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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
October 3, 2013

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

Top Story of the Week

If You Prepare Sustainability Reports – Or If You Are a Reader of Reports…

You will want to carefully read the Featured story this week. Experts share their views on how to read and analyze corporate sustainability reports that U.S. (and global) companies are now producing at record rates.  We consider these among the top influentials in the corporate sustainability / CSR / ESG performance space. They are Marc Gunther (author of the piece, who writes his own blog, writer for Fortune since 1996, blogs for Greenbiz, and is now commentator for the new blog focused on the US from The Guardian); Steve Lydenberg, veteran investment professional with Domini Social Investments; and Bill Baue, prolific author and leader of Sustainability Context Group; he is also a Fellow of the G&A Institute).  They provide five essential rules for reading sustainability reports.

Corporate managers preparing sustainability reports (or planning to) will find valuable observations and tips from this very tuned-in audience for their reports.  We found their views on what is in andnot in the reports they read to be very instructive, and we think that you will, too.  Here at G&A Institute we analyze more than 500 reports each year as Data Partners for the Global Reporting Initiative.  The “gaps” in U.S. corporate sustainability reports can be very wide, or, sometimes the gaps can be closed with a bit of effort.  The coming of the fourth generation of the GRI guidelines (“G4”) will present challenges for corporate reporters who (as observed in the commentary) seem to be avoiding disclosure for important aspects of the business that readers of the reports – stakeholders – are interested in knowing more about.  Examples are provided in this piece.

You can search for U.S. corporate sustainability reports on G&A Institute’s web site feature at: www.ga-institute.com/reports As the exclusive data partner for the GRI in the United States, we can help you get started on the right path for reporting on your company’s sustainability journey, please see our services (outlined in this newsletter) – you can contact us for more information on how we can help you at www.ga-institute.com/services-portfolio.html

How to Read a Sustainability Report: Five Tips       
(Monday - September 23, 2013) 
Source: Alt Energy Stocks - Corporate sustainability reports have been around since … well, it’s hard to say. The first report may have been published by “companies in the chemical industry with serious image problems” in the 1980s, or by Ben & Jerry’s in...

Sustainability in Focus

US receives mediocre ratings for energy sustainability       
(Thursday - September 26, 2013) 
Source: Fuel Fix.com - The United States is trailing most of Europe in creating a sustainable energy system, according to a report released Tuesday. The World Energy Trilemma report ranked the U.S. 15th in its latest energy sustainability index, which...

Lehman anniversary: banking sustainability grows, but not enough      
(Thursday - September 26, 2013) 
Source: Guardian - When investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, it became clear that reform and regulation were needed to make global banking more sustainable. Five years later, new analysis from research agency EIRIS (where I work) has...

Why sustainability indexes miss the mark       
(Wednesday - September 25, 2013) 
Source: GreenBiz - The U.N. Global Compact recently launched the Global Compact 100, its first index comprised of multi-sector companies ranked for their adherence to its 10 principles, which include human rights, labor standards and environmental...

Putting Sustainability to Work: Doing Well by Doing Good
(Wednesday - September 25, 2013) 
Source: NASDAQ - Many corporate sustainability policies have strong economic drivers behind them—something that appears to be missed by many. Corporate policies such as performing energy audits on existing buildings, reducing waste, recycling...

Sustainability and the great recession       
(Wednesday - September 25, 2013) 
Source: Guardian - What has been the real impact of the continued global economic slowdown on companies' efforts to embed sustainability into their business models? We regularly hear that environmental and social concerns especially, have slipped...

Is sustainability reaching a tipping point?        
(Tuesday - September 24, 2013) 
Source: Reuters - If you have long labored in the sustainability vineyard, the idea of a “sustainability tipping point” may seem facile and presumptuous. But hold on. Let’s inspect some of the accumulating evidence. First, context in this seminal...

Farm Group Launches Sustainability Tools for Specialty Crops       
(Tuesday - September 24, 2013) Associated Profiles :Western Growers Association 
- Environmental Leader - A group of farmers, food companies and others â members include Walmart, Del Monte Foods, Campbell Soup, United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers today launched...

4 Challenges Every Sustainability Leader Faces       
(Tuesday - September 24, 2013) 
Source: Environmental Leader - If you are leading your organization’s sustainability efforts, pay attention. There are four kinds of challenges that you will encounter — and each will create its own kind of tension...

The seven steps to corporate sustainability transformation
(Monday - September 23, 2013) 
Source: The Guardian - I was taught that true vision is the courage to build a pathway over a seemingly unbridgeable chasm so that others can also find a way across. The release of the world's most comprehensive CEO sustainability study shows that the...

ESG Issues & Players

Is North America The Next World Capital Of Energy?
(Friday - September 27, 2013) 
Source: National Public Radio - A perfect storm of sorts is leading some Western energy companies to step back from investments and operations in the Middle East. Companies see increased risk in the region because of the turmoil and violence following the Arab...

U.N. panel says it's "extremely likely" global warming is predominantly man-made
(Friday - September 27, 2013) 
Source: CBS - Scientists can now say with extreme confidence that human activity is the dominant cause of the global warming observed since the 1950s, a new report by an international scientific group said Friday. Calling man-made...

30 years of making the business case for corporate responsibility 
 (Tuesday - September 24, 2013) 
Source: Eiris - Every business worth its salt these days understands that sustainability is important. There may be confusion about what it means and what to do about it, but survey after survey finds that senior executives know that it matters...

Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds

Fed Faces New Era of Thinking Global as Yellen Nomination Nears       
(Monday - September 23, 2013) 
Source: Bloomberg - At the height of the 1998 Asian economic crisis, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan declared the U.S. was no “oasis of prosperity” in times of global stress. It is a lesson Ben S. Bernanke’s successor will need to heed...

Sovereign Wealth Funds Look for Inside Edge by Managing Money In-house       
(Tuesday - September 24, 2013) Associated Profiles : Abu Dhabi Investment Authority 
Source:  institutionalinvestor.com - When Dong-ik (Don) Lee joined Korea Investment Corp. in December 2008 as head of its new alternative-investment team, the sovereign wealth fund was ... Lynch & Co., and the troubled investment...

Pension Liabilities No Longer Hidden       
(Wednesday - September 25, 2013) Associated Profiles :California State Teachers’ Retirement System 
Source:  Motley Fool - In another recent post here, I mentioned that under Moody’s new methodology, Chicago taxpayers now face $86.9 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities instead of the $63.2 billion total reported by major...

Watching the Watchers

Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool

KEY PARTNERS 
Partners include:  Frank Parsons, TSG, Grace Global, Ingram Micro, MicroTech, Uniquest, En Pointe.

Over 40 manufacturers' products are listed on EPEAT's worldwide registries.

OVERVIEW/MISSION
The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
 -- EPEAT® -- states its mission as, "Operate the most successful global environmental rating system for electronic products, helping connect purchasers to environmentally preferable choices, and thereby benefiting producers who demonstrate environmental responsibility and innovation."

BACKGROUND 
EPEAT was launched in 2006, after several years of preparation. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) issued its "Standard for the Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products" in 2006; EPEAT continues to use that document as the basis for its criteria.

News Sweeps
Ctrl-Alt-Del, dropping out of Harvard, and other admitted tech mistakes       
(Saturday - September 28, 2013) Associated Profiles :Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT®) 
The Christian Science Monitor - Even mighty Apple doesn’t have a clean record. In 2012, Apple removed its products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) program, which measures...

Which are more energy-efficient and eco-friendly, laptops or PCs'       
(Wednesday - September 04, 2013) Associated Profiles :Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT®) 
nowtoronto.com - HP, Lenovo and Dell, for instance, have been seriously slipping in Greenpeace’s ranks since they backtracked on vows to phase out PVC and BFRs by the end of 09. Still, Toshiba’s...

Metals That Threaten Reputations       
(Wednesday - September 04, 2013) Associated Profiles :Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT®) 
Risk & Insurance Online - Conflict minerals are those mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries: Angola, Burundi Central African Republic, Congo Republic (a different nation than DRC)...

 

G&A Announces...


G&A Institute Sustainability Update
Informative, insightful, thought provoking... The new blog from the Governance & Accountability Institute focusing on the sustainable  world  evolving daily before our eyes.  Read it,  absorb it,  question it and challenge it.  G&A's Sustainability Update™ – insights and perspectives for your sustainable Journey
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Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Reporting

G&A Institute is the Global Reporting
Initiative's (GRI
) sole data partner for theUnited States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. As the data partner we monitor, analyze and database information on all Sustainability reports issued in these territories. For a list of recently issued Sustainability reports please follow the links below: 

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Governance & Accountability Institute Service Highlight

Top 8 Reasons to Contact 
Governance & Accountability Institute. Is this one yours?

G&A's Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Reporting

Measuring, managing and reporting on the progress of the organization's Sustainability Journey – ensuring that ESG market players, corporate reputation influencers, shareholders and stakeholders understand the strategies, goals, program elements of the journey and accomplishments and recognitions earned. Learn more About G&A's Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Reporting

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Governance & Accountability Institute Research Reports

 Learn more @ G&A!

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Corporate ESG Performance Factors & SustainabilityHQ

Corporate ESG Performance Factors are important to financial analysts, asset owners and managers, and many stakeholders.  The ESG framework or approach considers environmental issues and impacts, the company’s positioning and actions on social/societal issues, and important aspects of corporate governance.

ESG key performance indicators are considered by investors as proxies for effective governance and management. Increasing numbers of of independent research and financial analysis firms monitor and measure these and advisie investors.  The Sustainability HQ™ platform is an important profiling and monitoring resource for the G&A team, and for our clients and subscribers.

ESG market players and corporate reputation influencers are profiled and monitored by G&A Institute. In these Highlights we provide some results of our continuous global scanning for ESG, sustainability and corporate responsibility news.. The Associated Profiles indicated are in our platforms.  For more information, please email us atinfo@sustainabilityhq.com

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For more on:

ESG & Sustainability Players 
- Shaping Perceptions, Valuations & Decision-Making

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs)
- State-Owned Global Investors

US Public Sector Investors 
- State and Municipal Retirement Funds

Asset Managers
- Investors adopting ESG guidelines / policies & shaping market trends

 

Navigating the way to sustainability...

Contents © 2009 - 2013
All Rights Reserved

Copyrights for other providers 
are noted where appropriate. 
Please credit the source if quoted. 
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From G&A Institute's Strategic Partners
Watch G&A Institute's Strategic Partner Greener Media's entries 
in the SXSW Eco contest – two of their most meaningful and 
creative creations are presented:

Top Stories from 
Governance & Accountability Institute’s Accountability-Central.com 
Right to Your Inbox

Overwhelmed by the flood of news and information on the Web?    Let us do the work! Each morning  AC editors monitor news sources, scan and search for news and commentary, and evaluate and select those top stories and reports that relate to the issues of accountability, sustainability and ESG (Environment, Sustainability and Governance factors) -- and post them on our Web site.

We are offering a free service to  present them in a very brief email right to your inbox.  Headlines and top-line information about the top stories as they appear on AC with links to the original source are available early  every business day right to your inbox -- so you can get a jump on the rest of the world.  Go to Top Stories and enter your email address.

SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG.    The SustainabilityHQ™ platform is available by subscription.

Governance & Accountability Instiute is the “Sustainability Headquarters™” for clients in the corporate, investment, public and social sectors.  The G&A team provides research, monitoring, advisory and strategic information resources to clients in the corporate, investment, public and social sectors.The G&A services portfolio includes:
ESG Counseling, Strategies & Benchmarking | Competitive Benchmarking | 
Sustainability Coaching, Team Building & Training | Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Reporting |ESG & CR Issues Monitoring & Research | Stakeholder Identification, Monitoring & Engagement | 
Awards & Recognitions Program | External Assurance

SustainabilityHQ™ is managed and published by Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. 
For more information, contact us at:
215 Park Avenue South, 10th Floor | New York, New York 10003 at Union Square
Tel 646.430.8230 | Web www.ga-institute.com | Email info@ga-institute.com