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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
June 19, 2014

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

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...

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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?

G&A's Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Reporting
177d4dd738.jpgMeasuring, 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 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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What Matters in Corporate Sustainability Reporting?
New Analysis Report From G&A Institute Answers Questions

The S&P 500 Index®  managed by S&P Dow Jones Indices (McGraw Hill Financial) is closely followed – this important benchmark reflects the conditions of the large cap public companies in the US equities market and the national economy.  (Ticker: SPX)  More than US$5 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the index, and $1.6 trillion in index assets of the total – this captures 80% coverage of available market capitalization.

The “big names” in the S&P 500 include Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, IBM, Wal-Mart Stores, Wells Fargo, Pfizer, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Labs, McDonald’s, Caterpillar, Ford Motor, Honeywell…and many more.

The Governance & Accountability Institute team has been closely monitoring and analyzing the S&P 500, and in 2011 and 2012 performed research to answer the question…”Corporate Sustainability Reporting – Does It Matter?”  The team looked at the important third party recognitions earned by corporate sustainability leaders (and the answer was, yes sustainability disclosure and reporting does matter).  For the 2013 examination, G&A’s Louis Coppola, as report architect, looked at the S&P 500 and beyond, to global peers, to research the question…what matters in corporate sustainability reporting.

That is – what is considered to be material for company managements and the report readers (shareholders, internal and external stakeholders) and therefore included in the reports using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework for their reporting. As we announced recently in our “Flash Report,” 72% of the S&P 500 companies were publishing a report in 2013. What did those companies and 700 others consider to be “material?”

The report just being released by G&A answers the question.  Louis and the G&A team examined the reporting of 1, 286 companies in the 35 sectors as classified by GRI, analyzing all 84 indicators of the framework.  This comprehensive effort provides a clear picture of what companies using the GRI framework for their sustainability / corporate responsibility reporting consider to be “most” to “least” material and everything in between.

More information is available at:  www.ga-institute.com/sustainability-what-matters
The complete analysis for each sector is available for purchase at:
www.ga-institute.com/getall84

Top Story of the Week

Corporate Sustainability - What Matters? 
(Tuesday - June 17, 2014)
Source: Governance & Accountability Institute - New York, NY — An Analysis of 1,246 Global Organizations' Sustainability Reports to Examine Materiality Across 35 Sectors for all 84 GRI Performance Indicators. That is the question for company managements and investors as they prepare sustainability / corporate responsibility reports.  Research results released today by the Governance & Accountability Institute attempts to answer the question for company managements in 35 different sectors, by examining the disclosure practices of 1,246 global sustainability reporters using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework in year 2012.

 About the Analysis

  • Analyzed 1,246 GRI reporting companies and organizations;
  • Categorized in 35 sectors as defined by GRI;
  • Examined the level of disclosure of all 84 GRI performance indicators (KPIs) for each company;
  • Ranked 1-84 the disclosures that were found to be most to least material by reporters in the sector, for each of the 35 sectors;
  • Converted the GRI G3 and G3.1 Indicators to the new G4 Indicators for forward planning for companies using the G4 framework for their next report

Sustainability in Focus

Does high CEO pay matter to sustainability?
(Friday - June 13, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - Paris School of Economics Professor Thomas Piketty's best-selling "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" has generated a lot of debate over the causes and potential impacts of income inequality and concentration of wealth. This...

Here's one key to sustainability in global supply chains
(Friday - June 13, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - launched the world’s first guide on traceability, which highlights the importance of traceability for sustainability purposes and identifies solutions to the multifaceted challenges of tracing raw materials through complex...

Talking About Sustainability
(Thursday - June 12, 2014)
Source: Pacific Business News - We cover sustainability frequently at PBN. In just past couple of days we've looked at Hawaiian Electric's West Oahu solar farm, financing programs for green initiatives, and the overall health of Honolulu's solar industry. Solar...

Finding a Narrative: ‘Sustainability’ Doesn’t Mean Anything Real to Consumers
(Thursday - June 12, 2014)
Source: Triple Pundit - “Sustainability doesn’t mean anything real to consumers. Too often, it brings to mind technical issues or seemingly insurmountable environmental challenges.” I guess this problem statement shouldn’t be surprising news to...

Only technology can enable sustainability of both environment and economy
(Thursday - June 12, 2014)
Source: The Hill - The new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rulings released last week that are aimed to reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere 30 percent by 2030 will surely create another round of one-sided arguments put forth by the...

A Trick that Turns Sustainability Naysayers into Supporters
(Wednesday - June 11, 2014)
Source: Environmental Leader - Do you ever find yourself arguing about the value of sustainability with your colleagues? Or reaching an impasse in determining the right course to set? Whether the decision revolves around how ambitious to be, where to allocate...

Harvard Business School to Host Aligning Sustainability with Corporate Performance Executive Education Program
(Tuesday - June 10, 2014)
Source: MarketWatch - Harvard Business School (HBS) will host its Aligning Sustainability with Corporate Performance executive education program from August 24-27, 2014 at the Harvard Business School campus in Boston. Businesses are increasingly being...

The shareholders putting sustainability on the agenda
(Wednesday - June 11, 2014) Associated Profiles : Investor Network on Climate Risk
Source: theguardian.com - Each year, my organization, Ceres, co-ordinates and tracks the number of climate and sustainability resolutions that are filed by investors affiliated with our investor Network on Climate Risk....

Five gigantic things happening in sustainability
(Monday - June 09, 2014)
Source: EcoSeed - Understanding this mainly becoming typical ‘S’ word has always been part of the diverse world we have in today’s. More than any other context, new media, academe, the corporate and even the community division have conveyed the...

ESG Issues & Players

Investor Coalition Successfully Urges Natural Gas Companies to Address Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
(Saturday - June 14, 2014)
Source: Green Century Capital Management, 617 - Under pressure from a coalition of investors for the fifth year in a row, major oil and gas companies including ExxonMobil, EQT, and Occidental Petroleum agreed to report on steps being taken to mitigate the adverse environmental...

Is this FIFA's greenest World Cup ever?
(Friday - June 13, 2014)
Source: ABC(au) - JUST HOURS BEFORE the 2014 FIFA World Cup begins in Brazil, much of the media attention surrounding the competition was threatened to be overshadowed by an armadillo. Not just any armadillo, but the endangered Brazilian-three...

Why Warren Buffet is Betting Big on Clean Energy
(Thursday - June 12, 2014) Associated Profiles : Clean Edge
Source: Equities - This is possibly one of the reasons why Buffett is looking to bet big on the industry. According to a survey conducted by SolarCity and îClean Edgeî in collaboration with NASDAQ earlier this year, 88...

Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds

Britain becomes haven for U.S. companies keen to cut tax bills
(Monday - June 09, 2014)
Source: Reuters - Nothing about the narrow cream-colored lobby at 160 Aldersgate Street in the City of London financial district gives a hint of its role at the center of the offshore oil industry. That’s because the building is occupied by a law...

China sovereign wealth funds provide safe route to investment success
(Tuesday - June 10, 2014) Associated Profiles : National Fund [of Kazakhstan]
Source: - Opalesque Hedge Fund News - Sometimes, investing in the mainland is a bit like stumbling into the Twilight Zone - especially if you are thinking about being a strategic investor in a major initial public offering. The idea of...

New York City pension funds ban placement agents for all investments
(Tuesday - June 10, 2014) Associated Profiles : New York State Common Retirement Fund
Source: Pensions & Investments - The $176.2 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund and $104.3 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System, both of Albany, banned placement agents in April and May 2009,...

Watching the Watchers

Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness (PREP)

Headquarters: secretariat at Oxfam America, Washington, DC, USA
Established: officially launched October 28, 2011
ESG/Sustainability Focus: Yes: helping companies prepare for climate change.

KEY PARTNERS

PREP
 itself is a partnership of Calvert Investments, Entergy, Levi Strauss, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Starbucks, Limited Brands, and Swiss Re.

BSR and Ceres are also listed as partners, and Oxfam America is the group’s secretariat.

OVERVIEW/MISSION & BACKGROUND

The Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness
 describes its activity by stating that it “…formed to address the risks and opportunities that climate change impacts pose to businesses and the communities on which they depend.”

PREP calls itself “a one-year pilot partnership.”

News Sweeps

This Week in Sustainability: How Climate Change Impacts Public Health and Business
(Wednesday - May 21, 2014) Associated Profiles : Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness (PREP)
- blogs.msdn.com - Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparednessî PREP) released a guide to help manage these climatic impacts. Potential issues include distribution network disruption, worker health and...

Humanity's Frightening Uncertainty About the Economic Consequences of Climate Change(Wednesday - May 21, 2014) Associated Profiles : Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness (PREP)
- Yahoo Finance - A new report from the Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness provides detailed guidelines on how companies might assess the resilience of their supply chains to climate...

What Are the Economic Consequences of Climate Change'
(Wednesday - April 23, 2014) Associated Profiles : Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness (PREP)
- The Atlantic - A new report from the Partnership for Resilience and Environmental Preparedness provides detailed guidelines on how companies might assess the resilience of their supply chains to climate disruptions...

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