Corporate Competitiveness -- An Important Consideration for Board & C-Suite, Including the CFO -- Here's Important News From Accenture In brief: Profits and growth are only two legs of a three-legged stool, with sustainability just as important, says a new study. Is corporate growth and profitability "hard wired" to sustainability and trust? Important question! The answer (a declarative "yes") was advanced by Mark Pearson and Bill Theofilou, of the Accenture consulting firm, in a recent white paper. Now the pair have a new analysis to share -- news about their "Competitive Agility Index" -- the "CAI", based on analysis of 5,200 data points on 350 companies across 9 industries. Leading companies, they say, are quantifying how sustainability generates tangible value and are taking action to reduce waste, improve labor conditions, and invest in causes the customers care about...and that their corporate brands stand for. The authors leveraged publicly-available data for the dimensions of "growth and profitability," and for sustainability and trust they developed an algorithm based on trust indices and industry-specific features. Companies held up as example of leadership in their sectors include Apple, BMW, Inditex (brand: Zara), and Colgate-Palmolive. The Index shows that the interdependent strategy can yield greater revenue and EBITDA improvement than one focused on just one or two of the dimensions. This is all explained on the CFO web site, with commentary by David McCann: "Sustainability is a Key to Future Competitiveness." Read this and share it with your favorite Chief Financial Officer -- there's a lot to consider here for the internal discussions about corporate sustainability. Top Stories This Week... Source: CFO - Traditional measurements of company value like total shareholder return (TSR) and market capitalization may help identify what companies are presently the healthiest. But, according to a new study by Accenture, they don’t have... About Sustainability: Progress Is Being Made - We See Forward Momentum! Source: High Plains Journal - Almost everyone supports sustainability, by one definition or another. And, while the background noise around this discussion might sometimes suggest otherwise, many Americans think agriculture and farming are among the nation’s...
Source: GreenBiz - Businesses today understand that having a clearly structured and attainable sustainability model is becoming a necessity, and no longer simply a "nice to have." How this takes shape will differ for every company, but ultimately... The Two Most Important Pages of Your Sustainability Report
(Wednesday - August 09, 2017)
Source: Triple Pundit - The team at thinkPARALLAX has done a lot of thinking, and writing, over the years about the broad topic of corporate sustainability and citizenship reporting. Source: GreenBiz - From humble beginnings in CSR and carbon footprinting, we are seeing the emergence of global movements such as the Science-Based Targets initiative, EU Product Environmental Footprint and the Walmart-inspired Project Gigaton. Voices Sustainability: How CPAs can be part of a global conversation
(Friday - August 11, 2017)
Source: Accounting Today - Whether it is focused specifically on the implementation of sustainability ideas, the business angle of sustainable business models, or the development of entirely new business models, the overall trend is clear. Doing business...
Our Focus This Week on A Range of ESG Topics & Issues -- Things to Think About..
U.S. Cities Fall Short in New Sustainability Analysis
(Thursday - August 10, 2017)
Source: US News - America's cities are far from reaching the U.N.'s top marks in providing a sustainable community system for all residents, according to the a new index analysis. Is Socially Responsible Value Investing The Future?
(Monday - August 07, 2017)
Source: ValueWalk - Old school investors may scoff at the idea of socially responsible value investing generating superior returns. After all, value investors with a tilt towards sustainability and ESG factors have fewer companies from which to...
Iowa still leads in wind energy production
(Wednesday - August 09, 2017)
Source: Daily Nonpariel - According to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy, America’s wind industry added more than 8,200 megawatts of capacity last year, representing 27 percent of all energy capacity additions in 2016. Source: ValueWalk - The introduction of the new CEO pay ratio for the 2018 proxy season, may help investors separate out those managers who are overpaid from the rest of the pack. US report confirms 2016 as warmest year on record
(Friday - August 11, 2017)
Source: BBC - A report compiled by a US government agency has confirmed that 2016 was the warmest year on record and the third year in a row of record global warmth.
Draft U.S. Report Says Extreme Storms Driven by Climate Change
(Wednesday - August 09, 2017)
Source: Bloomberg - Washington -- As President Donald Trump touts new oil pipelines and pledges to revive the nation's struggling coal mines, federal scientists are warning that burning fossil fuels is already driving a steep increase in the United... The rise of electric cars could leave us with a big battery waste problem
(Thursday - August 10, 2017)
Source: The Guardian - Carmakers, recyclers and tech start ups are working to solve the question of how to deal with lithium-ion batteries when they wear out
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News for You From the Corporate Sector - With (+) and (-) Signs
Source: Sustainable Brands - Planting 10 million trees, giving employees paid time off to perform community service, designing new products made from recycled or organic materials – like most companies that practice environmental and social responsibility... Wrangler to Cotton Farmers: Improve Sustainability, Boosts Profits, We’ll Help
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: Environmental Leader - Wrangler is the first major apparel brand to join the initiative, and follows the brand’s launch last month of a pilot project for sustainable US cotton. Leaked photos of new all-electric Leaf provide first look at Nissan’s Tesla killer
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: The Verge - The Nissan Leaf was the top-selling electric car in the US in 2014, but has since fallen behind Tesla’s Model S and X and the Chevy Bolt. Recently, over half a million people put down deposits for Tesla’s new mass-market Model 3... Tesla Meets With California, Nevada on Autonomous Truck Testing
(Thursday - August 10, 2017)
Source: Bloomberg - Tesla Inc. has met with California and Nevada agencies about testing an autonomous semi truck ahead of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s unveiling of the next addition to the electric-car maker’s lineup. Attorneys for landowners dominate questioning in first 8 hours of Keystone XL hearing
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: Journal Star - Attorneys for landowners who are trying to keep the pipeline from running under their fields quizzed representatives of pipeline builder TransCanada for about eight hours in a hearing before the Nebraska Public Service Commission... Wells Fargo: What It Will Take to Clean Up the Mess
(Wednesday - August 09, 2017)
Source: Knowledge @Wharton - Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Email Print Comment Quote A series of scandals has sparked a crisis of confidence in Wells Fargo, the nation’s third-largest bank whose roots harken back to the Gold Rush era when it... Walmart apologizes for sign marketing guns as back-to-school items
(Thursday - August 10, 2017)
Source: CNN - Walmart has condemned a display inside one of its stores that appeared to market firearms as back-to-school items. The company said Wednesday it was working to identify which of its stores put up the exhibit. News & Opinion: Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds SWFs dominate hedge fund investment in Asia-Pacific
(Thursday - August 10, 2017) Associated Profiles : Future Fund (Australia)
Source: theasset.com - China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation, invests an estimated US$30.8 billion in hedge funds, while Australia’s Future Fund allocates US$14.8 billion, and Singapore’s GIC allocates... Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments Hold Steady Amid Oil Shock
(Monday - August 07, 2017) Associated Profiles : Emirates Investment Authority
Source: Institutional Investor - the Emirates Investment Authority, International Petroleum Investment Co. and Mubadala Development Co. Venezuela and Angola, with its small wealth fund equal to 4 percent of the nation’s GDP, are among the more vulnerable... More CalPERS retirees are getting $100,000 pensions, according to a new report
(Thursday - August 10, 2017) Associated Profiles : California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Source: The Press-Enterprise - The number of retired public employees in the CalPERS system with annual pensions of $100,000 or more grew 63 percent since 2012, according to a report released Wednesday, Aug. 9. Riverside County, Long Beach, Anaheim, Torrance... Trump Administration News... Affecting Directions on Governance, Sustainability & Climate Change Sustainability Gets A Trump Bump
(Monday - August 07, 2017)
Source: Barrons - Morningstar is reporting a four-fold increase since President Trump’s January inauguration in the use of ESG data in its Morningstar cloud platform, which is tapped for research by asset managers, advisory firms and independent... Government Report Finds Drastic Impact of Climate Change on U.S.
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: New York Times - The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report...
Scientists call out New York Times for incorrect claim about climate report
(Wednesday - August 09, 2017)
Source: Fox News - Scientists appear to have debunked The New York Times' claim it was leaked a secret, gloomy climate change report which it published amid fears President Trump would suppress it. Trump Administration files notice to withdraw from Paris agreement
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: Down To Earth - On August 4, the Trump administration formally notified the United Nations of its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, explaining that the United States instead plans to work with countries to help them gain access... U.S. Interior Department rescinds coal valuation rule
(Tuesday - August 08, 2017)
Source: Reuters - The U.S. Department of the Interior said on Monday it has rescinded an Obama-era rule that reformed how energy companies va | | | TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES | 
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