Ford, Shell and Anglo American show why materiality matters

BrownFlynn recently got a firsthand look at the G4 guidelines and summarized the top nine things one needed to know. No. 1 on this list: “Materiality is a must.”

While previous guidelines encouraged companies to determine materiality, they tended to focus on the number of indicators reported on and the application level achieved. The G4 guidelines explicitly require reporting efforts to focus on materiality, with the first step in the process being a robust materiality assessment followed by disclosure of material topics.

To read the entire blog post please click here.

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.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre launches new information portal

Today the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre launched a new online information portal regarding “Human rights impacts of oil pollution: U.S. Gulf Coast, Ecuador, Nigeria”.  According to a press release issued by the nonprofit organization, the portal will impartially present articles, videos and reports from all sides of the crises and encourages people to give feedback and/or provide additional information about what’s happening.

Before launching the new portal, the Centre asked each company covered in the Ecuador and Nigeria briefings to contribute further information and/or statements on the happenings discussed in the briefings.  The portal also includes links to reports about Ecuador and Nigeria (tracked by the Centre through their many years of contact with affected peoples and the companies involved).  The purpose of the briefings is to keep an ongoing focus on these issues, as well as provide a public platform for continuing debate.

The press release ended with this statement: 

“All three briefings – U.S. Gulf Coast, Ecuador and Nigeria – will be kept updated over the coming months and years.  Any company, organization or commentator wishing to submit a clarification, response or further information is welcome to do so – see contact details below.  When concerns are raised about the human rights impacts of a company, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invites the company to provide a public response to the allegations.  This allows companies to put forward their views, and encourages companies to address important concerns being raised by civil society.  In coming years the Resource Centre will consider expanding this information hub to cover oil pollution in other countries (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre).

The press release has several first person accounts of the oil spills in these areas and how it has (and continues to) affect people and their livelihood.  Some of the companies covered in the briefings are BP, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Chevron, Texaco, Shell and Eni.  

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre tracks the human rights impacts (positive & negative) of 5000 companies in over 180 countries.  The site is updated hourly and receives 1.5 million hits per month.  To read the entire press release, please click here.

Do you think making this information public and encouraging people to provide feedback etc. is a good idea? Does it perpetuate the importance and dependence on social media for information? Discuss!

Executive Bonuses Based on Sustainability

AzkoNobel (a Netherlands-based paint and chemical company) has recently decided to give its executives bonuses based on their sustainability performance.  AzkoNobel is the first company to try this publicly and several Dutch multi-national companies—including chemical manufacturer DSM, postal company TNT and energy goliath Shell—are already announcing similar policies.

Because of this new policy, the 600 top managers at AkzoNobel will now be concerned with how much they’ve done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, waste and energy inefficiencies, fresh water consumption and workplace injuries.  This system of compensation will push managers to engage employees and to develop more environmentally-friendly products that can be sold at a premium. 

While 50 percent of Azko’s executive bonus is based on sustainability goals, the other 50 percent is still based on traditional financial goals.  Performance is rated according to how the company is ranked on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which has 90 social and environmental criteria.  Over the last few years, AzkoNobel has ranked within the top three chemical companies of this list.