4 Things You Should Know about the GRI Updates

As the first U.S. certified trainer for GRI, we wanted to make you aware of some recent updates that GRI has instituted:

1. There is a new content index for each of the Application Levels A, B and C.  http://www.globalreporting.org/ReportServices/GRIContentIndex/
2. If your company is aiming for a GRI-Checked A Level report, you must submit a G3 Checklist.
   http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/CBF7E213-7051-4946-B352-E0F7868C076E/0/G3Checklist.xls
3. Use of GRI icons are only permissible if your report is GRI-Checked.   
4. The GRI icon must be published along with a full-page statement of context (that GRI will provide).  For example, the icon cannot be published in the corner of your report cover or as a graphic in the banner of your website.

Some of these updates may impact the way you manage your next GRI report.  To get more details about the updates or to learn more about the GRI reporting process, register for BrownFlynn’s next open enrollment training session:

The GRI Process
March 23rd & 24th
Cleveland, Ohio           

Click here to register.

First 2011 Training Dates and More Sustainability Happenings from BrownFlynn!

Mark your calendar for January 26^th and 27^th. BrownFlynn Learning is offering its first open enrollment GRI-certified course of 2011. The GRI Process prepares participants to understand and coordinate the GRI-G3 Process, and how it can be used, not only to develop a report, but enhance a company’s sustainability strategy. And that’s just the beginning…please click here to visit www.brownflynnlearning.com and register for the certified training session. Seats are limited.

Also, BrownFlynn and the Institute for Sustainable Development are excited to make available the survey results from their landmark stakeholder engagement and sustainability survey—conducted to analyze the importance of stakeholder engagement in developing an organization’s overall sustainability strategy. The findings resulted in a first-of-its-kind report on the role of stakeholder engagement in this important process. And that’s just the beginning…please email socialmedia@brownflynn.com to request a full version of the report. To read the press release, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you in Cleveland in January!

BrownFlynn Sustainability

Debut of our new video!

Students Bring Local Food to Columbia University

Local food is all the rage in the sustainability movement, but bringing local food to scale to build upon market demand for sustainably-produced edibles is not always an easy task.

A few students at Columbia University noticed that their campus colleagues were jonesing for healthy and appetizing food alternatives.  To meet that need, the students created a business—which they titled NOM³ (i.e. Nom Nom Nom)—that would bring local and healthy food options (with a close eye on taste) to the Columbia campus, via a student-run truck.

To help their business get off the starting block, NOM³ recently entered and won the SmartView Eco Entrepreneurship Challenge.  CRD Analytics hosted the Challenge to get Eco Entrepreneurs to submit a 30-second YouTube video about their idea, explaining how it could reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Here is the NOM³ video:

NOM³ was one of the three winners selected from the Challenge to pitch their sustainable startup to around 100 leading finance professionals at the Sustainability Round Table at the NASDAQ Market Site on May 14^th.  As winners, they also had the opportunity to participate with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony, and to be personally introduced to two conference attendees of their choice.

BrownFlynn was proud to sponsor Nom³ in the SmartView Eco Entrepreneurship Challenge.  Principal Barb Brown and Director of BrownFlynn Learning Beth Meany joined them at the Sustainability Round Table and at the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony (click here to see our photos on Facebook!).

Below is our interview with NOM³:

BrownFlynn participates in closing bell ceremony today at Nasdaq!

Click here to view a video of the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony and see BrownFlynn Principal & Co-owner Barb Brown and Director of Learning Beth Meany!

Investors Call for Mandatory Sustainability Reporting

This past January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released guidelines to support publicly traded corporations in disclosing their climate change risks to shareholders.  According to SEC Commissioner Eisse Walter, the decision was “designed to improve the quality of disclosures filed by U.S. public companies for the benefit of investors.”

Now member organizations of the Social Investment Forum (SIF) are encouraging the SEC to take the corporate reporting requirements further and define mandatory ESG (environmental social governance) reporting according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines. 

The GRI is the world’s most widely-used sustainability reporting framework and is “a comprehensive, uniform set of sustainability indicators comprised of both universally applicable and industry-specific components,” according to the SIF.

BrownFlynn in The Plain Dealer

Barb, Beth, Margie

BrownFlynn was featured in an article in the Business Section of The Plain Dealer (Ohio’s largest newspaper) yesterday, highlighting our ability to adapt to the changing economic climate and capture new business opportunities amidst a serious recession. A reporter spoke with Principals and Co-owners Barb Brown and Margie Flynn, as well as Director of Learning Beth Meany (who was particularly highlighted for her work in establishing/running our new division, BrownFlynn Learning). 

Check out the article here.

Course on Reporting Environmental Performance

Every year, more companies across the globe are recognizing the importance of sustainability and CSR reporting for improved reputation and financial returns from customers and investors, in addition to increasing cost savings and risk aversion.  In 2008, 84 percent of the 250 largest global companies by revenue reported on sustainability performance, 75 percent of which used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework for their reporting process[1].

The GRI provides a standard framework and guidelines for measuring and reporting an organization’s economic, environmental, and social performance.  The GRI framework yields reliable, credible and comparable metrics through its use of performance indicators in 6 key categories: Environmental, Human Rights, Labor Practices and Decent Work, Society, Product Responsibility, and Economic.  By reporting on the indicators most relevant to their operations, organizations can present their significant environmental, social and economic impacts and opportunities. 

But at first glance, the number of indicators within each category may seem intimidating and even confusing.  To help organizations understand what these indicators mean, as well as where and how to start their reporting process, BrownFlynn Learning provides its signature course, “The GRI Process”, and has recently partnered with Symbiotic Engineering to offer a comprehensive course on GRI’s 30 Environmental Indicators.

On February 11, 2010, BrownFlynn Learning will complement its training session for “The GRI Process” (February 9-10) with the one-day course focused on the GRI Environmental Performance (EN) Indicators.  Environmental engineers (bios below) will help participants garner an in-depth understanding of the standard protocols and methodologies for setting goals and for tracking and reporting environmental performance toward those goals.  Instructors will delve into how the environmental indicators relate to benchmarking, reporting GHG inventories and life cycle analysis, and addressing problems faced by participants.

Sustainability Workshops

BrownFlynn Learning, BrownFlynn’s new training and education division, is now pleased to be offering workshops to enhance sustainability initiatives at any level of an organization.  The workshops are customized to address issues specific to a participant’s company and/or industry.

Below is a listing of the workshops currently offered:

Sustainability – Getting Started

• Triple Your Bottom Line—The Business Case for Sustainability
• Organizing for Success in Sustainability
• Gaining Employee Buy-In for Sustainability—An “Appreciative” Approach

Sustainability and Finance (Ideal for investor relations managers)

• The Sustainability Indices: With More than 100 Rankings, Which Ones are Important?
• Harnessing the Benefits of Corporate Accountability and the Triple Bottom Line

Sustainability Reporting

• From Bloomberg to Goldman Sachs—Sustainability on Wall Street (Trends in Reporting and ESG)

Legal Issues Affecting Sustainability

• Minimizing Risks and Maximizing Opportunities through Sustainability
• Sustainability and Understanding the Regulatory Landscape
• How to Avoid Greenwashing and Prepare for Regulatory Compliance Related to Sustainability

Your Supply Chain and Sustainability

• Engaging Your Vendors While Furthering Your Goals
• Supply Chain Pressures—The Wal-Mart Effect and New Expectations Related to Product Life Cycles

In addition, BrownFlynn Learning offers its signature course, The GRI Process: a GRI-certified training course about the sustainability reporting process. 

See BrownFlynn Learning’s website for more information about our training and education opportunities, which include open-enrollment courses, on-site courses, conferences and webinars.

Completed first open enrollment GRI training!

We spent Monday and Tuesday of this week training a diverse group of participants in The GRI Process during our first open enrollment training of our new training & education division, BrownFlynn Learning. 

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework.  Our two-day workshop provided  attendees with a comprehensive overview of reporting their environmental, social and economic policies—a practice which often establishes or enhances a company’s sustainability strategy–using the GRI framework.

In attendance at the workshop were representatives from the utilities, mining, manufacturing and IT industries.  More have signed up for our course on September 22-23rd, but registration is still open for those who would like to join.