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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
July 23, 2014

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

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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...

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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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Governance & Accountability Institute Service Highlight

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G&A's ESG Counseling & Strategies
fcceaa59e5.jpgCorporate executives and managers need to understand the powerful impacts of investors and stakeholders embracing ESG and Sustainability approaches and frameworks that shape global capital markets and influence corporation reputations and “license to operate.  Learn more About G&A's ESG Counseling & Strategies

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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 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 - 2014 | 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
Companies Don't Care Anymore That You Don't Care Anymore About This Sustainability Thing
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014)
Source: Bloomberg - It kind of doesn't matter to serious companies that some people still dismiss corporate sustainability as empty green PR. “It kind of doesn't matter," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in an interview last month. "We do it because it's...

Sustainability in Focus

Why sustainability requires leadership training
(Friday - July 18, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - Sustainability is now firmly on the radar screen of business. Along with their ongoing focus on economic issues, two-thirds of executives and managers now consider social and environmental issues as significant or very...

Harness these forces to transform your sustainability practices
(Thursday - July 17, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - Sustainability is no ordinary change-management challenge. An entire economic system is in transition. That’s why forces beyond the ordinary are so badly needed. Over the past two years, while doing research for my new book...

Private equity has room for growth on sustainability
(Thursday - July 17, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - A few weeks ago, I moderated a panel on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration in private equity at the Responsible Investor Europe Conference in London. This panel, and other discussions, highlighted the lack...

Beyond Green Teams: Raising the bar on corporate sustainability
(Wednesday - July 16, 2014)
Source: BizJournal - In recent months we’ve seen an uptick in businesses owning up to what their sustainability initiatives really mean for their customers, and the answer is resounding: Nothing tangible. Says the customer: Where’s the value for me?

Building toward sustainable, resilient cities in 2050
(Wednesday - July 16, 2014) Associated Profiles : World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Source: Green Biz - That is the simple but powerful Vision 2050 that the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, or WBCSD, has for the future of humanity. There is no doubt that sustainable cities...

#Fail: Why CEOs and consumers are out of step on sustainability
(Wednesday - July 16, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - A new global study on consumers and companies reveals a troubling disconnect on sustainability. Its findings shed much-needed light on why consumers remain both hopeful and skeptical on whether companies are truly engaged — and...

Can Corporate Social Responsibility Be a Differentiator for Community Banks'
(Wednesday - July 16, 2014) Associated Profiles : CSRHUB
Source: TMCnet.com - (3BL Media Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SOURCE: CSRHub DESCRIPTION: By John R. Hancock, Moss Adams LLP and Lorinda R. Rowledge, EKOS International With a few exceptions, community banks lag behind both...

The McDonough Conversations: Who owns sustainability's best ideas?
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - Bill McDonough has long been at the forefront of sustainability-minded ideas and innovations, from green buildings to Cradle to Cradle product certification. Out of those two concepts alone have come countless new companies...

Company striving for sustainability
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014)
Source: Go Upstate - The BMW brand is so closely tied to a vision of sustainable environmental stewardship that it has become part of the auto manufacturer's corporate identity to South Carolina's conservation leaders...

'Wild west' of eco-labels: sustainability claims are confusing consumers
(Monday - July 14, 2014) Associated Profiles : Consumers Union
Source: theguardian.com - The choices are endless: eggs have more eco-labels than any other product, according to GreenerChoices, a website from the non-profit consumer advocacy group Consumers Union. And yet this litany of...

Book Review: Sustainability Careers for MBAs
(Monday - July 14, 2014)
Source: Triple Pundit - From finance to operations, there is a “dizzying landscape of options” for MBA careers in sustainability. Many MBA candidates who are entering the sustainability job market are on uncharted waters. Katie Kross provides clarity...

ESG Issues & Players

California's Drought Is 'The Greatest Water Loss Ever Seen,' And The Effects Will Be Severe(Thursday - July 17, 2014)
Source: Business Insider - California's current drought will cost the state $2.2 billion and 17,000 jobs, researchers announced at a press conference July 15 in Washington, D.C. The findings are from a new report from the UC Davis Center for Watershed...

How to invest ethically 
(Wednesday - July 16, 2014) Associated Profiles : EU Social Investment Forum
Source: theguardian.com - The study from Eurosif, the Brussels-based European Sustainable Investment Forum, claims that an exciting new phase in the development of ethical investment is now taking place in the UK. To mark...

States With Fracking See Surge In Earthquake Activity
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014)
Source: Huff Post - States where hydraulic fracturing is taking place have seen a surge in earthquake activity, raising suspicions that the unconventional drilling method could be to blame, especially the wells where the industry disposes of its...

Cyber threats put energy sector on red alert
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014)
Source: The Hill - Officials working to protect the nation from online threats are casting a wide net as they seek to guard against hackers and foreign governments targeting the United States. Lately the focus has shifted to the power lines and oil...

Coastal flooding has surged in US, Reuters finds
(Monday - July 14, 2014)
Source: Reuters - Coastal flooding along the densely populated Eastern Seaboard of the United States has surged in recent years, a Reuters analysis has found. During the past four decades, the number of days a year that tidal waters reached or...

Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds

Bubble Paranoia Setting in as S&P 500 Surge Stirs Angst
(Thursday - July 17, 2014)
Source: Bloomberg - Two years of uninterrupted gains in U.S. stocks are sowing anxiety among financial professionals, with three in five saying the market is on the verge of a bubble or already in one, the Bloomberg Global Poll found.

Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Releases Public Fund League Table
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014) Associated Profiles : Economic and Social Stabilization Fund & Pension Reserve Fund (Chile)
Source: swfinstitute.org - Sovereign wealth centers around the globe, at the same time retirement assets are surging in emerging market economies like Malaysia and îChileî. Over US$ 20 trillion of capital is currently being...

PA pension fund most 'risky' in US'
(Tuesday - July 15, 2014) Associated Profiles : Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System
Source:  Philadelphia Daily News - The Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System  (PennSERS) tops a list of the most "risky" state employee pension funds, National Public Radio claims in reports here and here, citing...

Watching the Watchers

Sustainable Endowments Institute
Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Established: 2005
 
KEY PARTNERS
Energy Action, Foundation for Civic Leadership, Of Balance Design, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, United Nations Foundation


OVERVIEW / MISSION
The Sustainable Endowments Institute describes itself as “a nonprofit organization engaged in research and education to advance sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices.” 

The Institute’s work focuses on publishing the “College Sustainability Report Card” and the GreenReportCard.org Web site.

BACKGROUND
The Sustainable Endowments Institute is a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Other supporters of the “Report Card” are the Kendall Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, and the Vervane Foundation.

Strategic Work:  “College Sustainability Report Card” recognizes universities and colleges committed to sustainability, looking at both campus operations and endowment investments. Research for the 2011 report encompassed 322 U.S. and Canadian institutions with the largest endowments, using data from independent research plus surveys among administrators from 291 schools. GreenReportCard.com provides online sustainability profiles for those colleges and universities.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute also has two awards programs: Champions of Sustainability in Communities Awards and Sustainability Innovator Awards.

NEWS SWEEPS

Ivies and Elite Institutions Top the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card
(Wednesday - June 11, 2014) Associated Profiles : Sustainable Endowments Institute
- The Chronicle of Higher Education - The Sustainable Endowments Institute’s 2009 College Sustainability Report Card, which is bound to please many and irritate many more, comes out today. A release from the...

In Pictures: America's Greenest Colleges      
(Sunday - June 08, 2014) Associated Profiles : Sustainable Endowments Institute
- Forbes - Using the latest Green Report Card from Sustainable Endowments Institute as a basis, we’ve identified some of the greenest. Other factors we considered include a school’s ranking...

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge Launches
(Sunday - June 08, 2014) Associated Profiles : Sustainable Endowments Institute
- itsgettinghotinhere.org - Visit GreenBillion.org for more information and see if your school might be a good fit. Mark Orlowski is the Executive Director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI) and Emily Flynn...


These feeds are provided for Accountability-Central in partnership with 3BL Media.  3BL Media distributes press releases, blogs, videos, podcasts, reports, newsletters and more to the growing audience of stakeholders interested in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability.  Visit 3BLMedia.com for more.

Southwest Airlines’ Project LuvSeat Marries Sust... (July 22, 2014)
Ethical Fashion Event at Cavallo Point (July 22, 2014)
The Freakonomics Approach to Hospital Marketing (July 22, 2014)
Southwest Airlines Upcycles 43 Acres of Plane Inte... (July 22, 2014)

For more news and content from
3BL Media, click here
.

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:
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