Ten Global Companies Sponsor GRI G4 Guidelines

Last Wednesday, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reported that ten global companies are supporting the two-year development of the GRI G4 Guidelines. Companies include Alcoa, Enel, GE, Goldman Sachs, Natura and Shell, as well as the Big 4 accounting firms: Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and Ernst & Young.

GRI is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework, and an increasing number of companies are producing reports on their sustainability efforts and progress. With every iteration of the framework, GRI strives to create the most comprehensive and standardized guidelines for sustainability reporting, enabling more and more organizations to report to their stakeholders. Further, the landscape of sustainability reporting and subsequent regulation is constantly changing, so GRI continues to evolve its guidelines with it.

The G4 Guidelines are set to be published in 2013, and are in the development process as we speak. GRI is soliciting feedback from a range of stakeholders, including diverse working groups, as well as employing approval procedures and due diligence to ensure the guidelines reflect the broadest stakeholder base possible. The ten global sponsors will be part of The Global G4 Consortium, which will advise GRI on topics to consider in the development of the G4 Guidelines.  

For more information on the G4 Guidelines please click here. To read the entire press release from GRI please click here.

Barb Brown to speak at Conference Board and NIRI

Principal and Co-owner Barb Brown will be speaking at two conferences in the next two weeks; the Conference Board 2011 Conference: “Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Conference: The Nexus of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility”, as well as the National Investor Relations Institute‘s 2011 Conference.

The Conference Board is June 9-10 at the Westin Georgetown Hotel (formerly the Westin Grand) in Washington, D.C. Presenting sponsors are DuPont, Altria, Best Buy and American Express. Some speakers include:

• Paul Pascalis, Director, Global Compliance and Ethics, American Express
• Heather Loebner, Executive Director, ArcelorMittal USA Foundation, Corporate Responsibility Governance Board and Manager, ArcelorMittal Americas
• Tessie Topol, Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy and Community Affairs, Time Warner Cable, Inc.
• George Akiki, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs & Program Director, Partnership for Lebanon, Cisco Systems
• Tracey Noe, Senior Director, Global Citizenship and Policy, Abbott
• Mary Capozzi, Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility, Best Buy
• Paul Garrard, Director Corporate Affairs, Chairman Humana’s Corporate Social Responsibility Council, Humana, Inc.
• James R. Weigand, President, DuPont Sustainable Solutions
• Nancy Joy-Poignon, Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability Leader, Owens Corning
• Katherine Brass, Ecomagination Energy Leader, GE 

Barb’s session, “Brand, Reputation and Sustainability Rankings”, is on June 10 from 8:45-9:45am.

For more information and to register (there’s still time!) please click here.

Barb is also speaking at the 2011 NIRI Conference June 12-15 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, FL. Sponsors include PR Newswire, NYSE Euronext, Dell, FedEx Office, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Wells Fargo. Some speakers include:

• Adam Bryant, Columnist, The New York Times
• Sam Levenson, SVP, Investor Relations, Sony
• George Barrett, Chairman & CEO, Cardinal Health, Inc.

Barb’s sessions include:

• “Credibility in the Hot Seat: IR Crisis, Reputation, and Risk” on June 13 from 4:15-5:30pm. Barb will be joined by Mike Conway (Sherwin-Williams), Jay Gould (Huntington Bancshares) and Jeff Linton (Forest City)
• “Sustainability, Strategy and Leadership” on June 15 from 1:30-3:30pm with Kristin Lewis of Fairmount Minerals

For more information and to register, please click here. Hope to see you there!

 

 

GE’s “Ecomagination”: realistic or wishful thinking?

There is no question that GE’s “Ecomagination” program encourages innovation in sustainability and responsible business. Their open call for ideas is a chance for every day people to make the case for renewable energy and have their ideas funded by the energy industry’s leading company.

The first phase of this program called for ideas to revamp the power grid. The contest garnered over 4,000 ideas with the winners being Solar Roadways and Clarian’s plug-n-play, which each received tens of thousands of dollars from GE.

The next phase calls for ideas to change the way we manage energy at home; the “Powering Your Home” challenge invites innovators to design the ‘green home of the future’, and vy for some of the $200 million GE has allocated for this program. CMO Beth Comstock had this to say about this phase of Ecomagination:

“”Powering Your Home” will focus on technologies that consumers can touch and feel. It is being launched as a response to the overwhelming level of engagement and passion for big energy issues we saw in the first Challenge. To date, we have received more than 1,000 ideas in the home energy management space, which is why this new phase of the Challenge is ripe for innovation and investment to drive growth. We will be looking for new ideas and also re-examining ideas from the initial phase through the lens of innovative power use in the home.” (Fast Company)

This next phase of the contest begins today and ends March 1 with voting to follow. Winners will be offered varying amounts of cash as well as investment, development, distribution and growth opportunities from GE.

Ecomagination is a good idea in theory, but what about in practice? While Solar Roadways’ innovative roadway panels to recharge electric cars as they drive is a clever idea, how would a city or municipality realistically fund this type of renewable energy? It’s quite a big investment even for an NYC or LA.

What is GE’s ability to put the most practical ideas into action? In the world of sustainability, lofty goals and ambitions are often established, with the intent of coming down to earth in the short term and striving for perfection in the long term. Do you think this is a fair assessment? Do you think GE will choose a more realistic idea as the winner for this phase of the contest? Discuss!

To read the full article please click here.

NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index expands to 100 companies, releases semi-annual evaluation results

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and CRD Analytics announced yesterday the expansion of the Global Sustainability 50 Index, as well as the name change to NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index. The Index is an equally-weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major U.S. stock exchange, according to NASDAQ and CRD.

These companies are voluntarily disclosing performance information on ESG issues, as well as revenue opportunities and how it affects future performance. The companies must also meet other eligibility criteria which include minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume and price.

The Index is evaluated on a semi-annual basis in May and November, and some of the companies being added are:

• Cisco Systems
• Microsoft
• GE
• Nike
• Pepsi
• Kimberly-Clark
• Medtronic
• General Mills
• Chevron
• Pfizer

As a result of the re-ranking, Merck & Company Inc will be removed from the Index as it didn’t provide full ESG data for 2009 per the SmartView index methodology.

To see a full list of companies on the Index please click here. For more detailed information on the Index and its criteria, please click here. To read the full press release please click here.

What do you think about the expansion? Do you think it helps or hinders the credibility of it? Do you think adding 50 more companies takes the prestige away from the original 50? Discuss!

Six Thousand US Companies Support Climate Change Legislation

Last week, SocialFunds.com ran an article stating that six thousand US companies are in support of climate change legislation. This number came from an analysis conducted by American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) where they tallied up membership in seven coalitions and initiatives, including We Can Lead and the US Climate Action Partnership.

These companies employ an estimated 3.5 million people, represent more than $2.6 trillion in market cap and totaled $3.5 trillion in estimated revenue in 2009. Of these companies, 21 were Fortune 100 companies and 49 were Fortune 500 companies, including Target, Boeing, General Electric, Ford, IBM and United Technologies.

Christopher Van Atten of ABCE said “This unprecedented outpouring of business support for real leadership from the White House and US Senate on clean energy and climate should be a wake up call for elected officials in Washington” (SocialFunds.com).

To read the full article please click here.

What do you think? Is this analysis enough to make the government stand up and take notice? What does it really say about the corporate world’s stance on energy and climate change? Let’s hear your thoughts!

The Importance of U.S. Climate Action Partnership

News of BP, ConocoPhillips and Caterpillar stepping down from their participation in U.S. Climate Action Partnership is a step backwards for stakeholder engagement around sensitive sustainability issues such as climate change.  The essence of USCAP was to bring unlikely partners together to have robust discussions around what climate legislation might look like and how corporations and environmental NGOs could find common ground.  Many companies, including GE, Honeywell and Shell, remain at the table alongside NGOs like the Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council.  Stakeholder engagement at this level and with these diverse players needs to continue so that the private sector continues to make progress and not end up in gridlock like Washington.

 – Written by Barb Brown, Principal and Co-Owner of BrownFlynn