Simon Pitsillides, SustainCase Editor, discusses with Tim Mohin, CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the ways in which the vast majority of companies which are the backbone of the world economy, can be mobilized to take real action. How they can be encouraged to #takePositiveAction and #bePositiveChange to effectively address this and many other important sustainability issues our world is facing today. By specifically identifying their most important impacts (materiality) and then proceeding to measuring, managing and changing, companies can become, with their positive contribution, part of a positive chain reaction that is changing our world.

Simon Pitsillides: The SustainCase Clean Air campaign in the UK is aimed at the companies who are responsible for approximately 90% of global economic activity (small and medium-sized enterprises). Our main target is that they use GRI 305: Emissions to drive pollution out of business supply chains, either through compulsory reporting (we have started a petition to the UK Government and Parliament) or through self-regulation. In essence, our goal is that the majority of companies take ownership and not only reduce their emissions, but also put pressure on their supply chains in a positive way, by choosing suppliers who produce little or no emissions. What are your thoughts regarding this target and the Clean Air campaign?

Tim Mohin: I am always happy when I see these types of grass roots efforts to encourage businesses to be more accountable for the impacts they are having on the economy, the environment and society. Clean air is such an important issue. It affects everyone. We know from experience that when we create transparency around impacts, businesses start making improvements. And you are right to note how important it is that companies work with their suppliers, since impacts are not limited to the four walls of the business.

GRI Standard 305 Emissions is an excellent tool for businesses of all sizes to measure, manage and communicate their Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions of greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting substances, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and other significant air emissions. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards give organizations the flexibility to report just on their emissions (or any of the other topics) without producing an entire sustainability report.

Pitsillides: On a global scale, a key target of the SustainCase Clean Air campaign is to begin a conversation to make the measuring & public reporting of emissions by small and medium-sized enterprises compulsory, worldwide. This conversation, could help “accelerate change” (I am borrowing a phrase from the interview you kindly gave us in 2017). What are your thoughts on this?

Mohin: In principle I would like to see all businesses taking responsibility for their sustainability impacts, but I also know that many SMEs don’t have the resources to do sustainability reporting in the same way that Fortune 500 companies report. Again, this is why, under the GRI Standards, we created the option for a company to report on specific information without creating an entire report. At GRI, we know that getting more SMEs to begin disclosing information on their sustainability performance is the next big step we need to take in the transparency movement. We are also currently conducting research to assess what kind of policy and regulatory environment would be best, in terms of stimulating more reporting by SMEs.

Pitsillides: Does GRI provide additional support for companies who want to report their emissions using GRI 305: Emissions?

Mohin: Yes we do. With generous support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, we are currently working in select developing countries (Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, South Africa and Vietnam) to stimulate more reporting by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through the “Competitive Business Program,” we are helping SMEs begin reaping the many benefits of sustainability reporting, which will allow them to improve their business prospects and make positive contributions to their local society and economy. This effort includes GRI 305 disclosures as well as other key sustainability information.

Because many SMEs do not have the resources to put a sustainability management team in place, we have developed the GRI Digital Reporting Platform, a tool that makes reporting easier for SMEs. Using the Digital Reporting Platform, suppliers can digitally share the specific sustainability information that their customers want. The digital report that’s produced is in a format that allows companies in an SME’s value chain can aggregate and use for their own reporting. After we have completed the pilot phase in these six countries, we plan to make the GRI Digital Reporting platform available worldwide.      

Pitsillides: Which is, in your view, the business case for reporting emissions? How will a small and medium-sized enterprise benefit from reporting this information and not see it as just a compliance requirement?

Mohin: I strongly believe that most business owners want to make positive contributions to their local communities and environment. Still, most SMEs do not report on their sustainability impacts because they either lack knowledge of the benefits they can gain from the practice or they believe that the process of reporting is too costly. So a large part of the work we do here at GRI is demonstrating to SMEs that they can benefit from sustainability reporting. When we look at companies reducing emissions, the business case is actually quite clear. Most of the emissions within a business’ control are associated with costs such as heating or cooling office buildings or fuel for vehicles or electricity used for running equipment. As such, a reduction in emissions is usually coupled with a reduction in those costs. That’s a tangible benefit to a company’s bottom-line.

Pitsillides: Do you believe that emissions should be considered a de facto material issue for all companies, given the urgency of the problem with air pollution as stated by the UN? Should, for example, financial institutions re-examine the boundary of this important material issue? In simple terms, should financial institutions not just report the emissions they are responsible for, but also carry out environmental assessments of clients and clients projects? In addition, should they find ways to support companies that are taking responsible action with clean energy and possibly reduce support for companies that are not doing so?

Mohin: I believe that looking at longer term risk, like climate change, is part of the fiduciary duty of financial institutions. That is why the information disclosed in GRI-reports is important for investors. Savvy investors, including financial institutions, should understand how the companies in which they are invested are performing in terms of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. I would like to see all investors using ESG data to inform decision making, so that we can move financial capital towards companies and projects that are making positive contributions to the world. This is particularly important if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Trillions of dollars in investment capital are necessary in order to make the achievement of the SDGs a reality, but currently there is a disconnect, between the sustainability data that companies publish and the information that investors need for decision making. To help close this gap, GRI is working together with the UN Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Investment on “Investor-relevant Business reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.” This document will provide a brief overview of why investors are increasingly demanding SDG-related performance data, help corporate practitioners better understand who the relevant actors are within the investor community and include recommendations on how to present SDG-related information so that it resonates with an investor audience.

Pitsillides: Are there other issues that could be considered as material for a majority of companies, so as to meet global sustainability goals much sooner and accelerate change?

Mohin: Materiality assessments are very much determined by the context within which a specific business operates. This context is definitely informed by the particular industry or sector of the economy within which a company operates, but each business is unique. That said, the SDGs are the global framework for understanding how the world needs to change in order to create the conditions for sustainable development. All companies and their stakeholders should use the SDGs as a framework to guide their activities.

Pitsillides: Are small and medium-sized enterprises taking advantage of the flexibility the GRI Standards offer to disclose the most relevant information (materiality)? Are they taking action on what matters, where it matters for their business? Have they begun to report?

Mohin: We know that SMEs account for a significant portion of global economic activity and also create a large amount of sustainability impacts. But when we look into the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database, a repository of over 46,000 sustainability reports, we see that a mere ten percent of them are from SMEs. With the GRI Standards, we are providing SMEs (and other businesses) the option to report on specific sustainability information by using as little as one GRI Standard, or a part thereof, without producing an entire sustainability report. So we hope to see the number of SMEs that disclose information on their sustainability impacts increase in the years to come.

Pitsillides: Thank you very much Mr Mohin.

The post Interview with Mr Tim Mohin, GRI Chief Executive – SustainCase Clean Air Campaign appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) promotes the use of sustainability reporting in order for companies and organizations to become more sustainable and be a vital part of a sustainable global economy. GRI has a mission: to make sustainability reporting standard practice. Thus, GRI produces free Sustainability Reporting Standards for all companies and organizations to report their economic, environmental, social and governance performance and positive or negative impacts.

Sustainability reporting will help your company identify key issues to focus on and, accordingly, improve productivity and reduce costs. Additionally, through gaining access to new markets and clients your company’s competitiveness will improve. And these are just some of the benefits.

Let us take a closer look at the main benefits of sustainability reporting, based on the experiences and testimonies of companies that GRI has engaged with in a number of projects:

• Attracting, motivating and keeping employees. Sustainability reporting shows beyond doubt that your company takes sustainability issues seriously and is prepared to publicly discuss, measure and, most importantly, act on them. This will enhance your company’s reputation empowering, motivating and attracting employees committed to your company’s strategic objectives.
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• Spotting strengths and weaknesses. The reporting process will help you identify and evaluate problem areas before they become unwelcome surprises and, also, discover unexpected opportunities ahead of your competitors. During the reporting process you may also realize that certain matters were not dealt with as well as you thought or had not been considered at all.
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• Developing your sustainability vision and strategy. The reporting process will encourage and motivate your company to determine its vision and strategy for operating more sustainably and for providing more sustainable products and services.
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• Improving management systems and setting goals. Sustainability reporting allows your company to track and appraise its performance, highlighting and making changes in areas that need improvement, such as productivity or business costs. Once your company starts reporting there will be increased expectations regarding its performance goals.
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• Attracting funding. Lending institutions and investors increasingly take account of a company’s vision and performance in key sustainability issues when making funding decisions. A GRI reporting process will help your company manage sustainability issues more efficiently and be prepared to discuss openly its performance.
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• Transparency and stakeholder engagement. Sustainability reporting will enhance your transparency and will be instrumental in building a solid relationship, based on mutual trust, with the company’s stakeholders whether these be clients, suppliers or shareholders, employees, local communities, NGOs or local government.
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• Gaining competitive advantage. As sustainability reporting is still not common practice across all business sectors, your company can become a “leader in sustainability”.
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• Improving your reputation, building trust and respect. Your company’s reputation, the trust and respect you have gained are of the utmost importance for your stakeholders. Accurate, honest, complete corporate reporting (reporting both on what goes well and on where there is room for improvement) builds trust and respect for your company.
  …more

Related SustainCase section:

“Why Sustainability is important – Articles-Research”. The latest research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

The post The value of sustainability reporting appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Millennials, who are today in decision-making positions and Generation Z, who hold our future in their hands, are overwhelmingly pro-sustainability and are showing this with their every action. Worldwide, companies and organisations are taking action to benefit from the transition to the Sustainable, Circular Economy. Are your competitors better prepared? Are they dealing more successfully with stricter regulations and changing buying and decision-making patterns?

• Deloitte: Business leaders can win the loyalty of millennials by driving societal and economic change.
• Morgan Stanley research results: Companies must engage with sustainable development or face being left out of investment decisions by Millennials, one of the largest generations in history moving into its prime spending years.
• 84% of Millennial investors interested in sustainable investing (Morgan Stanley)
• There is an accelerating growth of people choosing sustainable brands (Nielsen 30,000 consumers in 60 countries)
• Millennials love CSR (Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK)

More research: Sustainable Development Makes Good Business Sense

• 2 out of 4 major consumer trends relate to sustainability (Mintel)
• Mintel research: Key 2018 consumer trends relate to sustainability
• Corporate sustainability and profitability are interrelated (Oxford University)
• High Sustainability companies significantly outperform their counterparts over the long-term, in both stock market and accounting performance (Harvard Business School)
• Gender diversity across a company increases productivity (MIT News)

Generation Z is emerging as the Sustainability Generation

According to a recent study by First Insight cited by Forbes, the vast majority of Generation Z shoppers prefer to buy sustainable brands, and are most willing to spend 10 percent more on sustainable products.

The study also found that Generation Z, along with Millennials, are the most likely to make purchase decisions based on personal, social, and environmental values and principles.

According to another survey by DoSomething, also cited by Forbes, 75 percent of Generation Z respondents wanted to see that brands were ensuring employee and consumer safety.

Additionally, according to the 2022 Gartner Sustainability Opportunities, Risks and Technologies Survey:

• For 86% of business leaders, sustainability is an investment that protects their organisations from disruption
• Four out of five leaders think sustainability helps their organisation optimise and reduce costs
• 83% say their sustainability programme activities directly generated both short- and long-term value for their organisations

We firmly believe that we must all take a step back and see the forest. We must address serious environmental issues but also take positive action to develop the economies and societies on which we rely for growth and profit.

Also read:

• How to use the GRI Standards ASAP to accelerate positive change
• Case Studies: How companies are cleaning their supply chains of bad environmental and social practices
• Case studies: How companies are affecting positive change on the economies and societies they operate in and rely on for profit/growth
• Laying the foundation for good communication with responsible CSR/ sustainability reporting
• Are your competitors better prepared?

Simon Pitsillides
Sustainability Reporting and Marketing Communication Strategy Expert. Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP) and a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is a GRI and ISEP Trainer, the publisher of www.sustaincase.com and owner of www.fbrh.co.uk. Simon teaches the FBRH GRI Standards Certified, ISEP & CIM Recognised Course (venue: London School of Economics (LSE). 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

The post License to operate – Millennials, Generation Z appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Harvard professor Michael Porter and Mark R. Kramer argue that the capitalist system is, under siege. Business is increasingly viewed as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems and companies are widely perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community.

A big part of the problem lies with companies themselves. They remain trapped in an outdated approach to value creation that emerged over the past few decades. Companies continue to view value creation narrowly, optimising short-term financial performance while missing key customer needs and ignoring the broader impacts that determine their longer-term success. As a consequence, they frequently overlook the wellbeing of their customers, the depletion of natural resources vital to their businesses, the viability of key suppliers and the economic distress of the communities in which they produce and sell.

Businesses must take the lead in bringing business and society back together. The solution lies in the principle of shared value  Tweet This!, i.e. creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses acting as businesses – and not as charitable donors – are the most powerful force for addressing the pressing issues we are currently facing. Accordingly, the purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profits. This will drive the next wave of innovation and productivity growth in the global economy and will also reshape capitalism and its relationship to society.

Shared value is not about personal values. Nor is it about “sharing” the value already created by firm. It is about expanding the total pool of economic and social value. A good example of this difference in perspective, is the fair trade movement in purchasing, which seeks to increase the proportion of revenue that goes to poor farmers by paying them higher prices for the same crops. Although this may be a noble sentiment, fair trade is mostly about redistribution rather than expanding the overall amount of value created. A shared value perspective, instead, would focus on improving growing techniques and strengthening the local cluster of supporting suppliers and other institutions, so as to increase farmers’ efficiency, yields, product quality, and sustainability. This would lead to a bigger pie of revenue and profits, benefiting both farmers and the companies buying from them. Early studies of cocoa farmers in the Côte d’Ivoire, for example, show that while fair trade can increase farmers’ incomes by 10% to 20%, shared value investments could raise their incomes by over 300%.

How is shared value created?

Companies can create economic value by creating societal value. There are three different ways to achieve this: by a) reconceiving products and markets, b) redefining productivity in the value chain, and c) building supportive industry clusters at the company’s locations. Every one of these is part of the virtuous circle of shared value. Improving value in one area, generates opportunities in the others. By better connecting companies’ success with societal improvement, the concept of shared value resets the boundaries of capitalism and opens up many ways to serve new needs, gain efficiency, create differentiation, and expand markets.

Redefining productivity in the value chain

The following are some of the most important ways in which shared value thinking transforms a company’s value chain. They are not independent, but often mutually reinforcing:

• Energy use and logistics: The use of energy throughout the value chain is being re-examined
• Resource use: Heightened environmental awareness and advances in technology are catalysing new approaches
• Procurement: By increasing access to inputs, sharing technology, and providing financing, companies can improve supplier quality and productivity
• Distribution: Companies are beginning to re-examine distribution practices from a shared value perspective
• Employee productivity: The focus on holding down wage levels, reducing benefits, and offshoring is giving way to an awareness of the positive effects a living wage, safety, wellness, training, and opportunities for advancement for employees have on productivity

Case study: How Nestlé tackled coffee sourcing challenges

Obtaining a reliable supply of specialised coffees is extremely challenging. Most coffees are grown by small farmers in impoverished rural areas of Africa and Latin America, trapped in a cycle of low productivity, poor quality, and environmental degradation that limits production volume.

To address these challenges, Nestlé redesigned procurement, working intensively with its growers, providing advice on farming practices, guaranteeing bank loans, and helping secure inputs such as plant stock, pesticides, and fertilisers. Additionally, Nestlé established local facilities to measure the quality of the coffee at the point of purchase. This enabled Nestlé to pay a premium for better beans directly to the growers and, thus, improve their incentives. Greater yield per hectare and higher production quality increased growers’ incomes, and the environmental impact of farms was reduced. At the same time, Nestlé’s reliable supply of good coffee grew significantly. Shared value was created.

As this examples show, reimagining value chains from the perspective of shared value provides important new ways to innovate and unlock new economic value that most businesses have missed.

 

FBRH’s GRI, CPD and ISEP Certified Sustainability Reporting Course helps participants understand shared value and how they can implement their own sustainability strategies, with all-round benefits and value for the business.

Double materiality
Participants are taught how to conduct double materiality to define their report content and address all important impacts, even if these do not seem to affect their business success. A practical solid plan of action is a core takeaway. Participants can start their sustainability report and take action ASAP.

This article is based on published information by Harvard Business Review. 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 link:

https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value

The post Harvard Business Review: Creating shared value appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

This case study is based on the 2016/17 Sustainability Report by Crescent Enterprises published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.

Abstract

Crescent Enterprises’ approach to corporate citizenship aims to foster a culture of empowerment, excellence, and respect throughout its workforce, and to go beyond passive charity and financial contributions. In order to develop entrepreneurship among schoolchildren, university students, women and young entrepreneurs Crescent Enterprises took action to:

• invest in the entrepreneurial capabilities of children and young people
• provide expertise to the American University of Sharjah students
• share knowledge and experience with Columbia Business School students
• empower female entrepreneurs to succeed

The post Case study: How Crescent Enterprises develops entrepreneurship among schoolchildren, university students, women and young entrepreneurs appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Sustainable development, both nationally and internationally, is essentially based on governments being able to fund infrastructure and services through tax income – including corporate taxes. The latter enable companies worldwide to contribute to the local economies where they produce, store or sell their products and services.

On 3 April 2016, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper revealed the use of offshore financial services and shell companies by certain companies and individuals in order to minimise their tax liabilities. This multi-country investigation became widely known as the Panama Papers and exposed the scale of global business’s tax avoidance, often completely legal.

Multinational companies ought, however, to be transparent to their stakeholders about how much tax they pay, where they pay their taxes, and how the country-by-country taxes they pay relate to the locations where they do business.

Although businesses do normally release some tax information, accessible, reliable data on how much tax they pay and where, can be hard or impossible to find. Corporate tax avoidance, globally, has been estimated at US$500 το US$600 billion each year in lost revenue.

As a consequence of this lack of transparency and widespread tax evasion, investors, governments, civil society, the media and the public around the globe are increasingly calling for tax transparency, including, most importantly, complete and comparable disclosures on a country-by-country basis.

Taking this massive demand for accurate, reliable tax information into account, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), the independent entity that oversees the development of the GRI Standards, collaborated, in 2017, with international experts to create the first ever global reporting standard on tax. Subsequently, after a period of global consultation, to gather views from all interested parties, GRI launched the new Tax Standard (known as GRI 207: Tax 2019).  Tweet This! Published on 5 December, the Tax Standard is freely available for any organisation to use to disclose their taxes in a transparent way.

The new GRI Tax Standard is intended to promote, through its adoption and use, an open discussion between reporting organisations, government, the public and civil society about tax policies and practices, and on how tax revenues can promote sustainable development.

Major investors, industry bodies, civil society activists, charities, trade unions and many other groups worldwide welcomed the new Tax Standard and the greater transparency and openness it seeks to achieve. They include asset managers Royal London and Hermes, Accountancy Europe, Oxfam, the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, global union federation Public Services International, and civil society groups the Tax Justice Network and FACT Coalition.

To start rebuilding public trust in companies, strengthen corporate accountability and facilitate the informed dialogue stakeholders globally demand, increased openness on tax is key.

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.

References:

This article is based on published information by Medium. 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 link:

https://medium.com/@GlobalReportingInitiative/tax-transparency-the-time-for-change-is-now-50b1f8699a5b

The post Tax transparency: Putting an end to tax evasion appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

As the trends and challenges leading to the rise of the social enterprise became, in 219, even more prominent, CEOs and business leaders around the globe will have to lead the social enterprise  Tweet This!, beyond just practicing corporate social responsibility or engaging in social impact programmes.

The social enterprise: creating value for stakeholders, not just shareholders

A social enterprise is an organisation that focuses not only on revenue growth and profit-making, but also on the need to respect and support its environment and stakeholders, listening to the trends that shape today’s world. It is an organisation that accepts its responsibility to be a good citizen, serves as a role model for its peers, and promotes multilevel collaboration. Accordingly, leading a social enterprise means recognising that businesses must not just generate a profit and deliver a return to shareholders, but also improve the lives of workers, customers, and the communities in which they operate.

Why reinvent?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing disruption to the political, economic, and social fabric, impacting work, workers, and employers. Income inequality, wages, and the role of businesses in society, are under widespread debate globally. Deloitte’s 219 Global Human Capital Trends survey highlights key workplace trends and issues, including the following:

• In 218, the United States experienced 2 major work stoppages involving 485, workers (the most since 27), while income inequality is growing in many developed economies, including the United States – where the bottom 9 percent of earners have only seen a 5% wage increase over the past 18 years.
• Eighty-five percent of employees globally are not engaged or are actively disengaged from their jobs. They are working more hours, and problems of financial and mental stress seem to prevail. In the United States, over 4 percent of the workforce now works on a contingent basis.

Social enterprises perform better financially

Deloitte’s 219 Global Human Capital Trends survey revealed trends and facts that confirm the rising significance of the social enterprise:

• When CEOs rated their most important measure of success in 219, the number-one issue they mentioned was “impact on society, including income inequality, diversity, and the environment,” showing the urgency of this issue.
• According to 56% of the survey’s respondents, the social enterprise will become more important to organisations over time.
• Survey respondents confirmed the social enterprise’s positive link to financial performance: 32% of more mature social enterprises (industry leaders) expected greater than 1% growth in 219, compared to 218.

Five human principles for the social enterprise

There are five key principles that frame the “human focus” for the social enterprise, against which any action or business decision affecting people can be measured:

• Purpose and meaning: Giving organisations and individuals a sense of purpose at work, moving beyond profit and focusing on doing good things for individuals, customers and society.
• Ethics and fairness: Using data, technology, and systems ethically and fairly.
• Growth and passion: Designing jobs, work, and organisational missions to cultivate passion and a sense of personal growth.
• Collaboration and personal relationships: Building and developing teams, focusing on personal relationships.
• Transparency and openness: Sharing information openly, discussing challenges and mistakes.

78% of the world’s 25 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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified and ISEP approved Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI-Standards Certified and ISEP approved Course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

References:

This article is based on published information by Deloitte. 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 link:

https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends.html

The post Deloitte: Organisations should reinvent themselves around a human focus appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

According to Mark van Baal, founder of the activist group Follow This, big investors, including the Church of England Pensions Board, are responsible for this change in an industry that has, until now, been unwilling to take responsibility for its contribution to global warming.

After decades of campaigning by environmentalists and NGO, spreadsheet-analysing investors pushing the biggest corporate polluters to tackle climate change and leading campaigns to cut carbon emissions, are forming a new generation of climate activists – backed by trillions of dollars.

The economic costs of climate change

A key factor that motivated investors to hold companies to account is the financial risk brought about by climate change. Accordingly, oil and gas companies and the energy industry as a whole, whose activities could accelerate global warming, are under scrutiny.

In addition, there is a worry that a continuous push by governments to cut emissions in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement will make a huge number of oil and gas projects uneconomic, reducing the value of related assets and shareholdings. As regards the value of the global total stock of manageable assets at risk due to climate change, it is estimated that losses could range from $4.2tn to $43tn between now and the end of the century.

Increasing anxiety over these costs has resulted in a wave of climate activism at the highest levels of the financial world. Large energy companies are urged to cut emissions from fossil fuel extraction and processing, switch to producing low-carbon fuels, improve efficiency in transmission and distribution along with their presence in renewables, and invest in technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

Investors are urging companies to disclose climate-related information  Tweet This!

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has led an initiative to push energy companies and others to disclose climate risks. Although the debate is still mostly focused on making pledges instead of forcing action, the number of investor resolutions focusing on climate change across all sectors doubled to 42 between the 2013-14 and 2016-17 voting seasons. A number of fossil fuel producers are increasingly affected and, during Exxon’s 2017 annual meeting, over 60% of shareholders, including BlackRock, revolted and voted against the board, forcing Exxon to subsequently improve its disclosure of information on climate change.

Investors expected to file more resolutions to hold individual board members to account include Legal and General Investment Management, the £1tn asset manager. In addition, investors are turning their attention to polluting companies that publicly commit to cut their emissions while privately backing lobbying by trade bodies to undermine global climate efforts. Accordingly, in October 2018, a coalition of big investors wrote to 55 European companies, from BP to BMW, asking them to review the positions adopted by their trade associations. Another group of investors called Climate Action 100+, which has a combined $32tn under management, calls on companies to increase climate-related financial disclosures.

Divesting from fossil fuels

According to lobby group Go Fossil Free, approximately 1,000 investors, with $7.18tn in assets, have committed to divest from at least some type of fossil fuels. They include PKA, the Danish pension fund, which has pulled its investments in several oil producers and coal companies. Additionally, the Church of England Pensions Board voted to sell holdings in fossil fuel companies not taking action to fight global warming from 2023.

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified and ISEP approved Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI-Standards Certified and ISEP approved Course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

References:

This article is based on published information by the Financial Times. 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 link:

https://www.ft.com/content/c245af4a-f875-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c

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US SIF report: Sustainable, responsible and impact investing (SRI) assets increased by 38% in the United States to $12.0 trillion, from $8.7 trillion in 2016.  Tweet This!

According to the US SIF Foundation’s 2018 biennial Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends, sustainable, responsible and impact investing (SRI) assets account today for $12.0 trillion of the $46.6 trillion in total assets under professional management in the United States.

Asset managers are responsible for much of this growth, as – following client demand – they now take into account environmental, social or corporate governance (ESG) criteria across $11.6 trillion in assets (an increase of 44% from $8.1 trillion in 2016). The three key issues asset managers and their institutional investor clients mostly consider are climate change/carbon, tobacco and conflict risk.

The report identified $11.6 trillion in ESG integration assets under management at the beginning of 2018, held by 496 institutional investors, 365 money managers and 1,145 community investing financial institutions.

“Money managers and institutions are utilizing ESG criteria and shareholder engagement to address a plethora of issues including climate change, diversity, human rights, weapons and political spending,” said Lisa Woll, US SIF Foundation CEO.

The leading ESG criteria

Different ESG criteria are prominent among money managers (i.e. firms managing assets on behalf of others) and institutional asset owners (entities such as pension funds, foundations and educational endowments that own and invest assets).

• Asset managers: Climate change was the single most important ESG issue for money managers. From 2016 to 2018, the assets to which climate change related to more than doubled, to $3.0 trillion. Other ESG topics that money managers consider include tobacco, conflict risk, human rights, transparency/anti-corruption and civilian firearms.
• Asset owners: Conflict risk was the most important issue among institutional asset owners, increasing by 8% from 2016 to $3.0 trillion. Tobacco, carbon/climate change, board issues and executive pay followed in importance.

Other findings include:

• Both the number and assets under management of registered investment companies integrating ESG issues continued to increase. Assets in mutual funds reached $2.6 trillion (an increase of 34% compared to 2016) and the number of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) more than doubled, from 25 to 69.
• At the beginning of 2018, ESG assets under management in 780 alternative investment vehicles amounted to $588 billion, almost three times the assets identified in 2016.
• The community investing sector – which includes community development banks, credit unions, loan and venture funds – grew rapidly during the last decade, almost doubling in assets between 2014 and 2016 and growing by more than 50% from 2016 to 2018.

About US SIF

US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment promotes sustainable, responsible and impact investing across all asset classes, to rapidly shift investment practices toward sustainability. US SIF members include investment management and advisory firms, mutual fund companies, asset owners, research firms, financial planners and advisors, broker-dealers, community investing organisations and non-profit organisations. 

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified and ISEP approved Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI-Standards Certified and ISEP approved Course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

References:

This article is based on published information by US SIF. 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 link:

https://www.ussif.org/trends

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Today, over 500 companies globally have committed to set “Science Based Targets” (SBT) in line with the “well below 2-degree” goal  Tweet This! outlined in the Paris Agreement. CEMAsys.com has now become the first Nordic consulting firm accredited by the CDP as an SBT Consulting Partner.

In the Nordic countries 40 companies have currently made commitments to set SBTs. Just two years ago there were only 3 Nordic companies with climate goals beyond 2030, signifying a strong and growing trend of companies wanting to develop long-term, science-based climate goals. The driving force behind this development partly lies with companies wanting to take responsibility for their contributions to climate change, as well as investors using climate action as a metric to consider a company’s ability to thrive in the green restructuring of the global economy.

“We are delighted that CEMAsys has become our first science-based targets partner in the Nordics. With its experience in assisting organization with calculation of emissions and targets setting, we are confident their services will be of great value to companies looking to set and implement science-based targets”, says Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Director Science Based Targets & Renewable Energy at the CDP.

CEMAsys.com is a leading Nordic consulting- and systems provider for climate, GRI and sustainability reporting services, and has since 2010 been the only Nordic consulting partnered with the CDP. In 2018, CEMAsys.com supported 36 Nordic companies reporting on their business strategy towards climate, water, and forests to the CDP. Of the total 7000 companies worldwide who reported to the CDP in 2018, only 126 companies received the highest score of A, gaining a spot on the coveted CDP A-List. CEMAsys.com supported 6 of these A-List companies from Norway and Sweden, as well as 6 Nordic companies scoring an A-, and 12 Nordic companies scoring a B.

“As the only accredited CDP consulting partner since 2010, it is a great recognition of our work to be asked by the CDP to become an accredited SBT Consulting Partner. We support more than 280 Nordic businesses with climate and sustainability reporting every year, both through our cloud-based service for all types of sustainability reporting, and with our climate- and GRI-consultants in an adviser and analysis capacity. We have for many years supported companies in developing clear and specific climate goals. Through our role as SBT Consulting Partner we will elevate our capacity through training and information provided by the CDP and the Science Based Target initiative so that we can help our Nordic clients budget and develop goals for their greenhouse gas emissions towards 2050, in line with the IPCC and the Paris Agreement”, said Partner and Product Manager in CEMAsys.com, Per Otto Larsen.

About SBT

The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) is a collaborative project between the CDP, the UN Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). The purpose of the SBTi is to provide companies with a science-based tool for setting climate goals and budgets, and in doing so, increase companies’ competitive advantage in the transition to a low-carbon society.

Science-based targets provide companies with a roadmap to future growth in a changing global economy by outlining how much and how fast they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Video: What is a science-based target?

In the Paris Agreement, 195 countries committed to limit global warming to well-below 2 degrees Celsius. This signaled an acceleration in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Many companies already highlight their skills, capacity, and ingenuity to thrive in this transition – but they need ambitious reduction targets that ensure that the actions they take are in line with contemporary knowledge surrounding climate change.

Targets that are approved by companies to reduce greenhouse gases are considered science-based if they are in line with the levels of reduction that are necessary to keep global temperature rise under 2 degrees and if they are in line with the IPCC’s objectives.

Link: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/

About CDP

Over the last 15 years CDP has developed a system that has resulted in outstanding engagement on climate issues between investors, companies, cities, countries, and regions across the globe. CDP is a non-profit organization and is a global investor-driven reporting scheme. Every year, on behalf of 840 institutional investors, CDP asks over 7000 listed companies how they address global climate change, and how they acknowledge the risks and opportunities that follow a changing climate and a changing economy. The CDP asks 260 of the largest Nordic listed companies to report each year.

In addition to acting on behalf of investors, CDP uses this reporting scheme for CDP Supply Chain, CDP City, and now also for private actors in their Non-Listed Program.

Link: https://www.cdp.net/en

Contact CEMAsys.com:

www.cemasys.com

Kjetil Selmer-Olsen

kjetil(at)cemasys.com

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified and ISEP approved Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI-Standards Certified and ISEP approved Course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

References:

This article is based on published information by CEMAsys.com AS. 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 link:

https://portal.cemasys.com/ 

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