the work being done in Guatemala. One can assume that success in these goals will also impact the remaining goals through true systemic impact.  It is curious to note that this is not being done via aid or hand outs but rather smart and effective business leadership built upon the back bone of trust, leading to sustainability. 

The Acacia Group is proud to be working with Greg and Social Entrepreneur Corps in Nebaj, and is offering an opportunity for individuals or groups to participate in, observe and learn from SEC and the citizens of Nebaj.  This experience is combined with personal and group leadership development coaching before, during and after the trip for up to three months.  Interest is building, so book soon at www.theacaciagroup.ca or join us on one of our upcoming webinars to get more information.

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) New York, NY -- 24 June 2010 – In an historic alliance the world’s two largest corporate responsibility initiatives have joined forces to build a universal framework for corporate sustainability performance and disclosure, aiming to transform business practices on a global scale.

Under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 28 May 2010, GRI, subject to due process, will integrate the Global Compact’s ten principles and issue areas centrally in the next iteration of its Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. At the same time, the Global Compact will adopt the GRI Guidelines as the recommended reporting framework for companies to communicate on progress made. The two initiatives will also join forces to develop guidance on the use of GRI for the Global Compact and collaborate at the local level on outreach and training.

The alliance, articulated during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010, is a crucial step in ensuring convergence in the area of corporate sustainability and will allow both initiatives to focus on their respective and complementary strengths – the Global Compact’s mainstreaming of universal principles and UN goals in business, and the GRI’s comprehensive reporting framework.

The new alliance provides companies with a clear roadmap to corporate sustainability, using the GRI’s reporting principles and best practice indicators to report effectively on key corporate sustainability actions advocated by the Global Compact. Together, the two initiatives can guide companies of varying degrees of sophistication towards more sustainable performance and increased transparency.

The convergence of both initiatives will also help mainstream transparency and accountability around environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and will provide a framework for financial analysts and other stakeholders to identify extra-financial opportunities and risks.

Specific Commitments of the New Alliance

1. GRI, subject to due process, will integrate the Global Compact issue areas and principles centrally in the GRI Guidelines, through the current and upcoming revisions of the Guidelines.

The GRI will, through this revision under its due process, explore how a reference to the Global Compact principles can be best integrated in key sections of the GRI Guidelines, such as the Profile Disclosure, Strategy and Analysis section and the Disclosure on Management Approach, and explore the extent to which the GRI configuration (economic, social, environment) could be aligned with the Global Compact issue areas (human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption).

2. The Global Compact will adopt the GRI Guidelines as the recommended reporting language for companies to communicate progress. GRI provides a common language that helps Global Compact participants to communicate their progress in implementing the principles, using widely accepted reporting principles and best practice indicators.

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework is a voluntary ESG reporting and stakeholder engagement and management tool and should not be viewed as a compliance framework. GRI’s Framework provides a good basis to communicate progress on key, corporate sustainability actions advocated by the Global Compact with various levels of sophistication.

3. The Global Compact will, with the support of GRI, develop guidance on the use of GRI as the recommended reporting language, introducing progressive differentiating levels, and detailing specific expected report content at each level.

The Global Compact and GRI will work together on the development of reporting elements for relevant areas lacking robust existing guidance, including the Millennium Development Goals, specific industry sectors and for areas relevant to the issues covered by the Global Compact.

4. The Global Compact and GRI will collaborate on local outreach and training to increase the quantity and quality of reporting, with a special focus on less developed markets and medium and smaller companies. Joint efforts will include encouraging and enabling a closer collaboration of Global Compact Local Networks and GRI’s focal points, both at the governance level and through joint training and other activities.

5. The Global Compact and GRI will share information on their respective participants, including the level of Global Compact participation and GRI reporting levels.

If you want to guide the future of GRI and CSR reporting, or know someone else who might, please nominate yourself or others by submitting the SC nomination form to os@globalreporting.org no later than 29 June 2010.

Nominees will participate in the SC elections from July to September. Anyone may nominate themselves to run for the SC, but only GRI Organizational Stakeholders and sitting SC members may vote.

Full details on the SC nomination an election process can be found in the SC Elections Booklet. Use the nomination form to submit your nomination and don’t forget to include your CV and a statement from your employer, if applicable.

Find all the documents you will need below:

Nomination form - http://bit.ly/chYRBh
SC Elections Booklet - http://bit.ly/b9RLrQ
Employers' Statement - http://bit.ly/bgkdCt

You are welcome to submit more than one nomination. There are only 8 days left to submit nominations to become a GRI Stakeholder Council Member.

We look forward to receiving your nomination.

For any inquiries please contact:
Makachia Ong’ong’a, Assistant Governance Relations
+31 (0) 20 5310065
Ongonga@globalreporting.org

Building on my last several posts, the main objective here is to recap the final phase and deliverable of a major sustainability project engagement: Reporting. As background, our client had not previously done any public reporting along the lines of Climate Leaders, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), etc. Nor had they been reporting on their sustainability efforts internally. Developing and distributing their first comprehensive sustainability report for all internal stakeholders was therefore a significant objective and one that was a key priority among the firm's green team members as well as its leadership.

Early on in the engagement we promoted the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Comprehensive in nature (covering environmental, social and economic sustainability pillars), an established and increasingly popular framework (over 1300 firms reported to the GRI in 2010), and rigorous yet flexible in its design, we believe it is an appropriate model to guide ones sustainability program efforts. The specification of dozens of key performance indicators and well defined criteria for reporting on them adds to its popularity.

Concurrent with the implementation of the Environmental and Energy Management System discussed in related posts, we provided considerable training to client personnel on the GRI framework, how to use it, and most importantly how to craft a meaningful, tailored report following its guidelines. As we progressed through the determination of the baseline carbon footprint and the subsequent year's performance, we purposely began shaping our efforts to align with the GRI.

Specifically, we identified the KPIs that the client's available data and sustainability practices directly lent themselves to. This is a critical step as the absence of such data prevents the calculation and reporting of such KPIs. As but one example, not capturing business travel in sufficient detail precludes firms from selecting and reporting on the specific KPI pertaining to this often significant environmental impact.

We set our sights on a C-level equivalent GRI report. Not to be confused with a ranking akin to a letter grade suggesting adequate or satisfactory performance, this level report calls for 10 Kpis to be identified and reported on. One can readily appreciate the iterative nature of engaging in such reporting for the first or even second time: What data do we have? Which kpi(s) does it pertain to? For this kpi here do we have the data we need? If so, where is it and is it complete? After some similar back and forth we agreed on the kpis to report on. Leveraging GRI's flexibility, where we could not report on a specific kpi we decided to report on related sustainability efforts anecdotally to at least provide "line of sight" to such efforts.

Once all the data is collected and analyzed, and the kpis finalized, the next major step is to begin writing the actual report. The GRI framework is sufficiently structured to provide more than adequate guidance on how to organize the different report components. Perhaps the biggest challenge, however, is in the content itself and how to present ones sustainability program efforts in a manner that is well aligned with ones business strategy and mission. Ideally, business strategy informs sustainability strategy and the two are well integrated and support each other. Thus the importance of a well articulated definition of sustainability for the target firm as well as related strategy.

In the absence of such specificity we shaped the GRI report content in a manner that seemed to make the most sense given the nature of the client, its industry, business practices, priorities and the like. This was first evident in the CEO letter (required as the introductory section) and flowed through the results section and vision for future program activity. Indeed, aligning ones sustainability objectives, efforts, and results with the business perspective envisioned is a significant challenge. A few revisions were required to present the correct perspective and tone to reflect the firm's perspective and intentions accurately.

Needless to say, the reporting exercise is invaluable in "drawing out" the client's posture and objectives pertaining to sustainability. In addition, it facilitates valuable discussions among organizational leadership as to how to pursue and present sustainability across the firm. The act of "putting it into writing", as in many other domains, casts a very different light than when less formal efforts are made. I fully expect our client to benefit significantly from this exercise as they consider near and longer term sustainability program objectives and initiatives.

Adding to the benefits of the reporting effort itself, our client is actively soliciting feedback from its internal stakeholders, providing further insights that will guide their sustainability program's evolution. This will be further informed and guided as our client develops and distributes a more comprehensive sustainability report next year that will be publicly disclosed. More comprehensive input from a broader array of key stakeholder groups, attaining more experience with various mitigation efforts and the impacts that can be reasonably expected, and continued monitoring of developments in the sustainability arena in general will lead to a further refined and compelling sustainability strategy.
 
I envisioned this posting as the last in a related series of engagement-centric posts. But the road certainly doesn't end here as sustainability is certainly a continuous undertaking. The steps and deliverables covered in this series represent several key building blocks that serve to set the sustainability foundation. Future posts will explore activities that are pursued to build on this foundation and the various challenges encountered.

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(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) Amsterdam, May 28 2010 – In a push to strengthen the quality of sustainability reporting in the corporate sector, the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) today announced an agreement to align their work in advancing corporate responsibility and transparency.  

Under the terms of the agreement, GRI will develop guidance regarding the Global Compact’s ten principles and issue areas to integrate centrally in a next iteration of its Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, a comprehensive framework developed to facilitate transparency and accountability for businesses and other organizations seeking to disclose their environmental and social performance. At the same time, the Global Compact will adopt the GRI Guidelines as the recommended reporting framework for the more than 5800 businesses that have joined the world’s largest corporate responsibility platform.

The agreement is intended to provide companies in the Global Compact with a clear set of reporting principles and indicators to meet the initiative’s compulsory annual disclosure requirement, also known as the Communication on Progress. The GRI Reporting Framework is applicable to organizations of all sectors, sizes and regions and also offers a series of supplements developed to address sector-specific circumstances and challenges.

The two initiatives enter into this new alignment to further develop their combined strengths – the Global Compact’s strategic advancement of key sustainability issues, and GRI’s reporting framework.

In addition to creating a reporting framework that will be implemented universally, the new collaboration is also intended to provide a benchmark for financial analysts and other stakeholders to better analyze and identify risks and opportunities as they relate to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. 

“As corporate responsibility has moved into the mainstream of business strategy and operations, the convergence of the two corporate responsibility initiatives with the broadest reach is a crucial development,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “Together, the Global Compact and GRI have a unique opportunity to provide a clear roadmap to sustainability and change business practices on a global scale.”

“The agreed collaboration, combining the expertise and efforts of GRI and the UN Global Compact, is a very important step to increase the quality and quantity of ESG reporting in the corporate sector,” added Ernst Ligteringen, GRI’s Chief Executive.

About the United Nations Global Compact

Launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies around the world to align their strategies and operations with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of broader UN goals. Through the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible corporate policies and practices, business can help ensure that markets advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere. The Global Compact is not a regulatory body, but a voluntary leadership platform for dialogue and learning. With more than 8,200 signatories in more than 135 countries, it is the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative. www.unglobalcompact.org

About The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

The Global Reporting Initiative has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used Sustainability Reporting Framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. This framework sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. www.globalreporting.org

About The Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency

From 26 to 28 May 2010, Amsterdam will play host to the world’s largest gathering of leaders, thinkers and doers in the field of sustainability reporting for the third time. This years’ timely theme is ‘Rethink. Rebuild. Report.’ The conference will explore how to reach GRI’s vision that disclosure on environmental, social, and governance performance is as mainstream as financial reporting by the year 2020.

www.amsterdamgriconference.org

2010 UN Global Compact Leaders Summit: Building a New Era of Sustainability

24-25 June 2010, New York

Chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2010 will bring together more than 1,000 leaders from all sectors to elevate the role of responsible business and investment in bringing about the needed transformation to more sustainable and inclusive markets. www.leaderssummit2010.org

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