The learning you gain

This course introduces participants to sustainability reporting practice and to key concepts of the GRI sustainability reporting Standards such as the reporting principles, impact, stakeholder engagement, material topics. Course attendees will become familiar with sustainability challenges, understand what sustainable development is and the benefits of reporting.

After attending the course participants will be able to:

• List the key elements of a sustainability report and the value and benefits of reporting
• Explain the structure, features and key concepts of the GRI Standards
• Define sustainability through a holistic, structured, multi-dimensional approach
• Describe sustainability challenges and demonstrate how reporting contributes to sustainable development

Questions to ask yourself when choosing a preparation programme – GRI Academy or a CTP-Certified Training Partner:

• Does the CTP have experience? What other clients have they worked with?
• Are there testimonials or reviews available?
• Is there an instructor for you to ask questions?
• After the course, are you equipped with resources you can implement right away?

The FBRH Difference

• Pre-Course Preparation: Our pre-course preparation questionnaire helps us understand your specific needs
• Post-Course Info Pack: After the course you will receive a valuable post-course information pack
• Exclusive templates, exclusive case studies that you can adopt and adapt to your organisation’s needs
• You will be able, immediately, to prepare your sustainability action plan

Why FBRH

• After successfully completing the course you will receive GRI, CPD and ISEP completion certificates
• FBRH Consultants has 24 years of experience
• Attendees’ reviews provide key insights regarding the course’s high quality
• FBRH’s clients include some of the world’s biggest companies

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

The post Learn how to Create a 1st-Class GRI Sustainability Report appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Sustainability has been a hot topic over the past decade, not least due to the urgent need to strengthen climate resilience. When it comes to sustainability reporting, disclosures, organisations, and metrics, there are a lot of acronyms, from ESG to GRI to COP. They may provide frameworks and guidelines, help set goals, and assess how businesses may be affected by things like climate change or impact the environment and society.

For companies that are just beginning to engage in sustainability reporting, it can be discouraging. Hence, here’s a list of commonly used acronyms and terminologies, what they stand for and mean.

1. ESG: Environmental, Social, Governance
These are criteria or categories for people to evaluate an organisation’s performance, impacts and how far advanced they are with sustainable development. Environmental factors may include greenhouse gas emissions, waste management and energy efficiency, social factors may refer to underpaid labour, workplace health and safety and the protection of human rights, while governance factors might relate to stakeholder engagement, transparency and anti-corruption.

2. SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated, recognising that action in one area will affect outcomes in others. Some of the 17 goals include gender equality, quality education, climate action, zero hunger, affordable and clean energy.

This article explains the what and why.
Practical implementation is a separate step.

3. GRI: Global Reporting Initiative
GRI is an independent, international non-profit organisation that helps businesses and organisations worldwide account for their impacts by providing them with the tools to communicate those impacts. The GRI Standards are the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards, adopted by 73% of the largest 250 global companies and by 68% of a wider sample of 5,800 businesses around the globe.

4. ISSB: International Sustainability Standards Board
On 3 November 2021, the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) Foundation Trustees announced the creation of a new standard-setting board, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The ISSB’s aim is to deliver a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards that provide international investors and other capital market participants with quality, reliable information about companies’ sustainability-related risks and opportunities (climate and other ESG matters), to help them make informed decisions.

Feeling overwhelmed? That’s normal.

Most professionals reading this are not trying to become sustainability experts.
They simply want to:

• avoid mistakes
• meet expectations
• build something they won’t have to redo next year

That’s exactly how SustainCase is designed.

If any of these sound like you, start here:

 I’m new and don’t know where to begin
 I need to report, but only proportionately
 I’m under time pressure
 I want to do this once and do it properly

How to Begin Sustainability Reporting — Safely

A short, practical orientation used by professionals before they commit time or budget.

5. COP: Conference of the Parties
For almost three decades, the UN has been bringing together almost every country on the planet for global climate summits, so as to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way and fight climate change. This annual meeting is also called the COP. The latest COP summit, referred to as COP27 as it was the 27th UN climate change conference, took place in November 2022, in Egypt.

6. ESRS: European Sustainability Reporting Standards
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are widely regarded as a key step towards holding all large EU companies accountable for their sustainability impacts. Under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the ESRS will apply to almost 8,000 EU & non EU businesses from 2024.

7. Circular Economy
A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible, thus reducing pressure on the environment. This helps to drive greater resource productivity, creating a more competitive economy and addressing resource scarcity.

What happens next (if you want this to work):

1. Get oriented
2. Decide scope
3. Build once, not twice
4. Grow capability over time

SustainCase exists to support that journey — proportionately.

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

This article is based on published information by Insider, IFRS and Aventis Learning Group. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the publication’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following links:

https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-need-to-understand-confusing-acronyms-of-esg-and-sustainability-2022-7

https://www.ifrs.org/groups/international-sustainability-standards-board/

https://aventislearning.com/top-8-most-used-sustainability-acronyms/

The post ESG, SDG, GRI, and more: What do the sustainability acronyms all mean? appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

They are a robust, always updated framework and, most importantly, have a principled approach to taking sustainability action that just makes business sense. GRI framework outcomes can help you form a holistic business strategy that can focus on creating/ delivering value to the business, stakeholders and the planet.

Simon Pitsillides (Editor, SustainCase)

Rating agencies and indices rely on GRI reports for detailed, standardised, and comparable data on companies’ sustainability practices. With 78% of the world’s largest companies utilising GRI, this aids in making more informed assessments and ratings.

Solid, focused sustainability action requires the GRI Standards as the umbrella all-encompassing sustainability reporting framework. Other frameworks can be plugged in when they are assessed and deemed to add further value to business, stakeholders, and the planet.

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

The post The GRI Standards just make sense as an umbrella framework appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.