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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
January 16, 2015

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

 

Recent Research Conducted by the Governance & Accountability Institute Attempts to Answer Important Questions for Company Management

In the months of October, November and December each week we will be releasing the top 10 GRI sustainability aspects from three different sectors. The results are based on G&A's "Sustainability - What Matters?" analysis of 1,246 sustainability reports, across 35 sectors, for their level of disclosure around 84 GRI Performance Indicators, and 37 GRI Aspects.

The next three Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects released are for the Waste Management and Water Utilities sectors. We list them here for your ease of access.

Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects for the Waste Management Sector
Sustainability – What Matters in the Waste ManagementSector? 

Top 10 GRI Sustainability Aspects for the Water Utilities Sector
Sustainability – What Matters in theWater Utilities Sector?

Check It Out...


G&A Institute Sustainability Update
Informative, insightful, thought provoking
The Governance & Accountability Instituteblog focusing on the sustainable world evolving daily before our eyes.  Read it, absorb it, question it and challenge.

G&A's Sustainability Update
Insights & perspectives for your sustainable journey...
Recent Posts

Attention Boards & CEOs: The Conference Board Has Important Insights to Share To Help Your Company…Survive and Succeed!

Imagine the Power to Address Climate Change As the Pope & Roman Catholic Church Focuses on Sustainability

Movers & Shakers in Shareholder Activism — Watch the 2015 Proxy Season and ICCR

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Governance & Accountability Institute Research Reports


Learn more @ G&A!

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Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Reporting

G&A Institute is the Global Reporting
Initiative's (GRI
) sole data partner for the United 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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Featured Events

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Governance & Accountability Institute Service Highlight

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

http://www.ga-institute.com/uploads/pics/Awards.jpgG&A's Awards & Recognitions Program
Your corporate sustainability journey may have begun.  Or, the  journey may be far along, maturing  – and the story being told through the GRI sustainability report.  Who is taking notice? Who is recognizing the company's reporting effort (the progress report for corporate achievements), and bestowing recognition?  Which of the many “best of” lists, and ratings, rankings, scores ,and other third party judgments is your company being included in – where are you positioned in the race to the top?  Learn more About G&A's Awards & Recognitions Program

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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 Sustainability HQ™  platforms.  For more information, please email us at info@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 - 2015 | All Rights Reserved
Copyrights for other providers are noted where appropriate. Please credit the source if quoted.
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Top Story of the Week

Attention Boards & CEOs: The Conference Board Has Important Insights to Share To Help Your Company…Survive and Succeed!   
(Thursday, January 5, 2015)
Source: Hank Boerner – Chairman, G&A Institute The Conference Board is one of the most prestigious and important (for corporate managements) of our membership business associations, as well as credible research think tank on management issues and topics. The Board has long had corporate governance in focus and has been a major factor in helping to advance effective, responsive, accountable governance in the USA. The Conference Board was one of the early organizations serving boards, C-suite and key functional managers to expand the governance research and advisory services to include social and environmental issues & topics: ESG is on the of the agenda for many aspects of Board operations.

13 Sustainability Trends for 2015      
(Thursday - January 08, 2015)
Source: Just Means - 2015 will be a critical year for the progression of sustainability movements. As the United States prepares for a Presidential election in 2016, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) disseminates their Fifth.

Sustainability in Focus

GRI investigates sustainability reporting future      
(Friday - January 09, 2015) Associated Profiles : UN - Global Reporting Initiative GRI
Source:  ecotextile.com - The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has launched a new project aimed at promoting and improving discussions on sustainability reporting and disclosures. As part of the Reporting...

Challenges In Effective Sustainability Reporting; 2015 And Beyond      
(Friday - January 09, 2015)
Source: CSRWire - As 2015 kicks off a New Year and new planning cycle for the gathering of data to support corporate reporting on ethical and sustainable business practices it is worth taking a few moments to reflect on key issues from 2014 and...

Hershey on fast track to achieving cocoa sustainability goal      
(Friday - January 09, 2015)
Source: BakingBusiness.com - The Hershey Co. said 30% of all the cocoa it sourced globally in 2014 was independently certified and verified, putting the company on the fast track to achieving its goal of sourcing 100% of its cocoa supply from certified and...

Four reasons why Americans are stumped on sustainability       
(Thursday - January 08, 2015)
Source: The Guardian - A recent survey by Domtar and Taylor Nelson Sofres Global found that most Americans care about sustainability but are confused about specifics..

2015 prediction: sustainability will be written into every job description      
(Thursday - January 08, 2015)
Source: The Guardian - The year 2014 marked the tipping point in recovery from the global financial crisis, with housing and stock prices rising as unemployment falls. In sustainability, the jobs market is also on the upswing.

How Much Can Human Behavior Affect Supply Chain Sustainability?      
(Wednesday - January 07, 2015)
Source: Environmental Leader - My past articles have included discussions of the Ricoh Comet Circle and the circular economy as reasonable representations of several (perhaps oddly) connected elements in a more holistic view of sustainable systems as they...

Is corporate sustainability reporting a great waste of time?       
(Wednesday - January 07, 2015)
Source: The Guardian - What could be less sustainable than reams of reporting that no one reads? That’s the concern voiced in a recent report by strategic thinktank and consultancy SustainAbility, which warns that companies are wasting time and money...

No Matter the Position, EHS & Sustainability Professionals Need Leadership Skills to Succeed       
(Tuesday - January 06, 2015)
Source: 3BL Media - Regardless of where environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability professionals are in their career, they need the same core set of leadership skills to be effective, according to results from NAEM’s latest research on...

Sustainability: How CPAs Can Benefit      
(Tuesday - January 06, 2015)
Source: Accounting Today - Sustainability, eco-friendly business models, and the continuing integration of environmental matters into business operations are hot topics of conversation and debate in business media. One high-profile example of...

How the United States Seal Promotes Sustainability      
(Monday - January 05, 2015)
Source: Triple Pundit - If we are to transform our culture into one that values togetherness while still appealing to individual interest, I believe the place to start is with a symbol. In the wake of recent revelations, I was moved to return to the...

ESG Issues & Players

Just 90 Companies Produced Two-Thirds of All Global Warming Emissions Ever      
(Friday - January 09, 2015)
Source: Moyers & Company - Who is to blame for climate change? Nearly two-thirds of all man-made global warming emissions from 1751 – 2010 can be traced back to just 90 companies, according to a 2013 report in the journal Climatic Change. And 30 percent of...

2015 Top 10 trends in corporate governanc      
(Wednesday - January 07, 2015)
Source: Canadian Lawyer Magazine - 2015 is shaping up to be a year where boards, once again, will be under intense pressure and scrutiny to get it right. Here is my list of trends and key issues, along with what boards are, or should be doing in response.

The Biggest Security Threats We’ll Face in 2015      
(Monday - January 05, 2015)
Source: Wired - As the clock strikes midnight on the new year, so begins the countdown to a new round of security threats and breaches that doubtless will unfold in 2015. But this year will be a little different. In the past, when we’ve talked...

Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds

The Benefits and Costs of Socially Responsible Investing
(Thursday - January 08, 2015) Associated Profiles : MSCI Group (NYSE: MDX)
Source:news.morningstar.com - a few sustainable, responsible, and impact investing, or SRI, funds incorporate governance into their stock-selection criteria. Investors looking for a core holding that targets stocks with...

Sovereign-Wealth Funds Went Full Steam Ahead Direct Investing in 2014      
(Thursday - January 08, 2015) Associated Profiles : Qatar Investment Authority
Source:The Wall Street Journal - Other venture capital deals by sovereign-wealth funds include Qatar Investment Authority's investment in ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc.; New Zealand...

Even with Stock Market's Rise, Many Pensions Haven't Recovered from Recession      
(Friday - January 09, 2015) Associated Profiles : Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System
Source:Governing - This fall, Jim Carroll appeared before the Kentucky legislature's Public Pension Oversight Board and testified about the state of the nation's worst-funded retirement plan. Over the last three years, said the...

Watching the Watchers

Global Water Partnership
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Established: 1996
 
KEY PARTNERS
Co-founders are World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and Swedish International Development Agency.

OVERVIEW/MISSION
The Global Water Partnership states its mission: “The Global Water Partnership's vision is for a water secure world. Our mission is to support the sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels.”

BACKGROUND
The World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and Swedish International Development Agency established the Global Water Partnership in 1996. GWP's financing partners group is composed of North American and European governments, and its sponsoring partners list comprises countries and organizations that signed the Global Water Partnership Organization's memorandum of understanding in 2002.

News Sweeps

Africa gathers to focus on long term plans for climate change adaptation      
(Wednesday - December 31, 2014) Associated Profiles : Global Water Partnership
- United Nations Development Program - The Global Water Partnership (GWP) â a NAP-GSP partner â is collaborating closely to support these meetings. The NAP-GSP is assisting LDCs to identify technical,...

SAP Will Power Data Centers, Facilities With 100 Percent Renewable Electricity in 2014(Friday - December 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : Global Water Partnership
- sustainablebrands.com - SAP today announced that it will power all its data centers and facilities globally with 100 percent renewable electricity starting in 2014. The shift will help minimize the company's carbon...

HLPE consultation on the V0 draft of the Report: Water and Food Security
(Friday - December 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : Global Water Partnership
- fao.org - In October 2013, the Committee on World Food Security requested the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to prepare a report on Water and Food Security. Final findings of the study will feed...

SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG. Click here for more information on the Governance & Accountability Institute’s SustainabilityHQ resources. The SustainabilityHQ platform is available by subscription.

Governance & Accountability Instiute is the “Sustainability Headquarters™” for clients in the corporate, investment, public and social sectors. Based in New York, G&A is a for-profit consulting organization providing a range of value-added strategies, services and resources related to ESG & sustainability to clients in the corporate and capital markets communities.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:
845 Third Avenue, Suite 644, 6th Floor | New York, New York 10022
Tel 646.430.8230 | Web www.ga-institute.com | Email info@ga-institute.com